Collaborative post
I’m really keen to promote ‘greener’ living where I can, and in our general everyday life, we have made some small changes to help reduce our impact on the environment.
We used cloth nappies and cloth wipes with the children (which was hugely significant in reducing our waste) and have reusable stainless steel drink bottles which have lasted well and still have many years of life in them – again reducing the need to replace plastic ones or buy water in plastic bottles when out and about.
We recycle as much waste as possible and try to purchase products in minimal packaging (such as loose fruit and veg) or packaging that can be reused or recycled.
But there are other ways to think green too – and one other key space we often spend much of our time is the workplace. There are many steps you can make to help make your workspace green, and it’s something that Damian and are implementing bit by bit as we create a home working space for when I am working or he is working from home. Here are three simple things we have put into place to help us be more ‘green’.
Reduce or reuse
I like the principles of reduce consumption or reuse things. When setting up a workspace is there something you can re-purpose as a desk? Or look on local sell or swap sites to see if anyone is offering a desk for sale or even for free. You can get all manner of paints to help repurpose items and it often works out much better financially too.
Also, consider the things on your desk – I am a prolific note taker and list maker. I could buy all manner of pretty notebooks but in reality, I just need some paper. I’ve made a point of gathering up the half used notebooks and started to finish those. I also recycle scrap paper for note taking too before it ends up in the recycling bin. Also trying to keep things digital rather than paper-based also reduces paper usage.
Bring nature indoors
Having plenty of natural light really helps to make everything feel better and having plants indoors helps with feeling better connected with nature. When I worked in an office I always liked to be sat near the plants as it was nice to see them flower over the year; it’s something I want to bring to our home working area.
Make recycling clear
A company called Seareach commissioned a survey recently about the top ten ways that UK offices have gone green, and one of the ways was to label waste bins and mark which are suitable for recycling. It can be hard to remember what can be recycled – particularly plastics and the such as our council only recycles certain types of plastics so the children and I have created a picture chart to remind us all which types of plastics can be recycled. When we are going through the various things and products for setting up our space there’s inevitably packaging waste, and the children are pretty hot at telling us what can go in what waste bin, and what needs to recycled elsewhere.
What other tips do you have for creating a greener working space at home?
