How Your Office Can Be More Eco-Friendly

Many Americans are focused on reducing their impact on the environment in their daily lives. But one often-overlooked action that can make a big impact: advocating for eco-friendly changes in the workplace. Here are 29 ways your company can be more sustainable at work:

1. Green up the office with live plants. Studies show a greener office is a more productive office. Check out our Pinterest for more inspiration!

2. Install automatic lights in the office to make sure the lights are only on when they need to be.

3. Participate in Meatless Monday or Plant-Forward Friday to promote plant-based meals, which have a much smaller carbon footprint. You can also try to keep company meals plant-based—and using local produce is an added bonus!

4. Limit printing—go paperless to save trees!

5. Offer dairy-free milk and creamer options. Oat milk is the most environmentally friendly option! You can also ditch the disposable single-use coffee creamers to cut down on waste.

6. Compost your food scraps! Composting is incredibly beneficial to the planet. You can look into compost pickup services in your area, or start a compost system in the office!

7. Implement recycling in the office if it’s not already. Work to educate employees about what can and can’t be recycled.

8. Purchase eco-friendly cleaning products and soap.

9. Give all employees branded reusable water bottles to help people move away from plastic water bottles. Look into getting a bottleless water cooler so employees can fill up their bottles in the office!

10. Shop from brands that are eco-friendly. For instance, you can buy company apparel from Patagonia or company water bottles from Klean Kanteen. Check out this blog post to find more green brands to support.

11. Install a smart thermostat to conserve energy. You can turn down the heat/air conditioning at night and on the weekends. 

12. Encourage employees to walk, bike, or take public transportation to work. Implementing a work-from-home policy can also help reduce commuting emissions.

13. Limit air travel to significantly reduce transportation emissions. Take advantage of video conferencing to meet with clients and employees in other offices, and try to strategically plan trips to reduce flying. 

14. Take a day to clean up a nearby park as a company.

15. Take advantage of natural light on sunny days by turning out or dimming the lights to conserve energy 

16. Consider incentive programs to reward employees for taking eco-friendly actions!

17. Install green appliances, such as printers, refrigerators, and dishwashers.

18. Use LED lightbulbs to conserve energy.

19. Create a sustainability task force. Having a few people to champion sustainability in the office is a great way to ensure action is taken!

20. Install low-flow toilets and faucets to save water.

21. Limit food waste from large company-sponsored meals and events. Encourage employees to take leftovers home, rather than throwing it all away (which is not environmentally friendly).

22. Purchase products made from recycled materials, such as printer paper.

23. Partner with sustainable clients and vendors.

24. Offer eco-friendly promotional products (or fewer promotional products) to reduce waste.

25. Choose sustainable business card alternatives, such as business cards made from plantable seed paper!

26. Offer PTO for civic engagement, such as volunteering at a park cleanup.

27. Choose clean energy! CleanChoice Energy offers 100% renewable energy to businesses. Encourage your company to make the switch to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. 

While all of these are great ways to help your company reduce its impact on the environment, you can reduce your own carbon footprint by making the switch to clean energy. Sign up for 100% clean, renewable energy today to help give our planet a better tomorrow!