It is unfortunate that daily office operations contribute to the massive waste of resources. There are papers, bottles, plastic cups, pens, and other supplies thrown away each day. It is not supposed to happen when everyone in the office is responsible for their waste.

Offices should be more practical in the use of these resources and try to reduce waste if possible. Besides, going green is also helpful in making the company’s reputation positive. People are now becoming more conscious about the impact of companies on the environment, and they only support companies that have opted to go green. You can use these tips to aid you in gradually reducing office waste.

Think first before printing

Given that everything is done online these days, try your best not to print anything unless necessary. Instead of posting announcements on the board, you can send information through email or messaging apps. Transactions with customers do not necessarily have to use paper. You can create an online form that collects and stores their data. Yes, you can recycle the paper used for printing, but you won’t have to worry about it if you don’t use paper in the first place. Going paperless is a good idea for a business, especially nowadays. Whilst it is important to recycle, if you have any documentation that is private and confidential, you may want to look into a secure shredding service that can help you shred all your documents safely after you transfer them onto your system. From then on you won’t need to rely on paper and can reduce your waste.

Maximise voice technology

You can automate everything in the office. It helps so you can use your voice to turn appliances off when leaving. The problem when computers and lights are left unused overnight is that they consume too much energy. Of course, you can’t blame employees who were last to go if they have forgotten to turn everything off. With voice technology, you will make a command to turn everything off, and you are sure that everything is turned off. You will also avoid the risks of office fires.

Use recycling boxes

People in the office won’t recycle paper if they don’t know how to do it in the first place. There should be boxes where they can drop the paper which they did not use. If you recycle it for printing, there should be a separate box. You could sell others if both sides were used. If people know where to drop the paper, recycling won’t be a problem for them.

Ask some employees to take usable supplies home

At the end of the month, conduct an inventory to determine which supplies are still available, and which ones are not. You will also know if there are supplies that cannot be used in the office anymore but are still usable. It includes used boxes, tapes, bottles, and many other items. If there are employees who are interested in using them at home, allow them to do so.

Be careful in using advertising materials

The good thing about using online ads is that you don’t waste paper for printing. It does not mean that you should not use print media anymore. Ads like rollerbanners are useful, and you can target a lot of people can when you use them. The key is to make sure that the information is valid for a long time. Otherwise, you will need to keep changing the banners. Find a company that offers quality printing services to guarantee that the colours won’t fade, and the materials used will remain robust even when placed outdoors. You can also use subtle advertising through giving all your employees work id badges that can be printed from companies like InstantCard, which reduces waste as they are used every day for a practical purpose but also advertises your business when they’re out and about.

Finally, if there is still a lot of waste after taking all of these measures, it’s time to rent one of those General Waste Bins to keep office waste to a minimum. You could get these in various sizes depending on the garbage size.

Hopefully, these strategies will help reshape your office to avoid wasting supplies.

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