How to Incorporate Sustainability in your Workplace

It can be difficult to bring up conversations about sustainability in the workplace, but it doesn’t have to be a daunting task. I’ve had a surprisingly successful track record with starting these conversations in my own office, and I hope these tips can help you implement sustainable change in your workplace as well.

Once I started assessing my office for sustainable changes that could be made, I was surprised by the number of opportunities there were. I’ve put together a list of some sustainability initiatives I incorporated at my engineering office, which can easily be modified for a variety of different workplaces.

• The first and easiest thing I did was purchase everyone in my office desk-sized recycle bins. I couldn’t believe how many people didn’t already have one, and how much of a difference the convenience would make for encouraging recycling. I found these bins for $4 each at my local dollar store (Dollarama).

• Paper towels are an unnecessary single use waste. As a solution, I pushed to have the paper towel dispensers in the washrooms replaced with a continuous roll towel. A continuous roll towel is a reusable cloth towel that dispensed a clean portion of the cloth towel for each use. A common misconception about these towels is that they are on a continuous loop, when in reality the towel is open-ended and the clean portion is stored in a bin at the bottom of the cloth roll dispenser. This makes this option sanitary, convenient, and waste reducing. We chose this option for my office because a linen company was already contracted to provide other linens, so it worked out well for them to maintain the continuous roll towel as well. The linen company replaces the used roll with a fresh one once a week. The used roll goes back to the facility to be cleaned and used again in the future. If you think this would be a good fit for your office, ask a local linen company near you to find out if they supply/maintain these towel systems. Another sustainable option would be to swap paper towels for hand dryers, which is probably the obvious choice. This will require more effort to install, likely requiring the experience of an electrician to get wired properly. Accidentally electrocuting a coworker is not the goal here. All in all, I think either one of these swaps away from paper towels can easily be incorporated into an office and will not only save trees, but also save money on disposable paper towels in the long run.

• Electronic Waste can leak harmful, toxic chemicals over time and should be properly recycled. Proper recycling ensures that the items are safely managed, and that components of the product like recyclable plastic can be reclaimed. In my office, I set up a designated electronics waste recycling bin for dead batteries, old keyboards, broken mice, etc. Once the collection bin is full, I bring the items to get properly recycle. Check with your local solid waste authority for where to deliver these items, or they can be brought somewhere like Best Buy where they have an electronic waste recycling program in place. There is also a chance that your local solid waste authority will pick up your electronic waste for free, like the City of Toronto does. Check out this City of Toronto article to learn more.

• Sustainable community engagement activities are a great opportunity for team bonding within your company. I researched sustainable initiatives for organizations in my area and found a program run by our local conservation authority to adopt a section of a nature trail and commit to cleaning it up a few times a year. Participating in community engagement activities like this are not only benefitting your local community, but are opportunities for team bonding and improving your company’s image.

• I encouraged my coworkers to bring houseplants into their office spaces to improve air quality and promote a connection with nature in the office! Fair warning: you might unintentionally become the designated plant waterer like I have, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

A big takeaway from this experience has been to not be afraid to talk about what you’re passionate about. I was anticipating being shut down or made to feel silly for pushing for these ideas in my office, but everyone has been incredibly receptive. Sometimes it just takes one person to make the first nudge for everyone else to get on board. To be honest, though, even if everyone wasn’t as receptive, there is power in standing up for yourself and something you care about. I’m not always the best at following that advise, but I always feel proud of myself for sticking up for something I believe in. I’ve listed some tips below on how to be successful with implementing new sustainable initiatives in your workplace:

1. Start with a plan My first tip is to go into the conversation with a plan of action. Have ideas ready to go, and start with the easy to implement, inexpensive ideas first. I would also recommend giving your supervisor a heads up ahead of time on what the conversation will be about so they have time to prepare and, even better, might have some ideas to add to the conversation.
   

2. Keep the burden off your supervisor Where possible, try and do as much of the work as you can as a means of not adding to anyone else’s workload. Alternatively, involve coworkers who offer to help, or ask those in the office that you anticipate will be happy to be a part of the work. This way, you won’t be adding to your supervisor’s workload, and it is more likely for the tasks to get done if they are on your own timeline.
   

3. Don’t be afraid to follow up There is a good chance your boss, like mine, is very busy and these initiatives are not their top priority. For the tasks you need their approval/assistance on, kindly and patiently remind them of these initiatives. Its likely it just slipped their mind and it is not being dismissed, at least that’s what happened for me!
   

4. Plug other benefits Emphasize to your supervisor any additional benefits you anticipate from implementing your sustainable improvements. For example, it is worth mentioning if you calculated a cost savings over time by switched from disposable paper towels to hand dryers or a continuous roll towel system. Some other benefits that could be seen from implementing various sustainable initiatives include employee morale boosting, time savings, improvements to the company image, etc.

Sometimes the ideas I put my energy towards can feel small or insignificant, and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way. That being said, when I really think about it, the sustainable changes I’ve implemented in my workplace are not small or insignificant at all. The bigger picture is that I inspired people to think about their mundane, second nature habits and reflect on what the impact of these habits actually are. Taking the time to assess my office for all the small, positive changes that could be made, reminded me how all our actions have purpose and are impactful. Our everyday, mundane actions shape who we are. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way, but I find myself so disconnected from my consciousness sometimes, like I’m moving through my day on autopilot. Taking one extra second to throw something in the recycle rather than the garbage can make a difference. Paying better attention to all the little things we do throughout the day that are second nature can help us learn more about ourselves. Being kinder to and more in tune with ourselves helps us be kinder to and more in tune with the world around us.