Eco-Friendly Paper Shredding & Sustainability Tips For Offices
Posted on 30th March 2020 in Chaffinch News
These days we are all far more aware of the damage being done to the environment, from vehicle emissions to plastic waste and most of us want to do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint.
Many businesses make decisions based around sustainability with the hope of reducing their impact on the planet, but it isn’t always easy to do when you rely on a complex supply chain. Whilst small steps might not feel like that big a deal, every little thing we can do both as individuals and as businesses to reduce our carbon footprints is a step in the right direction.
So as a business owner, what steps can you take to make your business more eco-friendly?
1. Use Less Paper
A truly paperless office is a rare thing indeed, but it’s not difficult to put policies in place that help to reduce the use of paper in the workplace. Email has provided the biggest change in modern offices, but invoices, receipts, quotes and such like can still generate vast quantities of paper.
Not only do documents like this need to be stored in accordance with The Data Protection Act & GDPR to minimise the potential for data breaches, but paperwork must also be destroyed in a secure way that limits the potential for data breaches.
Putting a policy in place to avoid generating unnecessary paperwork is the ideal way to cut down on the use of paper and ensuring the paper that you do use is properly destroyed and then recycled will further help you to reduce your carbon footprint.
2. Carbon Offsetting Initiatives
For many office-based businesses, the greatest impact on the environment will arise from employee travel. Most employees will need to make the commute to work by car, so offsetting employee travel is a good way to reduce the carbon footprint of your business.
Another practical way to reduce the carbon footprint of your business is to carry out as much business as possible digitally. Instead of face to face meetings, you could instead opt to utilise tools like Facetime, Google Hangouts and Skype whenever possible.
With carbon offsetting initiatives you're able to purchase credits equivalent to carbon emissions and these credits are then invested into carbon offsetting Initiatives that do things like plant trees to actively reduce greenhouse gasses.
Find out more about carbon offsetting here.
3. Use Eco-Friendly Suppliers
Make a commitment to greener procurement and ensure as many of the services and products that you use as possible are produced sustainably. Many businesses have made a commitment to sustainability and will be happy to share their policies with you if you can’t locate the information on their website. As well as looking for sustainability policies, also look out for initiatives they are part of.
The Global Organic Textile Standard, is just one example, so make sure you do your research and find out what your supplier's stance is on sustainability and consider switching to suppliers who take more active steps towards sustainability.
4. Switch to Eco-Friendly Products
Most businesses get through a lot of paper each year, and if you’re not using recycled paper, your paper usage will be contributing to deforestation as a direct result of the trees felled for the virgin paper production process.
Switch instead to using recycled paper which uses significantly less water and energy to produce, resulting in fewer carbon emissions than virgin paper. It also reduces the amount of paper waste that is sent to landfill.
5. Timed Shut-Down
Even when PCs, monitors and printers are shut down for the night, most hardware remains on standby mode, and whilst the power consumption is considerably reduced, these items are all still using power.
Different hardware and appliances have differing rates of standby losses but overall it’s estimated that standby power use is responsible for approximately 1% of global CO2 emissions. Turning hardware off at the socket reduces such loses and helps to reduce energy consumption, costs and your environmental impact.
6. Adjust Office Temperature
Turning the heating down by just 1° C will cut 7% of energy consumption, so monitor the temperature in the office during the colder months and see whether dropping the temperature by this small amount could be possible. Of course, employee comfort is paramount, and whilst there is no legal minimum or maximum temperature requirement, employers should ensure that the temperature is comfortable.
Find out more about workplace temperature here.
Here at Chaffinch we provide an eco-friendly paper shredding service. 100% of the paper that we process is recycled. As well as helping you to reduce the carbon footprint of your business, our service also helps your business to comply with GDPR regulations. Find out how we can help you keep your office green, get in touch with us or book our eco-friendly paper shredding services here.
