Make your office
work for you and
the environment
Green Offices
With the compliments of
Avery Limited 2nd Edition
By Avery
Green Offices
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
2ND EDITION
A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, Publication
01_669112-ffirs.indd i 3/11/10 6:47 PM
Green Offices For Dummies
®
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Introduction
W
elcome to Green Offices For Dummies, your
smart and friendly guide to doing your bit for
the environment, and improving the way you work in
the process.
Today, most people feel that considering the environ-
ment is important. At home, many people are taking
positive steps towards being green. And yet, when
people go to work, they leave all this on the doorstep!
Why? Office workers don’t feel they have the power,
equipment or knowledge to become green at work.
This guide aims to change all that.
The tips and advice in this book aren’t only about help-
ing to protect the environment; they’ll also help to
improve your workplace and increase your profits.

With the right knowledge and equipment, you’ll see
that working for the environment also means working
for your business. Running a business has to be profit-
able, but it no longer has to cost the earth!
About This Book
This book aims to provide you with information to
change the way you work. It’s full of useful ideas to
empower you to play your part in ‘greening’ your
office. This guide can help you to influence those
around you, and inform colleagues of ways they can
join you in creating a better workplace and a better
environment.
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Foolish Assumptions
In writing this book, we made some assumptions
about you:
✓ You work in an office.
✓ You want to make your office greener, work
smarter and save money.
✓ You know that being green is important but want
some information on how exactly to be green in
your office.
How This Book is Organised
Green Offices For Dummies is divided into three small
but perfectly-formed parts:
✓ Part I: Giving Your Office the Green Light. Head
here for a quick introduction about why compa-
nies decide to go green and some staggering stats
that encourage them to do so.
✓ Part II: Going Green in Your Office. Get your

hands dirty in this part as you discover all the
practical steps you can take to become more
environmentally friendly.
✓ Part III: (More Than) Ten Helpful Websites. We
round off the book with a list of useful websites to
encourage and inspire you.
2
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3
Icons Used in This Book
We highlight crucial text for you with the following
icons:
The Dummies man indicates real-life examples
to illustrate a point and inspire you.
The knotted string highlights important infor-
mation to bear in mind.

Home in on the target for tips to enable you to
be green in your office.
Where to Go from Here
As with all For Dummies books, you can either read this
guide from cover to cover or flick straight to the sec-
tion that interests you. Whether you read it in small
doses using the section headings or all in one long ses-
sion, you’ll find plenty of information to get you on
your way to becoming green in your office.
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Part I
Giving Your Office the
Green Light

In This Part
▶
Defining the problem
▶
Chewing over the statistics
T
he great news is that the majority of large compa-
nies in the UK are taking steps to manage their
environmental and social responsibilities. Over 80% of
the UK’s top companies now report their social and
environmental impact as part of their annual report
and accounts. Even for companies that haven’t made a
public commitment to corporate social responsibility
(CSR), many are taking steps to become greener.
Increasingly, legislation has been introduced which
affects many offices. This covers waste disposal, pre-
treatment of waste (such as separating out recycla-
bles), hazardous waste disposal (such as computer
monitors, light fittings, batteries), WEEE (Waste
Electronic and Electrical Equipment) and the new
Carbon Reduction Commitment. For the latest, we rec-
ommend checking www.netregs.gov.uk.
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5
Nevertheless, there’s always more that can be done,
especially when it comes to empowering individual
office workers. This book aims to help you to join in
with the environmental effort!
Considering Why Companies
Go Green

Typically, companies want to go green to:
✓ Comply with environmental legislation.
✓ Reduce overheads through better and more effi-
cient energy, waste and resource use.
✓ Meet the expectations of employees, customers
and society.
✓ Gain competitive advantage in the marketplace by
becoming more responsive to customer concerns
and improving their reputation.
✓ Take measures to protect the sustainability of
their businesses in the longer-term.
Green housekeeping needs to form the
cornerstone of any company’s environmental
agenda. Yet many businesses fail to bring their
approach to life for office workers by not
making environmental responsibility a part of
employee workplace practices or company
culture. Having a ground-breaking green prod-
uct or an impressively worded vision for sus-
tainability means nothing if the majority of
office workers see little or no evidence of a
commitment to the environment in day-to-day
practice.
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6
The Word on the Street:
Listening to Office Workers
If you consider yourself environmentally friendly but
find it harder to transfer green thinking from the home
to the desk, you’re not alone. According to a OnePoll

survey of UK office workers undertaken in January
2010:
✓ 82% of office workers are more environmentally
friendly at home than in the office. Personal
action at home delivers tangible results, some-
times in the form of personal benefit such as
saving money. The same needs to apply in the
office – employees take action when they can see
the outcome of their actions.
Tropical Tuesday
A leading global business media company held a 100-day
campaign to cut energy usage after the facility manager dis-
covered that their offices used almost as much energy when
the building was empty as when it was occupied.
Each employee was encouraged to switch off equipment
when not in use – from their computer to their mobile phone
charger. A series of themed days encouraged energy saving
habits, such as Walk Down Wednesday, when all but a few
lifts were turned off, and Tropical Tuesday, when the air con-
ditioning was turned off. These efforts stripped 10% off the
company’s monthly energy bill of £32,000 and saved a total of
78,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
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7
✓ 69% of office workers feel that it’s important that
UK companies are environmentally responsible
and that office life can have a big impact on the
environment. This figure reflects widespread rec-
ognition of the need for companies to take direct
responsibility for their actions. Employees regard

a company’s culture as vital to instilling attitudes
and behaviours.
✓ 48% of employees admit they’re less conscious
about turning the lights off at work because
they’re not the ones paying the bills. 46% came
clean about regularly chucking paper in the
normal rubbish when the recycling bin is
nearby. This demonstrates how many people
leave their eco-conscience at home when they go
out to work. Companies need to realise that shar-
ing knowledge, ideas and tools are critical to shar-
ing environmental responsibility. Understanding
the bigger picture helps position individual actions
in the right context.
✓ 64% say lack of empowerment, facilities and
communication are the key reasons why they’re
not greener at work. People are often given inad-
equate advice at work on how to make their time
there count in positive ways. People make the
most difference when they’re empowered and
educated about the simple steps they can take.
✓ 37% say nothing’s stopping them at all! A strong
leadership vision and regular reminders can go a
long way to galvanising support and increasing
motivation within the whole office.
✓ 34% of employees say they’re aware of their
company’s environmental targets. The actual
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8
proportion of companies with environmental tar-

gets is likely to be higher than 34%. This figure
suggests that companies are generally poor at
communicating their policies to office workers or
making them part of the CSR culture. Just 18% of
office workers are told about these targets when
they start the company.
✓ 58% of office workers try to reduce waste at
work to be green at the office, 50% reuse items
but only 34% limit energy consumption and just
11% are looking at the whole picture and pur-
chasing wisely in the first place. Education and
training can broaden employee knowledge of the
full extent of their company’s impact on the envi-
ronment to help them identify and implement a
wider range of leaner, greener working practices.
Staggering statistics
Did you know?
✓ Business is responsible for discarding 5 million tonnes of
paper every year and most of this ends up in landfill.
✓ Nearly 80% of the world’s original old growth forests
have been logged or severely degraded. 40% of the
world’s industrial logging goes into making paper and
this is expected to reach 50% in the near future.
✓ The average office worker uses 20,000 sheets of paper a
year and generates 1 tonne of waste every year – that’s
100 black bin bags.
✓ Office buildings have an insatiable appetite for electric-
ity. Equipment such as lighting, air con, computers,
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9

printers and photocopiers can often be left on 24 hours,
seven days a week – even when no one’s working!
✓ At least half of all office waste is considered to be high
grade – that means expensive, non-recycled paper and
card.
✓ 70% of office waste is recyclable but only 8% ever makes
it as far as a recycling bin.
✓ Landfill sites in the UK are due to run out during the next
decade. To discourage the use of landfills, the price of
the landfill tax for companies will rise from £8 per tonne
per year to £72 per tonne in 2013.
✓ Many office buildings are built from materials that don’t
come from renewable sources and aren’t designed to
reduce the amount of heat and air conditioning they use.
In fact, modern offices with air con and ventilation can
use up to twice as much energy as non-ventilated
offices.
✓ Worldwide, the pulp and paper industry is the fifth larg-
est industrial consumer of energy. Producing recycled
paper uses up to 70% less energy than virgin paper, as
well as using far less water.
✓ For every tonne of 100% post-consumer recycled paper
purchased instead of virgin paper, at least 30,000 litres of
water and 3,000 to 4,000 kWh electricity is saved (enough
to power a 3-bedroom house for a year).
✓ Nearly a tenth of all greenhouse gas emissions are pro-
duced by commercial property in towns and cities – and
these emissions are growing at the fastest rate of any
sector.
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Part II
Going Green in Your Office
In This Part
▶
Actions to take today
▶
Finding further info
P
art I covers the rather scary stats and the evi-
dence that office workers want to do more for the
environment. In this part, we encourage you to start
taking action by offering simple and practical solutions
that you can adopt to begin greening your office. What
are you waiting for? Read on!
Reuse
The first logical step in any green strategy is to con-
sider what you can reuse:
✓ Use a bulldog clip to transform scrap paper into
bound notepads for internal use – or get the local
printer to cut and bind some for you.
✓ Donate used furniture and computer equipment to
charities, youth groups and other local
organisations.
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11
Reduce Energy
With rising utility costs, all businesses need to be
taking a keen interest in reducing costly overheads:
✓ Use window blinds to reduce the temperature in
offices from direct sunlight.

✓ Turn the heating thermostat down by 1°

C and
watch your annual heating bill come down by as
much as 10%.
✓ Use natural ventilation in preference to air condi-
tioning. Simply open a window! If necessary, use
an electric fan instead of air conditioning when
temperatures rise.
✓ Turn off computers when not in use, especially
overnight and during weekends (but check first
with your IT manager that no essential mainte-
nance work needs to be done overnight!).
✓ Switch to energy saving light bulbs and switch off
lights during daylight.
✓ Consider replacing conventional light switches
with movement sensors in areas that aren’t in
constant use such as in corridors, store rooms
and toilets.
✓ Just use the amount of water you need when boil-
ing the kettle.
✓ Turn off mobile phone chargers at the wall socket
when phones are fully charged.
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12
Reduce Water
Water is rapidly becoming an expensive and valuable
commodity. Ask your facilities manager to follow these
tips to minimise water used in offices:
✓ Install dual flush toilets which save water when

you only need a short flush.
✓ Fit water-saving devices such as Hippo, Save a
Flush or Hog Bag into toilet cisterns. Water com-
panies normally provide them free of charge.
✓ Install sensor taps, spray taps or push tap buttons
on sinks – this can cut down water usage by 50%.
✓ Repair any dripping taps.
✓ Think about water usage when buying new equip-
ment such as kettles or dishwashers. Check that
the appliance is water efficient and will decrease
water use in the office.
Greening the landscape
A natural stone and concrete landscaping company set a
target to reduce its £250,000 energy bill by £40,000 a year. It
embarked on an education campaign across the company’s
3,000-strong workforce, and adopted a number of practical
steps such as insulating machinery, plugging leaks in the
compressed air system and fitting a timer on the heater.
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13
Reduce Waste
With landfills close to capacity, increased fines will be
levied on companies to reduce the amount of waste
they’re disposing. Here are some ideas to reduce
waste:
✓ Re-use envelopes, Jiffy bags and cardboard pack-
aging by simply over-labelling previous address
details.
✓ Avoid using envelopes with plastic windows
which are difficult to recycle.

✓ Set your printer default to double print using both
sides of a sheet of paper.
✓ Encourage colleagues to use electronic diaries to
cut down on the number of desk diaries and calen-
dars in the office.
✓ Use calculators on PCs, laptops and mobile
phones rather than buying separate ones.
✓ Stop junk mail and get your company added to a
mailing preference service list. Send back junk
mail in prepaid envelopes and ask to be removed
from the database.
✓ Avoid disposable products such as paper cups,
paper towels and paper plates.
✓ Use rechargeable batteries.
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14
Get Organised
Keeping work areas tidy and free of junk can encourage
colleagues to think and act smartly:
✓ Provide sturdy and clearly marked storage con-
tainers for reusable envelopes, cardboard and
Jiffy bags.
✓ Provide a tray for used paper by the printer for
re-use as scrap or notepaper.
✓ Put plants in the office to literally green your
workplace! Not only do they look good, plants can
reduce air pollution in enclosed spaces.
✓ Make recycling easy by placing clearly labelled
recycling bins in strategically placed locations
such as the kitchen and dining areas, the entrance

lobby, and next to printers and photocopiers.
✓ Set up a green ideas scheme to encourage col-
leagues to come up with energy saving and other
green ideas. Offer prizes or awards for the most
innovative ideas.

Encourage colleagues who are naturally enthu-
siastic about the environment to become
green office champions. Their energy and
enthusiasm will rub off on everyone else.
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15
Recycling Waste
Good waste management is more than simply reducing
what you throw away. As much as possible, divert
waste away from landfill by recycling:
✓ Provide a collection point for used batteries and
find out from your local council how to dispose of
them safely.
✓ Arrange for fluorescent light tubes to be recycled
or safely disposed of. Contact your local authority
to find out about local schemes.
✓ Check with your catering company about facilities
for food composting, or speak to your waste
contractor.
✓ Provide clearly marked bins for plastic bottles,
cans, paper, card, food and glass.
✓ If you can’t avoid using plastic cups, you can recy-
cle them via organisations such as ‘Save a Cup’.


Install can crushers if you use a lot of alumin-
ium cans. If you collect enough, you may be
able to receive revenue from a specialist alu-
minium recycling contractor.
Binning the bins
A leading pharmaceutical company has removed bins from
every employee’s desk and encourages them to use com-
munal recycling bins on each office floor instead. This step is
part of a company and store-wide initiative to save £2.3m in
landfill tax.
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16
Buy Green
In this section we share practical tips on making wise
buying decisions to help the environment.
Equipment
✓ Buy office equipment with an Energy Star label
www.energystar.gov
which rates models on
their energy efficiency, saving you money and
helping the environment.
✓ Opt for multifunction IT equipment rather than
individual faxes, printers, scanners and copiers.
✓ Choose a fast boil eco-kettle over a conventional
appliance.
✓ Look for the ‘Energy Saving Recommended’ label
from the Energy Saving Trust when buying items
other than pure office equipment (for example,
kitchen appliances and TVs).
Toning up the toner

A scheme to collect used toner cartridges for recycling was
established at a company that purchases approximately
1,440 cartridges a year. This reduced the company’s waste to
landfill by 2.9 tonnes a year. At the same time the company
switched over to remanufactured toner cartridges and saved
itself £8,000 a year.
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17
Stationery
✓ Co-ordinate your stationery orders to reduce the
number of deliveries to your office.
✓ Opt for a stationery supplier who’s committed to
providing the best choice of environmentally
friendly products.
✓ Specify recycled products such as paper, enve-
lopes, cardboard, pencils, stationery and office
furniture where possible.
✓ Avoid glues containing toxic solvents such as tolu-
ene and xylene. Opt for vegetable or water-based
alternatives.
✓ Buy envelope re-use labels to stick over existing
labels or handwritten addresses.
✓ Choose staple-free paper joiners or paper clips
over conventional metal staples so paper can be
easily recycled.
✓ Buy remanufactured toner cartridges – they offer
the same quality as new cartridges at a lower
price.
Choose paper and wood products that are
FSC-certified to guarantee that they come from

certified sustainable sources (visit www.fsc-
uk.org for more information).
Mail and Deliveries
✓ Save a trip to the post office and buy postage
stamps online at www.printstamps.co.uk
.
✓ Choose a cycle courier rather than a haulier for
lighter packages and shorter deliveries.
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18
✓ For larger parcels or longer distances, opt for
couriers who use fuel efficient vehicles with low
emissions and good route/load planning.
✓ Avoid air freight where possible to cut down on
harmful emissions.
Packaging
✓ Use packaging that’s made of recycled materials
and is recyclable wherever possible. Or look for
biodegradable packaging which can be composted.
✓ Use biodegradable cellulose wrapping for shrink
wrapping.
✓ Opt for Jiffy bags with recycled paper filler rather
than bubble wrap which can’t be recycled easily.
Printing
✓ Choose a printer that uses waterless and low sol-
vent methods and vegetable inks.
✓ Print office stationery, business cards, leaflets and
flyers on recycled, FSC-certified paper.
✓ Use only environmentally-accredited printing
companies which have achieved the indepen-

dently verified ISO 14001 standard.
Cleaning products
✓ Choose eco-friendly, plant-based cleaning prod-
ucts such as Ecover. Avoid cleaning products that
contain chemicals and solvents that are toxic and
harmful to health, such as chlorine-based bleach.
✓ Opt for liquids and spray products as opposed to
aerosols that contain potentially damaging
propellants.
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