The Secret to a Greener Office-REVEALED!

A green office is something many businesses aspire to reach in order to boost their green credentials and lower their carbon footprint, but how can you go about saving the environment from the comfort of your desk?

Climate change and global emissions have been a hot topic for years now and most of us take steps to ensure we are caring for the environment during our daily lives. This also stretches to our offices and places of work but there's still more we can do to achieve a lower carbon footprint.

Here are some quick tips for how you can turn your office green (without the need for Dulux colour charts).

Monitor Your Carbon Footprint

In order to reduce the carbon footprint of your office, you must first know what it is. That's just common sense. By monitoring your carbon footprint throughout, you can see which little changes have the biggest impact. There are loads of websites dedicated to helping you calculate the carbon footprint of your office so check them out. (We found this carbon footprint calculator from a quick internet search but feel free to find you own).

"It's like Blackpool Illuminations in here!"

Many of us have heard this phrase (or one similar) growing up. We'd leave lights on around the house to be met by a folded armed adult cursing our inability to flick switches as we leave rooms. Unfortunately, this bad habit can creep into your working life and end up wasting energy when you don't even realise. Don't worry though, making a small conscious effort to turn off unnecessary lights and other electronics can soon become something you do solely out of habit with great positive effects.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The other three Rs we learnt in school, this is a motto that has experienced a pretty big push in the last decade or so. With the introduction of recycling bins specific for each material and pressure on manufacturers to produce products with less unnecessary packaging, it has become much simpler to reduce the amount of waste we produce. In offices, the focus should be on what can be reduced, reused and recycled with a minor effect on the overall workings of the company.

Are you sure you need to print that?

People have many different printing habits, as we have mentioned in previous articles, but sometimes all it takes is that quick question to reduce the amount of paper your office produces. By checking whether the printing you plan to do is really necessary, you may find that it will be more environmentally friendly and even more efficient to step away from the printer.

Document Scanning...

A lot of companies store important files and documents in boxes, folders and filing cabinets cluttering up offices and providing a silent stumbling block for their green credentials. Getting that backlog of documents scanned and converted to an easier to use digital format can be just the boost your office needs! Once you have fully digitised documents, the original paper copies can be shredded and recycled (remember, we're still looking to save the environment as much as possible so always try to recycle that paper where possible).

...and Electronic Document Management

Implementing your digital documents into an electronic document management system will bring further environmental benefits in the long run (not to mention a wide range of other benefits which we go into in more depth in our other articles). Indexed and OCR processed documents are fully text searchable meaning you can have a simple document retrieval system with minimal disruption. Being able to access, edit and share your documents completely electronically will also eliminate the need to print, photocopy and waste paper. And, since a large portion of office waste comes from paper, you can go a long way to producing a greener office.

What if the whole office isn't on board?

Everyone has different opinions about climate change and environmental issues and that's ok. It just means that you may need to make an extra effort to make sure all of your staff and colleagues are working towards the same goal. Offering incentives to the person in the office who does the most to reduce the office carbon footprint can be a great way to get people interested and can boost office morale which will also improve efficiency.

How Can Pearl Scan Help Create Your Greener Office?

Here at Pearl Scan we offer a fully bespoke document scanning service as well as document management solutions and consultancy. We are fully dedicated to helping companies reap the rewards of going digital with their document management system. Document scanning and digital document management can reduce costs, save space, increase efficiency and boost your green credentials.

We cater for a range of organisations across many sectors including legal, HR, education and healthcare. Whether you are looking to complete a bulk scanning project or a continuous store and scan project, if you would like some more information about how we can help you get in touch to speak to a member of our friendly and experienced team. For a free, no obligation quote for your document scanning project complete our online form by following the relevant links below.

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