Now more than ever the spotlight sits firmly on how we can all do our bit to help reduce unnecessary waste and protect the future of our fragile planet. Although there are plenty of things that individuals can do at home and in their leisure time to reduce the amount of waste that they produce, there are also significant changes that need to be made in the workplace and many of these need to be driven by businesses. So here are 4 ways that employers can help to reduce waste in their workplace.
- By promoting paperless
While recycling is helpful it’s far better for businesses to reduce their production and use of paper documents in the first place by embracing the transition to paperless practices. The Cloud has had perhaps the biggest effect on paperless practices by enabling offices to store their documents digitally on The Cloud rather than printing them and storing them in outdated filing cabinets. The Cloud has also enabled collaborative working, enabling documents to be easily shared both internally and externally, reducing the number of draft documents that are unnecessarily printed each day. - By enabling clever printing
Printers are responsible for producing a huge amount of paper waste in the workplace each year, but clever printers and sensible printing practices can help to keep wastage to a minimum. Clever printers such as Epson ColorWorks Inkjet Color Label Printers, are helping businesses to eliminate the label waste associated with pre-printed labels ensuring that companies only print the labels they need rather than overprinting or misprinting old labels. Printer companies are now also making it easier to recycle their ink cartridges and some even allow businesses to return their empty cartridges to them to be re-filled. - By removing the waste from water
Many of us are happy drinking water from our taps at home but as soon as we enter the office choose to drink from a water bottle instead. To help cut back on this unnecessary plastic waste, offices up and down the country are installing filtered water taps to encourage their employees to ditch their plastic bottle habit in favor of a much more environmentally friendly option, drinking filtered tap water. Filtered water taps can be fitted to both existing tap water systems or installed as more stylish replacements to conventional faucets and can offer both chilled and instant boiling water. - By using vacuum toilets
Conventional toilet systems use a huge amount of water every time they are flushed, and with each employee using the toilet several times a day, that’s a lot of wasted water. To minimize water usage forward-thinking offices are now upgrading to more environmentally friendly vacuum toilet systems that remove waste effectively using the assistance of a vacuum meaning that they only need a fraction of the water. Vacuum toilets are widely considered to be more hygienic, more cost-effective and more eco-friendly than traditional flush toilets which makes them a great investment and one which more businesses should consider if they are serious about reducing their water waste.
