Going Green at the Office
The article "Going Green at the Office" outlines three eco-friendly strategies for facilities: purchasing refurbished furniture to reduce landfill waste and earn LEED certification credits, minimizing paper waste through recycling, cloud storage, and staff education, and choosing cleaning and maintenance products that avoid harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
3 Ways to Make Your Facility More Eco-Friendly
1. Purchase Refurbished Furniture
Buying refurbished furniture is beneficial for the ecosystem because it reuses material, rather than sending it straight to the landfill. Additionally, purchasing used furniture can help you earn credits for a LEED certification. Some specific credits you can earn include:
- MRc3.2 Materials Reuse-Furniture and Furnishings: Requires recycled or secondhand furniture to account for 30 percent of your furniture budget.
- MRc4 Recycled Content: Earn one or two points for this credit, based on the total amount of “recycled content” used in items like furniture (10 percent earns one point, 20 percent earns two).
- MRc5 Regional Materials: Earned when 10-20 percent of materials are “extracted, harvested, and manufactured” within 500 miles of the facility. For coastal or remote towns, where access to these materials is limited, the credit may be earned when items are shipped by water or rail, and the shipping distance, using a weighted average, equals 500 miles or less.
Refurbished furniture can also cost less than new furniture, making it a healthy option for your budget as well as the environment.
2. Reduce the Paper Trail
According to the EPA, about 90 percent of office waste is paper, and it’s been said that the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year. To reduce paper waste in your building, consider the following:
- Set up recycling bins in convenient and accessible locations, like break rooms and next to copying machines.
- Advocate the use of cloud storage over paper files.
- Educate staff on ways to conserve paper, such as adjusting printer settings to print documents double-sided.
Using a software solution that can replace hard-copy documents is also a great way for facilities managers to reduce paper waste in their day-to-day work.
3. Avoid VOC Products
Being selective in the products used for cleaning and maintenance can also reduce your facility’s carbon footprint. Look for cleaning products certified by organizations like Green Seal, EcoLogo, or the EPA’s Design for the Environment Program.
One of the most important factors to consider when purchasing cleaning products is VOC production. VOC stands for “volatile organic compound”; in addition to cleaning supplies, VOCs may be found in paint, caulking, or solvents.
Products with VOCs can cause health problems by triggering headaches and contribute to the formation of ground level ozone pollution. Purchasing items with low (or no) VOCs can therefore protect both your building occupants and the environment.
Although green facilities management requires some research, the reward is keeping your facility in excellent shape—financially and environmentally. In a landscape that continues to place more value on sustainability and social responsibility, can you afford to avoid green improvements?