10 Steps to Set up a Sustainable Office

This is a sponsored article from SustainabilityTracker.com member Equality Media + Marketing.

As a child of the eighties, I grew up not being overly aware or conscious of the role we had to play in environmental sustainability. Plastic bags, plastic toys, polystyrene, foil wrappers, straws and takeaway containers were all part of my everyday life.

It was when watching Saturday morning cartoons, a new show appeared, with its super catchy theme song (sing along if you know the words or play it on Youtube) “Captain Planet, he’s our hero. Gonna take pollution down to zero. He’s our powers magnified and he’s fighting on our planet’s side” it’s hard not to stop singing the rest!

Fast forward to the present day, it’s not just Saturday mornings anymore. Still, the media constantly exposes us to the severe impact of pollution and human activity on the environment – from oil spills, forest fires, and overflowing landfills to plastic bags choking ocean wildlife, and all the sustainability efforts required to combat it all. It’s overwhelming. And at times, it can be exhausting thinking about what you can do. How sustainable is this product or service compared to the other one? Is this plastic code recyclable? Which bin is it going in? Feeling guilty when you forget a bag and need to take a plastic one. What difference does it even make?

Going back to my childhood hero team, each of the 5 humans were entrusted with a ring by Gaia, the spirit of the earth. Using these rings to combine their powers, they’d summon Captain Planet, who would always send it out to us watching at home, “The power is yours!” So, let’s harness this power, not only as individuals doing our part but collectively – we must come together to be a more sustainable community and have a more significant impact. 

One collective place we can do this is in the office. Without being overwhelmed, we can start making sustainable choices for a better workplace, and ultimately a better world for us all. As a small business, we looked at how to make those changes, starting with everyday items and have been shifting to these more sustainable options. Here are some of the steps we’ve been taking:

• Ditch plastic bottled water and choose the tap instead. We keep glass bottles topped up and chilled, and a soda stream with refillable canisters available for those with a bubbly palate.
• Grab a reusable cup for when you go for coffee + containers for takeaway food (handy tip, keep a selection in the pantry for quick + grab-go).
• Make recycling simple by having two bins to help separate general rubbish from recycling.
• Reduce the number of rubbish bins in the office to reduce the ease of producing more waste.
• For organic waste, consider a Bokashi compost system in the pantry. If your council doesn’t already have a green bin collection, connect with a local community garden.
• Opt for all-natural cleaning products to reduce toxic and harmful chemicals in your space. We keep our office clean with Zero Co Forever Bottles and refill pouches.
• When Nature calls, choose a natural fibre toilet like Who Gives a Crap that uses bamboo paper and donates 50% of profits to improve sanitation in the developing world.
• Use rechargeable batteries.
• Switch lightbulbs to energy-efficient ones and turn them off when you leave the room.
• Partner with green and sustainable providers for your banking, superannuation, and electricity.

Where possible, choose to support Aussie brands that have taken the time to develop high-quality, sustainable products with bio-degradable packaging. Using local products has the added benefit of reducing transport emissions from importing goods. There are plenty out there – browse the SustainabilityTracker.com members list.

Article by Kristy Tong

This is an article from a SustainabilityTracker.com Member. The views and opinions we express here don’t necessarily reflect our organisation.