Let’s face it, the office environment was not created with the intention of conserving our natural resources. Luckily, small adjustments can make a large impact on the way our offices affect the environment.
Here are three adjustments you can make to your office to reduce your environmental impact.
1. Inconvenience landfill dumping.
Make it difficult to toss office waste into the garbage by putting twice as many recycling bins in your office as you have landfill bins.
Placing landfill bins few and far between will make people think twice before tossing recyclable materials into a waste bin.
2. Label trash bins as “Landfill”
Bringing the reality of landfills into the process of disposal can help us make more conscious decisions when sorting our waste.
By placing photos of landfills, statistics about landfills’ impact on the environment, or even just the word “landfill” on the garbage bin can deter recyclable materials from going to rot in landfills.
Click here to download an image to paste on your trash bins.
3. Add a compost system to your break room.
Reduce the amount of waste your office sends to the landfill by getting a few hundred office pets – WORMS! Worms are miraculous creatures that can consume food scraps, plant matter, and paper products (that are not treated with chemicals like bleach and toxic inks). The byproduct of their consumption is castings (or manure) and compost tea.
These castings can be used as an organic supplement to the soil. According to The Tasteful Garden, “as little as a tablespoon of pure worm castings provides enough organic plant nutrients to feed a 6″ potted plant for more than two months.” The liquid drippings can be diluted with water to make compost tea that is sprayed on plants as an organic fertilizer.
Even if no one in your office has a garden to take the castings to, you can easily utilize the worm’s hard work with some potted plants around the office. Spider plants, ferns, and ficus trees grow well indoors and purify the indoor air.
Watch this quick video about how to make a worm bucket compost system in 10 minutes!
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