Eco-friendly office: You have to pay attention to this

In the past, one thing was particularly important when furnishing an office: furniture that was as cheap and practical as possible. But as in all areas, environmental protection has become increasingly relevant in the workplace – and you too can do your part. Today, we'll show you how you can create an environmentally friendly office with small tips & adjustments in everyday life – and mostly without additional costs!

These tips help create an environmentally friendly office

An environmentally friendly office can be implemented with many small steps; no radical U-turn is needed here to achieve visible results. With a few small habits, you can significantly reduce your own carbon footprint.

The following practices and habits in the office are particularly harmful to the environment:

• High paper consumption
• Lights constantly on
• Temperature too high in the operating rooms
• Many individual material orders
• Poor waste separation
• Lots of packaged/ordered food
• Constant new hardware
• Open doors/windows in winter

By addressing many of these things, you can significantly reduce energy consumption in your workplace. With just a few, barely noticeable changes, you'll protect the environment and your own or your company's wallet. In the next paragraphs, we'll look at how you can implement these things most quickly and effectively.

Tip: Would you like to read more articles on office & health topics? Then feel free to visit the Deskspace website under the Blog section, where you'll find many more exciting blogs from all areas!

Reuse of old materials

We start with one of the simplest steps, which nevertheless leads in the right direction – the recycling of old materials. Here, there are many ways to effectively and quickly save money. For internal printouts that do not go into the hands of other companies, for example, you can reuse already printed paper. The same applies to scrap paper or other notes.

For example, you can simply staple a stack of old paper together to create a pad that you can reuse. Alternatively, the printing company can cut the paper to size and then staple it, saving your company money on new pads or notepaper. Especially in large companies, a lot of paper waste accumulates every day, thus saving disposal and new acquisition costs. Moreover, it is an important step towards an environmentally friendly office.

But that's not the only aspect where recycled materials can be used. You can also get into the habit of refilling ballpoint pens with new refills instead of buying new ones, or simply repairing other items like staplers & co. With your supervisor's permission, you can donate used hardware or sell it to other people, so that nothing ends up in the trash and you have a clear conscience for an environmentally friendly office.

Energy saving for environmental protection at work

In recent years, energy costs have risen enormously; in many areas, they have even more than doubled. This also affects many small and medium-sized businesses. For this reason, energy saving is becoming increasingly important, and not just for your wallet. If you consume less energy, even at your workplace, you also relieve the environment. The best way to do this is with a few small tips that can be easily integrated into your daily routine.

Even a room temperature two degrees lower than usual ensures that you can save almost 20 percent on heating costs. So, turn down the thermostats a little, and you'll already have a noticeable effect on the climate and the environment. In the office, a temperature between 20-22 degrees Celsius is recommended; however, to protect the environment, 8-19 degrees Celsius are also sufficient. If individual employees are very cold or have problems with the cold, heat gaps can be easily and cheaply compensated with a fan heater or an infrared heater.

When ventilating, you should avoid electric air conditioning if you want to achieve an environmentally friendly office. These systems consume a lot of electricity and are therefore less sensible when it comes to environmental protection. Especially in open-plan offices, it is also difficult to achieve sufficient cooling performance. In summer, you can use a fan in an emergency, which consumes significantly less electricity and is not stationary.

Furthermore, you can now pay even more attention to switching off all devices when they are not needed. It is best to set your computer so that it automatically deactivates after a few minutes of inactivity. For lights and other devices, you should also make sure that they are immediately deactivated again. In rooms that are frequently but only briefly used, you can install motion detectors so that the light automatically turns on and off again.

Waste reduction

An environmentally friendly office also involves producing as little waste as possible. Here too, there are a few simple tips that can be quickly integrated into daily life. For example, you can now reuse cardboard boxes or envelopes. To do this, simply place a box next to the trash in which still usable packaging can be placed. This not only protects the environment but also your wallet.

To reduce paper waste, you can simply set your printer to double-sided printing, which will only require half the raw materials. In all devices that require batteries, you can now use rechargeable batteries to avoid waste there too.

Tip: It's best not to use window envelopes. These are much harder to recycle and thus harm the environment. Simple envelopes made from recycled paper will do just fine here!

With these simple tips, you can greatly reduce the environmental impact in your office. Try to convey this attitude to your colleagues as well, so that the entire company works uniformly and also protects the environment in the office.

An environmentally friendly office also includes using durable office equipment. With a height-adjustable desk from Deskspace, you choose a piece of furniture that you will enjoy for many years. The Deskspace Pro protects your health and ensures that you stay fit even on long days.

If you would like to learn more about our ergonomic office furniture, please visit our product page. Here you will find detailed product descriptions for all our items!