Public and Commercial Services Union

Here are ten simple things you can do to help make your workplace greener. They are based on saving energy and on reducing, re-using and recycling waste.

1. Turn off the lights

Turn lights off whenever - and wherever - they aren’t needed (especially near windows so as to make the most of natural daylight).

Order a free starter pack from the Carbon Trust website with stickers and posters and put them up to remind people to ‘switch it off’.

Did you know? Lighting a typical office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1,000 cups of tea!

2. Turn the heating down

By adjusting the thermostat and turning the heating down by just 1 degree centigrade you can reduce energy use by around 10 per cent (19-20 degrees centigrade is the recommended temperature in offices).

If your workplace is too warm and you can’t turn the heating down, speak to your health and safety rep.

Did you know? 30 per cent of the energy used in the UK is wasted.

3. Turn off all electrical equipment when not in use

Printers, photocopiers, computers etc should be turned off when they are not being used - especially at the end of the day.

Even appliances left on standby use energy. Stick Carbon Trust ‘Turn it off’ stickers on appliances to remind people. Find out more about saving electricity on the Carbon Trust website.

Did you know? A PC monitor left on overnight can waste enough electricity to laser print over 500 pages.

4. Avoid waste

Don’t throw away paper – there is no such thing as ‘away’! Avoid using more paper than you need and re-use paper that you no longer need.

Did you know? Paper that goes to landfill instead of being re-used or recycled causes greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

5. Introduce fair-trade products into your workplace

Not only do these help farmers and producers to get a decent and stable price for their products, but the additional fair-trade ‘social premium’ that producers receive enables them to invest in their communities, often in environmental projects.

Ask your canteen to stock fair-trade products if they don’t already do so. See the Fairtrade at Work website for posters and leaflets you can order.

Did you know? Banana farmers in Colombia have been working on an environmental programme funded by the fairtrade social premium. They swapped herbicides for manual weeding, switched to organic fertilisers and reforested riverbanks. Local women run a community rubbish clearing programme to collect and recycle the plastic bags that are used to protect growing bananas.

6. Speak to your colleagues more often

Instead of always sending emails, texts, faxes, all of which use up precious resources in some way or another. Plus it’s nicer – and no one else can read/listen to your message!

Did you know? Research carried out by PCS shows that our members prefer face-to-face communication above other means such as email.

7. Organise a book swap/sale in your workplace

Not only will you be encouraging your colleagues to use an environmentally friendly way of finding a home for all those books they have been meaning to get rid of for ages – it’s is also a great way to learn and discover new interests.

The TUC WorkSMART website has tips on how to set up a bookswap scheme in your workplace.

If you want to be more adventurous you could even set up a ‘freecycle’ type scheme at work for swapping other items - find out more on the Freecycle website.

Did you know? If everyone in the world was as wasteful as we are in the UK we would need eight worlds. The average person in the UK throws out their body weight in waste every three months.

8. Raise money for charity

You can send your used ink and toner cartridges and mobile phones to Actionaid - one of the UK’s largest international development organisations.

Better still, start a collection in your workplace – Actionaid will collect for free. See the Actionaid website for more about recycling printer cartridges and mobile phones.

Did you know? 90 million mobile phones are lying in drawers and cupboards around the UK.

9. Your journey to work

Is it stressful or enjoyable? Make it more enjoyable by cycling or walking - at least some of the time.

If you share the same route to work as some of your colleagues you could set up a car share scheme. To find about car sharing in your area see the Liftshare website.

Did you know? More than 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide are saved each year by people sharing their empty car seats and traveling together.

10. Buy recycled

Recycling is all about ‘closing the loop’ - not just recycling things you don’t need but also buying back products made from recycled materials.

There are now lots of recycled products available for the workplace - from pens and mouse mats to note pads and printer/toner cartridges. There is a range of recycled products available from the Ethical One Stop Shop website.

Did you know? Recycling and buying recycled products reduces carbon dioxide emissions compared with other ways of getting rid of waste.

It also saves resources - the materials used to make a new product as well as the energy and water used during the manufacturing process.

Organisations in London save 175,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from being released by purchasing recycled products - equivalent to the yearly emissions produced by over 29,000 households.