Everyone should be considering their carbon footprint nowadays, and your office space is a good place to start. Obvious things like only printing documents when absolutely necessary, switching off office machines when not in use, and using the heating and air-con less frequently, are probably being done already, but have you thought about other areas where you can make a difference ?

First of all consider your immediate environment. Does your coffee come in plastic cups and do you get a new one each time you have a drink ? Is your mobile continually plugged into its charger? Are there more lights on than actually needed ? Do you leave your computer ( CPU and screen) on all the time. Look around and see what you can do to save a little power or resource.
Remember that small changes made by many individuals lead to massive savings overall.

Having made changes to your working environment you then need to think about what other resources your business uses.  Stationery offers a huge potential for saving. Everyone wastes pens and paper, and lots of things like post it notes, marker pens, and countless sticky things are just not really needed. If you had to pay for them you would probably do without. Use this as your yardstick, before reaching into the large office cupboard where the stationery is kept

Most of these items have a plastic content or come packaged in plastic, and a lot of energy has been used to produce them. Chlorine is used in copy paper production and much of the cheap white paper is made in the Far East using wood pulp from non sustainable sources.

Read the packaging and look for the products which are marked as environmentally friendly, where the raw materials are from sustainable sources.

Bigger less frequent purchases can also be assessed for their eco- friendliness.

Copiers, faxes, and printers all have standby modes which use much less power, and can be adjusted to suit your working environment. Cheap machines with high consumables cost, can be more expensive in the long run, and create a lot of unnecessary waste. It’s probably better to spend twice as much on a machine that will last longer, and cost less on toner cartridges, so do your homework and see what alternatives are available.

Office furniture is another area which needs to be looked at.  Cheap desks use chipboard from unsustainable sources and environmentally unfriendly glues and resins. The raw materials for furniture made in the UK and some of Europe is mainly from renewable sources and most resins are now water based, and therefore kinder to the planet.

Like your office machines, you need to consider the long terms costs – cheap furniture won’t last as long as quality furniture, but the energy and resource required to make either, is very similar.
You have an additional problem with office seating, as not only will a cheap chair cost more in the long run, have more plastic used in its manufacture, and be filled with foam made from very hazardous materials, but it will actually be less comfortable and may even damage your back.