Going Green at Work

Have you ever thought about the impact your office or work place has on the environment? If you're a full time employee you spend 40 hours or more a week at your workplace - that's a big chunk out of your week. Choosing to make environmentally friendly changes to your work space can make a difference.

Reusable Water Bottles

According to the Huffington Post, there are 50 billion water bottles consumed every year worldwide, about 30 billion of them in the U.S. alone. It takes three times the volume of water to manufacture one bottle of water than it does to fill it. Why not make reusable water bottles available at your office with a company or business logo instead of offering bottled water? The company will end up saving money in the long run and the amount of plastic water bottles will end up being reduced significantly.

Green Catering

Is your next catering event coming up at work? Choose reusable items such as china or linen. Or purchase compostable plates, provide bins for recycling and compost all food scraps. Consider offering fair trade tea and coffee. Your actions can greatly reduce the carbon footprint of your event. You can also decide to use sustainable catering companies such as Green Planet Catering in Raleigh.

Reduce Paper Waste

Digitize your data and files. On average, an office worker uses 10,000 pieces of paper per year, which equals about 4 million tons of copy paper used annually. That is a lot of waste! Fact is, the more you do online, the less you need paper. Keep files on computers instead of in file cabinets and review documents onscreen rather than printing them out. Even though it's nice to receive letters in the mail sometimes, send emails instead of paper letters to reduce your carbon footprint. Check out this Treehugger blog with many more suggestions about a green workplace.

Travel and Commute

Another possible big change in your daily work routine is your commute. Did you know that 8 billion gallons of gas could be saved if every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person? It might be helpful if you consider setting up a carpool calendar. Need help finding one? Visit your local transit website, like Triangle Transit and start a vanpool. Or find info statewide on “ShareTheRideNC” – you can even set up a onetime carpool!

Carbon Offset

Ask your boss to purchase carbon offsets for corporate travel by car and plane. Check out NC GreenPower’s Event Impact and Travel Offset Program calculators.

For years, NC GreenPower subscribers have been able to offset the energy footprint of their home. Now you can do the same for events and travel! We encourage event planners to reduce their carbon footprint by helping them to “green up” their conference, wedding, party, or other special events. We enable you to offset the environmental impact with an equivalent purchase of renewable energy and/or carbon offsets through NC GreenPower, an independent, nonprofit organization who contracts with local generators. Each carbon offset you purchase will go right back to renewable energy projects across our beautiful state.