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We can spend a lot of our time at work and sometimes it can seem not the easiest place to make ‘greener’ but there are some easy quick wins that can help. Have a quick look at our ideas and have a go at one or two.

Emails – I think we are all a bit more conscious of this but just in case only print if you really need to.  I found recently I needed to keep a record of some email responses so I screenshot each one and saved them in one document so I have a paper(less) trail if needed, (make sure you include the time/date.)

While we are talking about emails though, how many do you have in your inbox?  Deleting all those old emails is a good thing.  Firstly it will make you feel good, it will make it easier to find the actual important stuff and it is estimated that over 350 billion emails will be sent in this year and this could equate to .03% of the world’s carbon footprint*.  Will your emails make a massive difference maybe not but if everyone in your organisation does it well that’s different.

One last thing about emails – attachments, do you need to attach or can you send a link instead and definitely delete those emails with massive documents attached when you’ve finished with them.

Oh and really the very last thing about emails – do you need to send it to absolutely everyone and the cat – pruning that mailing list is great and whilst you’re there also unsubscribing from any of those newsletters you never read.

Can I just say one last thing about emails – thanks but not too many thank you emails – no I mean I know it’s hard but if you are just responding with a thanks maybe try not too, although yeah I know it seems a bit rude.

Ok I’m done no more about emails I promise.

Paper – anyone who’s as old as me remembers that we were told that computers would mean a paperless office and most people know this hasn’t really happened (yet!).  There is still loads of paper around, so a real simple win is a paper recycling bin if you don’t already have one.  Also though make sure you use both sides of the paper – handy for making notes in meetings and yes you can make notes on an ipad or phone but who can doodle on that and some meetings drawing doodles is what keeps me awake – or is that just me!  Also you could suggest that when you buy paper (and other office supplies) you get recycled products.

Coffee breaks – tricky one as I know every set up is slightly different, you may have a kitchen or not, a fridge or not, so you’ll just have to take what works.  Firstly actual cups/water bottles – whatever your set up – whether you go across the road or brew up in the office no more disposal cups (I am sorry but there is just not really a good disposable option), you could invest in a fancy travel cup, you could repurpose an old jar and make a sleeve for it – or you could just use a normal mug (gasp!!).  If your office needs mugs for visitors etc take yourself to the nearest charity shop – trust me you’ll get plenty of choice of ask people to bring old spare mugs from home they don’t need anymore.  Maybe you have a fancy coffee machine, then there are some recycling schemes for those coffee pods (check out Podback for example) and a lot of coffee bags can be recycled in soft plastic recycling bins at a lot of supermarket.  You may well have someone in your office who would be happy to take used coffee grounds for their garden (teabags can also be composted but can be a bit more of a problem as most have plastic in).  Depending on who’s responsible for keeping any office kitchen area clean – you could think about eco friendly cleaning/washing up products as well.

Plants – a bit of actual green can really help reduce stress, improve air pollution (according to some) and just generally make you feel good, so a few potted plants can really improve your environment – just make sure someone is tasked with keeping an eye them (PS you can also get some really tough plants that can cope with a bit of neglect – don’t ask me how I know – I just do ok!)

Files – electronic and paper, both of these types of documents accumulate and yes if you work in a solicitors then probably you do need to keep everything and that’s fine – but I expect a lot of us do keep a lot of stuff we just don’t really need to – particularly electronically cos it’s so easy to bung them in a folder and they aren’t actually taking up room – but you remember they do still have a cost (not to mention making it more difficult to find the important stuff).  So every now and then have a little purge – I like to display files by size so I try and get rid of the biggest ones first (short time – big impact). 

With paper files I’m torn between filing as I go along (less messy) and saving up a big stack and doing it all in one go – the advantage with the latter is quite often you’ll find half of the stuff you kept you don’t need any more.  Otherwise I tend to work on the basis if there’s no more room in the file have a look and chuck stuff out before just reaching for a new ring binder (unless you do work in an environment where you are the one keeping all the important things).

Switching Off -we all need to switch off from time to time and that includes lights, other devices – remember to switch off and/or unplug when things aren’t needed – leaving things on standby rather than switching off can be wasting a lot of electricity (which is also costing money).  Whilst your thinking about lights try making the most of natural light where you can.

Donate or recycle old equipment – sometimes it seems like equipment, particularly IT equipment is constantly in need of updating but don’t just bin it – there are lots of way to make use of it – Win On Waste takes old mobile phones or check out DonateIT who take a range of IT equipment.  For non electrical items consider offering them on local recycling or kindness groups on facebook or try Dorset Reclaim for some furniture items.

*The Carbon Cost of an Email: Update! – The Carbon Literacy Project

Guest blog by Julia Carter, self confessed eco-geek.