Sometimes, being sustainable at work can prove difficult. Between free perks like coffee, water, and pastries-— often served via paper, plastic, or Styrofoam—making copies, and printing documents, it can be hard to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The following are some sustainable options allowing you to partake in free perks and follow office rules without contributing to excess office waste.
Reduce
- Cut down on your consumption of free goods to reduce cup/utensil/plate waste
- Still want that pastry? Forgo the plate or napkin
- Avoid reprinting by thoroughly spellchecking and editing documents
- Consider asking your office to print double, rather than single, sided
- Bring your lunch/snacks to work via Tupperware
Reuse
- Bring a reusable coffee mug and/or water bottle to work to cut down on paper, plastic and Styrofoam cup use
- Before recycling paper, create a stationary reuse station
- Bring extra Tupperware or utensils to work to prevent having to use paper or plastic plates and utensils
Recycle
- Recycle Plastics (be sure to throw away plastic lined cups)
- Recycle paper
Make Suggestions
- Suggest your office sends electronic notifications and fliers rather than paper ones
- Recycle your used printer and toner cartridges
Written by Darya Nicol, class of 2016
Photo by Asa Wilson – CubeSpace, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9716742