How Can A Commercial Building Be More Eco-Friendly

Making your business greener and more sustainable shouldn't be a challenge, so we have researched a few ways to become more environmentally friendly without having to make a significant investment. Being an eco-friendly business is becoming more important than ever; with consumers being conscious about sustainability and ethical organizations, many companies are now trying to keep up. 

To make your life a little bit easier, we have developed a number of sustainable strategies you can use for your organization. Many of these eco-friendly business ideas can be used for various budgets and can help reduce your overall business carbon footprint. 

Making Your Business More Eco-Friendly 

Supplier's 

Becoming a more eco-friendly business doesn't just start with what you do as an organization; it can also be down to the suppliers you use. A great example of this would be your office cleaning services; many cleaning companies use a number of harsh chemicals that can be detrimental to the environment. Certain cleaning products can contaminate local water supplies, which can negatively affect the environment. Here at Tatry Group, we use sustainable cleaning products that can be created from simple tap water and table salt solution, which are then electrolyzed to develop a formula that can kill 99.9% of bacteria. This ground-breaking cleaning solution is also hypoallergenic, so anyone can use it, and it has no impact on the environment. Learn more about the benefits of green cleaning and why you might want to utilize this method within your company. 

Another place to look at is where you get and what stationary your office or commercial property uses. Stationery contributes significantly to the environment; it's often produced using unsustainable resources. Businesses are also choosing to go digital in a bid to reduce their paper waste and consumption. However, this simply isn't always possible for every business. If you are looking to step away from your current stationary provider, we recommend taking a look at a more sustainable brand such as The Green Stationary Company. 

You may also want to consider developing a sustainable procurement policy, which means anyone purchasing within your business can continue using sustainable and friendly criteria. While this may require teams to conduct further research, they can also look for accreditations businesses may have, such as fair trade or B Corp. 

Lighting

Lighting consumes up to 70% of UK energy consumption in the commercial sector, which is a considerable amount of wasted energy. Fluorescent lighting has often been the bulb of choice for offices and commercial properties; they are cheap, easy to get hold of and easy to install. While the cost of LED lighting might be what puts you off, you may want to reconsider, as the lifetime use of the bulbs is much longer than those of fluorescent light. 

LED Bulbs have been making their way across Europe for the last couple of years, and rightly so; they are a great solution to reducing your energy consumption and becoming one step closer to being eco-friendly. While it may not seem like a huge improvement, LED bulbs have more benefits than you may think. They won't pollute the environment, as they have no lead, mercury or toxic chemicals in the bulb's making. Therefore allowing them to become 100% recyclable. 

Another fantastic benefit of moving to an LED Lighting system is the health and well-being of your staff. They are the closest things to natural lights, and in ample office space, not everyone has the opportunity to sit near a window. LED lighting can help reduce the strain on employees and can be a contributing factor to minimizing workplace headaches and migraines. 

Waste

Waste management can be complex in an office setting and is frequently forgotten by those who work there. Papers, plastic cups, coffee pods, packaging, and office supply waste all contribute significantly to the waste generated by office environments. Since many of these waste types are not properly sorted, recyclable materials are frequently not recycled. Additionally, workers may neglect rubbish and create more waste than necessary.

Plants 

Increasing the number of plants in your workplace can help raise and improve the air quality, in addition to regular cleaning. Over 20% of the toxins in your office can be removed by plants, and they can also replenish the moisture in the air.

As well as improving air quality, it can significantly benefit your employee's health and well-being. They can improve the mental health of your teams, as they can work towards reducing stress and helps keep you in a calmer state of mind. 

The University of Exeter, found that adding plants and other living things to your office can boost team productivity by 15%. Teams that have plants on the job are known to be more physically, emotionally, and intellectually engaged.

Hybrid Working

Where possible, try to ask members of your team to work using a hybrid model. While it may help you to reduce costs within the office, it also goes wider to benefit your employees. They no longer produce as many emissions and impact the environment by travelling to work every day.

Doing Your Bit To Become More Eco Friendly 

Becoming environmentally friendly and conscious doesn't have to cost your organization a considerable amount of money. Small changes can often have a large impact and greatly reduce your carbon footprint and the effect your business has on the environment. 

To ensure you are taking the proper steps and positive changes to becoming more eco-friendly, we recommend setting your business green challenges each year and creating goals for individual teams to meet to guarantee your improvements. 

Finally, if you would like more information on our office cleaning services in Milton Keynes or our commercial cleaning services in Bedford, get in touch with a member of our team on 0800 411 86 71.