This year Green Office Week, which took place from 11th to 15th May is all about listening and knowledge sharing with the creation of the Big Green Crowdsourced Guide. The organiser, Avery UK has been busy collecting green tips and ideas from around the UK via its social media community. With their help we have created a huge source of eco-friendly inspiration that will help offices everywhere with their environmental efforts.

2. This year Green Office Week is all about listening and
knowledge sharing with the creation of this Big Green
Crowdsourced Guide!
Thank you to everyone who has sent ideas our way. We’ve
included as many as possible and with your help we believe
we’ve created a huge source of inspiration that will help
offices everywhere with their environmental efforts.

6. To kick start the week we asked our social
media community to let us know what
motivates them to be green.
Why not talk with your company about
what changes you could make and what
might motivate you and your colleagues to
stick to these new ideas.
Making the place a better
place for my boys is what
motivates me. We recycle
and use our bikes or walk
when we can to help our
carbon footprint. I use old
office paper for kids to draw
on and make things.
Ursula Watkin

7. When paper is needed try to
make sure it is recycled with
a high proportion of post-
consumer content and
minimal chlorine bleaching.
Accord Office

8. I would rather pay more for
products that last longer & can
be repaired rather than this
throw away society we seem to
have become. Makes me sad
for future generations.
Shelley Jenner
I have 5 children, all grown up.
I look forward to my own grandchildren
and I want them to have a lovely world to
grow up in. I want them to see skylarks
and kestrels overhead, walk in meadows
and blue-bell filled woods, paddle on
clean beaches, eat blackberries from the
bush. Every small step each of us
makes, adds up to a great big whole so
let's make sure as many of those steps
are green as possible.
Gill Colling

9. When I see shopping bags attached to trees by the side of
supermarkets, blown there by the wind,
Pictures of piled up land fills, all the things we have binned,
We need to think more of times to come, and the things we
do
So that the earth will stand the ravages of time, and we
keep it looking like new.
Jan Brad
I do wonder how this world will be when my daughter is my
age. I'm motivated to be green, in the pledge for a better
future.
Jade Caesar

11. In America they have thick paper
bags that you can use for your
grocery shopping. It would be great
if we had that option at our
supermarkets.
Lots of us use the reusable jute bags
but when we forget them the only
option is non biodegradable plastic
bags. We need to think about living
in a busy world and never having
enough time balanced with caring
for the planet we live on. Come on
supermarkets, give us a paper
option.
Lola Rose
Re-use your plantpots for
planting.
Amanda Cerasale
One thing I love is upcycling. I
make jewellery and find copper
wire salvaged from old washing
machines etc really useful.
Gill Colling

12. I have seen fuel poverty first hand,
and how it creates both Child and
Food Poverty. I know by simple
green measures I can make a
difference, and if we all took those
simple measures then the
difference would be huge.
John Kirby
We love recycling and upcycling -
there is nothing more satisfying
than making something new, fresh
and useful out of old clothes,
furniture etc.
Keeps the children entertained too
while teaching them to be green.
Jackie Reader

13. When investing in coffee for your office, there's a serious
debate between single serve pod solutions and bean to
cup machines. Even George Clooney has weighed in.
It turns out the choice is pretty clear, though, if you're
looking to run a Green Office.
Bean to cup machines are better for the environment,
ethically sourced, less expensive, easier to use, and
produce a better cup of coffee with less clean up
afterward.
Honest Coffees
http://www.honestcoffees.com/

15. After two days of Green Office Week
we were starting to get lots of ideas
from around the UK and by now
businesses were able to start putting
some of these into practice.
Put used teabags, coffee grounds
and banana skins into an outdoor
'wormery' (wigglywigglers.com) and
then use the newly created soil and
'worm wee' (liquid fertiliser) to
benefit the grounds/garden for
others to enjoy in work breaks.
Sally Stevens, Fabrications Quilting
for You Magazine

16. Have a green bin in each kitchen
area and big notices to encourage
people to put their recyclable items
in the green bin.
Julie O’Kane
Create a green message that
appears on each PC at the start of
the working day.
Anonymous
Keep it simple, instead of taking a
sheet of A4 every time you need to
jot down a numbername etc, carry
a small A5 or A6 notepad with you.
First of all you will save paper and in
three months when you need it
again you will know it is in your
notebook.
John Kirby

17. LED bulbs could save loads of
money and are better for the
environment.
Piotr K
Review the office equipment
you use regularly. If it is more
than 3 years old it's likely a
more energy efficient version is
now available and often
charities can benefit from the
items you are replacing.
Rosie Brent
If you're printing multiple copies to
share with people (after triple
checking on screen first) - set printer
to put two copies per A4 side and
chop in half - still readable at A5 and
halves the paper/toner usage.
Helen Tobin-Perry

18. Before you print a document, check,
and double check that it's ready for
printing... how many times do we
print something, realise something is
wrong, make the correction and then
re-print?
So, have a checklist before printing
of what to look out for – spelling,
formatting, footers and headers
correct, etc, do a print preview
instead of quick print... and THEN
when you are fully satisfied, hit print.
Paper is a precious resource, don't
waste it.
Jan Brad
In the office, you
should be issued with
your own personalised
mug/glass, to help
minimise the amount
of disposable items
used.

19. Hosking Associates can help your
office with their Green Ribbon Audit.
This 50 point, one-day audit will see
where your office is on the green
spectrum and give you an action plan
to go forward. We can also help you
implement any ideas you and your
colleagues have during Green Office
Week.
For more information on how we can
help, contact us on 020 3603 6466 or
email our green team at
info@hosking-associates.com .
Hosking Associates
Use Outlook or similar software to
create task lists and reminders
instead of writing notes on paper.
Annabel Spencer, Working
Health Solutions Ltd

20. Use shredded waste paper as
a packing material.
Saves on disposal costs and
saves valuable resources.
Anonymous
IT teams can set PCs to turn off
automatically after a set period so
they will not be on all night.
Anonymous
Reuse envelopes, recycle
pens, have a competition
for the department that
does the most recycling.
Ruby Homawala

21. So, they always say you should start
planning early for Christmas and the task
of organising this year’s office party has
fallen to you. What’s more, there’s an
important new addition to the brief in the
email: “can you please make sure the
restaurant/venue is sustainable. We don’t
want to find ourselves back at that place
where we we’ve been the last two years.
Ok, so it was a bargain, but the waiter
looked like he really couldn’t care when
we asked if the turkey was free-range,
didn’t know what a doggy bag was, and to
be honest I don’t really blame him as it
didn’t look like he was going to be getting
a fair share of the tips.”
What do you look for and where do you
start? The Sustainable Restaurant
Association divides sustainability into
three main sections or, as it says, pillars
– Sourcing, Society and Environment,
neatly illustrated in the examples in the
previous: provenance of the food, fair
treatment of staff and food waste
respectively
Sustainable Restaurant Association

22. Beware greenwash – don’t fall for those website claims of ‘natural’, ‘fresh’ and seasonal. If you
want to know about the restaurant’s sourcing policy, ask them! Some useful questions might be
whether the turkey is free-range, what they mean by local and if the coffee is ethically certified, eg
by Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance. If strawberries and asparagus feature on the menu – you know
it isn’t the season to be jolly.
Going home presents? Catering for large parties at Christmas can be tough. There’s the potential
for a whole lot of waste. So, what’s the restaurant’s policy on leftovers? Can you take them back to
the office to enjoy the next day?
Festive cheer – You’d like the staff serving you to have a smile on their face too – so ask how the
tips are shared and if the restaurant pays the living wage.
Season of goodwill – Is the restaurant signed up to a scheme like StreetSmart – adding a £1
donation to every bill that goes to support local homeless charities?
Look out for the SRA’s stars on the restaurant’s website, or check the SRA online guide
for more than 4,000 possible venues.

26. During Green Office Week we’ve all been
sharing the load. It’s much easier to
achieve green results when you work
together as a team. Whether you’ve got a
large workforce or a couple of co-workers,
if you all pull together on your green goals
you’ll start to see the difference.
Set-up a green team to meet regularly
and keep track of green goals and
targets
Have an informal internal discussion or
meeting and address the issue of
everyone ‘doing their bit’ for the
environment

27. Etsy and Pinterest are loaded with
green ideas to recycle and upcycle
just about everything we put in the bin
at home.
You dont need to go out and buy new
for the home, you can often find what
you need around the home and with a
little love you can create something
beautiful, practical and unique.
Our ancestors reused and reused and
reused everything and so should we!
Charley
Reuse plastic bottles by
putting small stones in the
bottom and then put in the
toilet cistern to save water
when you flush.
Anonymous

28. Keep your old jiffy bags and
other postage materials -
these can easily be re-used
with a label over the top to
cover up old text
Anonymous
Label recycling bins very clearly and
have plenty of them to make it easy
for people to recycle.
We have plenty of separate bins for
recycling both in the office and in the
Museum itself. If people don't have
to make too much effort to recycle
they will do it!
Tricia
The Roald Dahl Museum

29. I work from home, my children learn
from a very early age to reuse and
recycle and they remind others to do
so as well.
Joy Bardell
I've found people actually want to be
more green so encouraging people to
offer ideas, recognising contributions
and collaborating to achieve more has
worked in my experience.
Rosie Brent
The employer could encourage staff to
adopt greener ways of getting to work,
such as cycling or walking. The Bike to
Work Scheme offers loans of up to
£1000 for employees to buy a new bike.
That's a monetary incentive but cycling
is also a great way for people to get fitter
and healthier. Working from home I don't
have a commute but will try to use my
bike when I can to get around or walk.
Simon Jones

30. I work in a medium sized hotel
and I'm recycling the loo roll
inserts by using them as
degradable plant pots for tap root
seeds such as sweet peas, peas,
runner beans. Hoping to get them
into our kitchen garden.
Samantha Eyres
Getting across the message that it's as
cheap, if not cheaper, to use green
products compared to non-eco
products. Hence, as well as being good
for the environment, it's good for your
personal / corporate finances
Anonymous

31. Planting ideas
If you really want to go green, why
not do it literally? Bring in a plant
to have on your desk. Plants are a
great way to brighten up any office
space – they also absorb indoor
pollution and increase the flow of
oxygen
Banner
Get a clean empty 2 litre milk carton
with integral handle, when you turn the
hot tap on use the bottle to collect the
cold/cool water that it always starts off
with, use for cleaning etc and a new
one - use to dilute the screen wash!
Samantha Eyres

32. Use mugs instead of plastic
cups for your tea/coffee. It's
more fun to have your personal
mug and you save a lot of
plastic waste.
Petra B
Remove bins in the office, so at the
end of the day you take out Your Own
Rubbish and put it in the correct
recycling receptacle.
CTH Techical Services,
Basingstoke
Do not print every email you receive;
set up on-line folders and file everything
there. It is very easy to set up and
everything is at your fingertips.
Denise Sutherland

33. I know that some that I have worked with, think that the green way
takes more time, and therefore, because of time constraints and
expedience, they will go for the "let's not worry about that now"
attitude! So, I think the best way to motivate others is for them to
see it is the quick and fast way. My suggestion yesterday was for
people not to keep printing documents, but to get it right the first
time, and print once.
If the printer was downstairs, or on another floor, they wouldn't
keep printing documents, they would try to get it right first time.
If the drinks machine expected you to bring your own cup, rather
than dispense one for you (and any spare cups had to be got
from a cupboard on another floor, etc) it would make a difference.
I know people would view these things as an inconvenience, but
after a while, these restrictions could be lifted once people got
into the habit of being green!
Jan Brad

34. Lean is meaner than green
Did you know that having plants in the workplace not
only keeps us healthier and less stressed but also
makes us happier and more productive by as much as
15%? To quote the researchers concluding comments
‘Lean is meaner than green’ referring to the trend for
lean offices.
(Nieuwenhuis, Knight et a Journal of Experimental Psychology)
Make sure your office is green in all senses of the word.
efig Ltd, the Interior Landscapers Association
www.efig.co.uk

41. We are committed to developing efficient waste management and recycling procedures. One of
our initiatives removed all individual desk bins and we introduced clear and accessible recycling
points on both floors of our office instead. We did this back in 2009 but at the end of 2013 we
updated them further, making them even more accessible to everyone – as well as creating a
tidier and more professional look to the office!
It wasn’t cheap to set up but by partnering with First Mile, London’s leading recycling company,
we can now monitor more easily what is recycled vs what is incinerated. And by benchmarking
our efforts on a monthly basis via an intuitive recycling report, I’m able to feedback to staff on
how we are doing and, more importantly, how we can improve. To date our average recycling
rate from January 2014 – October 2014 is 94.6% – an increase of 18% since last year.
Creating recycling facilities certainly requires investment in both time and money, so it requires
commitment in the home, the office and from local and national government. But if we are to
prevent recyclable materials being dumped in landfill surely it’s worth it? And then just maybe
there’s hope for our planet. I’d certainly like to think so.
Read the full blog at http://www.rsconsulting.com/blog/?p=2484
RS Consulting

42. We are a small non-profit organisation with 5 branches across Worcestershire. We're led by
volunteers and provide a free service that helps local families reduce landfill considerably whilst
saving them heaps of money! We rely mainly on donations to keep the service running, alongside
the odd grant and volunteer's own funds.
We loan out trial kits of washable nappies, and help parents ditch the disposables, saving 0.86
tonnes of landfill PER CHILD! In the last 12 months, we loaned kits to 227 families and converted
92% of them to cloth nappies, helping to save over 150 tonnes of landfill. We are quite proud of
that, as you can imagine.
In the office we also do our bit to reduce, reuse and recycle. We do a lot of buying and selling of
cloth nappies to help raise funds, so we always reuse jiffy bags and packaging. We always print
back to back where possible and our children make good use of any paper that prints wrong, or
that we have no further use for! We use Google docs to coordinate our work as much as possible
rather than printing things out, and in fact 3 of our volunteers manage entirely without a printer
(though I'm not sure how!) We also encourage our clients to return the leaflets that are in the info
packs, having taken just the information they want, which saves waste, postage costs and printing
costs for the companies who's information we give out.
Worcestershire Nappy Advisory Service

43. When we do demo's, we encourage people to use their phones to take photos of the
information, rather than taking a leaflet. They can easily then access the information
whilst saving trees and reducing the chance of it being lost or recycled by mistake.
Obviously giving out less leaflets saves on printing costs, transport and postage
costs too. We do the same with business cards - photograph it rather than taking it
and then recycling it later. Saves money too!
We get through a lot of washing running a nappy library, as every kit needs to be
washed at 60 degrees when returned for hygiene. We use Ecoeggs which are much
more earth-friendly than detergents, and we also loan them out for clients to trial to
encourage them to switch too. It also means that the water run off can be used to
water plants as there are no chemicals in it.
Worcestershire Nappy Advisory Service

44. Overusing proprietary chemical cleaning products in the office harms
the environment – we use vinegar as an effective cleaner and
disinfectant for ICT screens.
For our office planting we insist on peat-free compost
for a low carbon alternative to standard planting
medium.
Where we can’t use digital communications, we insist on
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for all our
printing and outgoing publications.
We ask our colleagues to report spillages straight
away so that stains can be tackled without the
need for chemical-heavy cleaners.
WWF-UK

45. There are some staggering statistics
about the environment out there.
For example, did you know that there are
10m office PCs in Britain and 1.8m are
regularly left on overnight wasting 1.5
billion kWh of which equates to 7000,000
tonnes of carbon - that's 10% of the UK
climate change levy target! It’s time to
think about the bigger picture and how
your office can play a part in this.
Take the time to really think about and
assess the impact your office has on the
environment – how can you improve
this?
Think about the future and set some
green goals and targets, you could try
implementing your own CSR policy to
help guide you

46. We brought our own HSM ProfiPack
400 Cardboard Recycling Shredder &
now instead of sending cardboard to
landfill, produce our own packing
filling, it has paid for itself in under a
year. Clean Green & Cost Effective
Basically, Win-Win-Win
CSL
Ask team members to be more
mindful of what they print and if
appropriate display meeting papers
via a projector instead of staff
printing them off. It saves us
several reams of paper each week.
Lynne Denison - NELFT
If you have to drive to work,
try car sharing.
Anonymous

47. I have met some who are very sensitive
to computers, etc, which has made them
ill. Much of modern life, is not for the
wellbeing of humans. Part of being green
is also to encourage health. So ensure,
plenty of green plants in the office,
encourage walking as much as possible,
and I also think it's good for mental
health to work from home once a week.
Try not to do too much travel for work,
video conferencing is a great way to go.
Good health promotes good work.
Jan Brad
We use all the shredded
paper for animal bedding,
much cheaper and eco
friendly than buying
proprietary bedding from the
pet shop.
Jaye Dixon

48. Why do companies mail
out multiple copies of
the same item? Waste
of trees, money, effort!
MRUK Research
Buy sustainably
When you are looking to upgrade
office equipment or furniture,
make sure you check how items
have been produced. Investing
in high quality furniture can be a
more sustainable option than
cheaper pieces as it’s long-
lasting.
Accord Office

49. For all organisations to really capitalise on the savings
that are there for the taking, businesses need to have the
right skills in place right. Those skills should come not
only in the form of skilled Environment and Sustainability
specialists, but right across the workforce from shop-floor
staff to Directors. It’s up to those at leadership level to
take control and recruit and develop staff so their
organisation is suitably equipped.
Full article at
https://www.i-l-
m.com/Insight/Inspire/2014/December/sustainability-
leadership
The Institute of Leadership & Management

50. Last year in July, Vital Energi held our very first ‘Green Week’,
which resulted in reducing energy usage for the week by 5%. This
equates to a yearly saving of almost £1,000. 75% of staff at Head
Office got involved in the various initiatives and among the many
achievements of the week we raised £75 for Christies through the
eco bake sale, which had Fair-trade prizes up for grabs for the
winning bake. Travel Thursday proved to be a big success with a
whopping 20% of people choosing to car share and an additional
5% of people sharing a taxi or walking to work.
Motion sensor lighting is installed throughout our Head Office and
for those lights that are turned on via a switch there are posters to
remind employees to turn off the lights when not in the room. This
year we want to make Green Week an even bigger success by
involving those working out on site and including our London
office by introducing activities such as an Organic Market, Swap
Shop and ePledge cards.

51. Further to this Vital Energi have also:
Introduced a battery recycling bin into the office.
Implemented eLearning awareness courses including Environmental and
Asbestos which reduces the carbon footprint of training.
Ensured 40% of the car fleet is comprised of Hybrid vehicles including
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) that are partially charged by our
solar panels.
Began our program of Environmental Site Inspections.
Launched our SHEQ (Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality) Awards
Scheme to celebrate positive employee contributions towards health,
safety, quality and environment.
Expanded our Health, Safety and Environmental Committee to include
a representative from each part of the business.

52. In keeping with our accreditation to ISO 14001
Environmental Management Systems, Vital Energi
is constantly reviewing our environmental
credentials and looking out for ways that we can
help reduce our impacts on the environment.
Vital Energi
It would be good to encourage company's to make
sure the one page letters they send out WILL print
out on a A4 and not to wast a page for a single line
of text on the bottom of the page that invariably is
printed in such and small size that no one can read
it most times.
B. Naderi

55. You may be interested in the 5 star A4 80gsm 100 % Recycled Remarkable
Loop Copier Paper said to be suitable for Laser/ Copy & Inkjet.
How it works:
Waste office paper is put into a special bin provided by your Business Supplier
This bin is collected by the supplier for free when stationery is delivered
The sorted paper is sent to the eco factory to be 100% recycled
5 Star Remarkable Loop paper is purchased and the cycle is started again.
I think this is an excellent idea as it is said to use:
83% less water
72% less energy
00% less timber
53% less CO2
Peter Singleton,
DAVID FRENCH PARTNERSHIP LLP

56. We run free recycling schemes for businesses, charities,
schools and individuals. We operate UK-wide and also offer a
free courier collection service for those recycling in larger
quantities, which, is often the case in office environments. It’s
surprising how many people are unaware of recycling ink and
toner cartridges, and that you can often recycle them for cash
value or for a charity.
We have a whole host of charity partners that people can
choose to recycle for:
http://www.therecyclingfactory.com/our-partners/ and we have
now moved to downloadable labels in order to reduce the
number of paper envelopes that were in circulation.
The Recycling Factory

57. Our facility is UK based, and we test and process everything
on our site in Boston, Lincolnshire. Any items that are
successfully processed are allocated as a credit or donation
and an activity report can be sent (via email) if the business or
individual wanted to track what had been recycled and raised.
We do not take a percentage or a commission, 100% of the
value of an item is allocated.
As we are a recycling company, we do have strict rules in our
offices about recycling cartridges and we also have boxes for
paper and card to be deposited for recycling. There are so
many small things that offices can do to help!
The Recycling Factory

58. Gerbils, hamsters, etc make the perfect
shredders, but you might have too much for
them. My answer is to shred personal
documents as per usual, and then put it in
the compost bin.
Once shredded it will mix well with green
materials in the bin and rot away.
None personal shredded paper placed inside
a carrier bag and sealed makes good packing
for fragile goods.
Josie Manley
Save money on notepads by reusing
printed paper that would normally go
straight into the recycling bin. Cut to
size either A5 or A6 and punch one
corner and use a treasury tag or even
a bull dog clip and use these scribble
pads for notes or keep one by the
phone for those important numbers
and messages. Then when you are
done filling up all that blank space,
then they can complete the journey to
the recycle bin!
Val

63. The Goldsmiths Hall based in EC2V approached Compactors
Direct members of the Sustainable Restaurant Association with a
view to becoming zero to landfill using the latest technology in
the market. Compactors Direct are at the fore front of providing
the latest and most cost effective solutions for companies where
ensuring their waste streams are disposed of in an
environmentally and ethically manner.
Compactors Direct have installed a glass crusher to reduce the
volume of glass and reduce collections saving valuable CO’2
emissions. Paper, Cardboard, Plastic, Tin and Aluminium cans
are separated and where applicable either taken to a MRF for
recycling or RDF for energy.

64. For their food waste, Compactors Direct installed an LFC (Liquid
Food Digester) The LFC is a fully enclosed automatic digesting
machine that disposes of most food matter within 24 hours.
The LFC uses a series of processes in which microorganisms
break down biodegradable material in the presence of oxygen.
The environment of the LFC, with our proprietary mixture of
microbes and enzymes, accelerates the digestion of most food
products and bio-plastics within 24 hours. The output is grey water
that is environmentally safe. The machine can digest both raw and
cooked foods. The process is totally green because it uses no
chemicals. The waste food is not being chopped but it is
decomposed to such a degree that it becomes a liquid and can exit
the machine only through a fine mesh screen.

65. The LFC can connect through its Ethernet port to a cloud
server maintained by Compactors Direct. The LFC
securely sends data about the operation of the LFC to the
server and that data is retained for five years.
The data includes the amount of waste food digested
hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly and the amount
of CO2 diverted from the landfill during these periods into a
single report. Using all of these methods The Goldsmiths
Hall has been able to become fully zero to landfill and save
valuable CO2 levels.
Compactors Direct
www.compactorsdirect.co.uk

66. On the final day of Green Office Week
it’s time to take everything you’ve learnt
into the future! We hope that you’ve
enjoyed reading this guide and now put
some of these ideas into practice.
Our top tip is having meetings around a
whiteboard – we take the
minutes/ideas/brainstorms on the
whiteboard from the whole team, and at
the end of the meeting, photograph and
email it to everyone. No one brings a
notebook to the meeting anymore as
everything is captured on the board.
Durham Clinical Trials Unit

67. By The First Mile
It can often be a daunting task trying to convince your
colleagues to recycle in the office, so when our customers
seek guidance to become (even more) greener, we have
three fundamental rules to help them achieve it:

68. 1. Reduce number of waste bins. They're bringing you down (literally).
Fact - If you have 5 general waste bins and 5 recycling bins in your office, you're only ever going to recycle
50% of your waste. Consequently, someone may put paper or sandwich packaging into a general waste
bin, which won't be recycled. This is how your recycling rate goes down. The more recycling and less
general waste bins you have, the more you'll be able to recycle. Easy.
2. Pictures. They help.
We have found that most of the time, people want to do the right thing and recycle their waste. However,
people are busy, and may not always stop to look at a poster which lists 73 items that may or may not be
recycled. With this in mind, de-clutter your literature (as we have) and have a handful of basic images which
show what can be recycled.
3. Why recycle? Know the implications.
Many know the benefits to recycling but may not know the consequences of what happens to waste that
isn't (but can be) recycled. For example, if your rubbish is taken to a landfill site, the waste that isn't
biodegradable will rot, decompose and produce gases like Carbon Dioxide and Methane which add to
global warming. Information like this is crucial to making staff understand the important of choosing the right
bin.
Details of what can be recycled from an office can be found at www.thefirstmile.co.uk

69. Being responsible and showing your green commitment is becoming more important for businesses.
As well as offering green plant and green wall installations, Enterprise Plants can also install a wormery
which can reduce your carbon footprint and improve your green credentials.
Wormeries can play a big part in reducing landfill and recycling waste food. Better still, someone – or rather
something – else does all the hard work.
In the UK we throw away about 7 million tonnes of food waste every year which does go into landfill.
By recycling your food waste in a wormery, you also reduce costs and carbon footprint of transporting your
food waste to landfill sites.
What is a wormery?
A wormery is a large compost bin where Dendrobaena worms eat the microbes and turn waste food into
compost. The organic compost produced is top quality and can be recycled on your surrounding grounds
and plant beds.

70. Facts about worms
•Worms can eat half their body weight everyday
•Worms tighten the muscles around their bodies making them thinner which squeezes the muscles
running the length of the bodies to squeeze together and propel them forward –
that’s just how they roll
•Worms don’t have lungs; they take oxygen straight into their bloodstream
•Worms ingest food that has been softened by micro-organisms; adding sand or limestone to ground
up food can help worms to grind small particles in their gullet.
Wormery services from Enterprise Plants
At Enterprise Plants we offer a completely comprehensive service supplying the unit, the worms and
the collection bins. We can visit your site to process the waste and supply you with regular reports for
your records for a monthly fee.
Or we offer a one-off service supplying all you need and training your staff. We can add regular
wormery health check visits as well.
We have just installed our latest wormery at our own premises at Hall Farm, so we are really practising
what we preach for Green Office Week.
If you’d like one for your business, please visit our website or give us a call on 0800 032 1820.

71. By Avery blogger, Susanne Wakefield
Green Office Week is a great time to reflect on how we, as consumers, can make informed choices about the
Eco-friendly products that we use within the office, either at home or work. In particular, paper products, as
even in this day-in-age of virtual cloud storage and file sharing, paper is still heavily relied upon and still firmly
routed within the workplace.
If you’ve ever wondered what the little tree logo symbolised on the back of stationery, cards and other paper
materials, here is the low down — it’s a little stamp to show you care. When choosing your paper products for
the office or home, it is an emblem to look for so that you can feel good about your purchase. It shows that the
product manufacturers care too, they care about how and where they source their raw materials.
The FSC ‘tree tick’ logo is a certification mark awarded by the Forest Stewardship Council. This is used to
certify that the particular wood product, such as paper, labels or envelopes, has been sourced from well-
managed forests. This means that the products you are buying are not adding to the destruction of the world’s
forests.

72. The FSC states: ‘FSC is the only wood certification scheme endorsed by
the major environmental charities, including WWF, Greenpeace and The
Woodland Trust.’ Their certified forests are being managed in a way that
respects the wildlife and the indigenous population, providing jobs for
local people and supporting local communities.
The work of the FSC ensures that the future of the forests are
safeguarded, either by planned replanting or natural replenishment. And
the wood that is harvested from these forests is then traced from source
to shop, with certification following each step of the supply chain.
Avery office products are certified by the FSC, so by buying Avery you
know that the paper products you are choosing are not causing any
unnecessary destruction to the forests where they are sourced. Another
benefit of Avery products is that they are full recyclable, so not only is
their functionality faultless, they are the Eco-friendly option all the way.
Susanne Wakefield

73. There is nothing like some plants in your workspace. They cheer you up, make you more productive and
less stressed too.
efig’s members are responsible for making the interiors of offices, hotels, restaurants, retail outlets,
shopping centres and other workplaces green with plant installations.
Over the last few years we have seen a big advance in living green walls taking over the greening process.
And green walls come in all shapes and sizes with many tailor built for the area they are covering.
If having one green plant on your desk helps to improve your mood and reduce stress levels, imagine what
a whole green wall can do.
There are a variety of green walls systems which in basic terms, include a framework on which the plants
grow and an irrigation system so that the plants receive water whenever they need it. Maintenance is still
necessary to keep plants in check or to remove any that aren’t faring so well.

74. All in all this method of covering one space with green plants can be a lot easier and good when
space is in short supply not to mention better for Health and Safety rulings.
Other types of green wall
A number of smaller green wall products have also been developed from moveable screens to
pictures which are less costly. Of course you can install several of these to create more coverage
too.
Green walls outside
We mustn’t forget the green effect of having a green wall on the outside of your building too.
It can help to clean the air and reduce pollution – itself a killer – as well as absorb other particles
in the air. They also act as an area to improve biodiversity.
Green walls are definitely something that the 21st
century is embracing. And they are something
that any business with an eye to upping their green credentials or being seen as responsibly eco-
friendly should consider.
Check out our website www.efig.co.uk for an efig member near you who can install a green wall.
efig Ltd is the trade association for the interior landscaping industry

75. Every Can Counts share their top tips for office recycling success:
•Identify a recycling champion/s in the office to inform and advise colleagues about the recycling process
•Update office cleaners about your recycling processes so they know where to leave your recycling
collections
•Regularly report on how much has been recycled, to motivate staff. This could be done by using graphs
in reception/rest rooms. The Every Can Counts Can-Culator can help demonstrate the value of every
can collected. The Can-Culator can be found here http://www.everycancounts.co.uk/canculator/
•Incentivise to encourage more recycling. Introduce ‘Recycling Employee of the month’ or make the
scheme a competition by asking people to write their name/extension number or email on a can before
they put it in the recycling box – one lucky can a week can win a prize, e.g. a shopping voucher

76. • Encourage recycling across the office, by promoting recycling schemes in rest
rooms, canteens and staff rooms
• Make recycling part of the company ‘culture’ and promote as part of the
company/ies CSR initiative. If you’re going for ISO14001 or any
environmental/sustainability accreditation Every Can Counts can form part of
your measurable commitment to recycling
• Work with suppliers to provide recycled goods or support your recycling
schemes
• Enter your company for a Green Can Award from Every Can Counts! Details
can be found at http://www.everycancounts.co.uk/businesses/green-can-
awards/
• Contact Every Can Counts to order a free starter pack and you could be
recycling within 7 days http://www.everycancounts.co.uk

77. At EMS, we have done a variety of initiatives to try and encourage a greener
office. Last year, we achieved the Investors in the Environment (iiE) Green
Award. The work done towards this project was regularly communicated to our
staff. Through better monitoring, we found that we had reduced gas by 25%,
mainly due to altering the timers on the boilers to make sure they were only on
when people were in the office. All of our staff have also attended the one day
NEBOSH Award in Environmental Awareness at Work. This gives all staff from
engineers to accounts a better understanding of environmental impacts and
what they can do to reduce the environmental impacts of our business.
We also have ISO14001 and our objectives and targets are directly linked to
our business plan. As an environmental company, we advise businesses
across a variety of sectors how to improve their environmental management.
Therefore, for us, the more work we do, the bigger the benefit for the
environment as businesses better manage their risks and become more
efficient.
Environmental Monitoring Solutions

78. Which Junk Model is your favourite?
The Avery UK team has been busy making junk models as part of Green Office Week.
Which team do you like best?
Team A: Their model is called “Last minute Fancy dress (with added Jet pack)

79. Team B: iRecycle

80. Team C: A really useful recycling box to keep on my desk so that I can put my
recyclable paper and stationery into. Once its full I will donate it to the local nursery
school.

81. The Carbon Trust http://www.carbontrust.com
The First Mile www.thefirstmile.co.uk
The Sustainable Restaurant
Association http://www.thesra.org/
Rainforest Alliance
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/

82. Forest Stewardship Council
https://us.fsc.org/
WWF UK http://www.wwf.org.uk/
Max McMurdo Reestore
http://www.maxmcmurdo.co.uk/
Greenpeace UK
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk

83. Compactors Direct
http://www.compactorsdirect.co.uk/
Fairtrade Foundation http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/
Soil Association http://www.soilassociation.org/
Wrap http://www.wrap.org.uk/
Honest Coffees
http://www.honestcoffees.com

84. Avery UK also has a range of eco-
friendly products made from FSC
certified paper from responsibly
managed forests. You can find out
more about these products on the
Green Office Week website.
www.greenofficeweek.eu

85. Thank you to everyone who has
contributed to this guide during
Green Office Week. Please share
the guide with colleagues, suppliers
and your social media communities
so more people can make real
changes.
Keep the conversation going with
#greenoffice15