How to make your office a more eco-friendly place

A prevailing trend in designing new buildings is to make them as environmentally friendly and sustainable as possible. Office buildings are no exception: in recent years there has been an increase of publicly and privately funded projects that boast high energy efficiency. Some achieve this with intelligent design ideas, employing green roofs covered with moss, others with the use of quality materials that have better insulation properties. Most importantly, such architectural solutions often increase the quality of office conditions, as well as promote a more sustainable life style. Here are three examples how you can make your office space more environmentally friendly which would have a positive impact on your business as well as the well-being of people working in such spaces.

Build in a more environmentally conscious way

If you are thinking of building a new office building you can, of course, use the help of architects and engineers to make it greener. However, there is one simpler solution: the use of modular units. Modular units are prefabricated and made of recyclable materials which offer good heat and sound insulation. Modular buildings manufacturers reuse all the waste that was created in the process of making them, making prefabricated modular office buildings very environmentally friendly constructions. Because such buildings are mostly prefabricated, the construction on site is shorter (and cheaper), less sound polluting and disruptive to its surroundings.

Create a paperless office

You do not have to do anything extreme in your office to promote a more eco-friendly way of conducting business. Eliminating the use of paper will have an impact on the environment that is significant. Making as much of your business paper-free is easier than you might expect: a lot of documents are already available in a digital form and new tablets with writing pens enable planning and doodling digitally. To be successful in this endeavor, you have to optimize your whole workflow and eliminate any unnecessary use of paper. This might lead to upgrading the software which is used and ensuring enough cloud storage you might need for archiving. Another upside of running a paperless office is reduction of clutter around the office and new available space that was previously used to store the filing cabinets.

Encourage co-workers to develop new habits

The biggest step in creating a more environmentally friendly working space lies in educating the people who work there. All offices should strongly encourage as much recycling as possible and aim to reduce waste in general. Sometimes a small step, like not having plastic cups for water available, can start a cascade of changes not only in the office but in the private life of workers as well. At the same time, we have to think about office users as well: a healthier and more comfortable office space will have a profound impact on their level of productivity and overall happiness. To ensure that, try making your office a nicer work environment with a lot of plants and natural light.