Reducing Office Waste and Environmental Impact

The assignment focuses on implementing sustainable practices within an office environment. It details initiatives such as selective waste bins for paper, plastic, and aluminum, reusing printed A4 papers, utilizing shared online storage (Sharepoint), and adopting hot desking policies. The document emphasizes the importance of employee involvement in environmental responsibility and highlights the positive impacts on resources, efficiency, and financial costs.

Part I
This assignment is based on the supplies and resources, my co-workers and I use every
day in our office. This office is shared by eighteen employees, including myself. There are a lot
of resources we use on a daily basis with high levels of use.
These are my notes on the usage of the resources in one day:
Resources Level of Usage Current Usage
Desk supplies (pens, pencils,
tape, highlighter, paper clips,
stapler, scissors, Rubbish
Bin)
Pens: Low
Pencils: Low
Tape: Very Low
Highlighter: Medium
Paper Clips: Low
Stapler: Low
Scissors: Very Low
Rubbish Bin: High
The use of these resources
have reduced due
to technological
advancement, and
every work being
undertaken on
computers.
However, these are
otherwise used by
the employees
when documenting
a certain project,
or taking down
personal notes.
Technological Supplies (18
Surface Pros, 18 Monitors, 2
printers, 1 fax machine, 18
Mobile Phones & 3 Tablets)
Surface Pros: Very High
Printers: Medium
These are the technological
resources primarily
used by the
employees to

Fax machine: Very Low
Monitors: High
MobilePhones: Very High
Tablets: High
undertake their work,
and communicate
with other people.
The use of fax
machine has been
replaced by emails
and hence, its usage
level is very low.
Paper (personal notebooks, A4
& A3 Paper)
Personal Notebooks: Low
A4 Paper: Medium
A3 Paper: Low
Not many people make use of
notebooks, however, A4 sized
paper is often used for taking a
print of the work carried out
on the system. However, it is
assured to make an optimum
usage.
Electricity, Water, Fuel, Gas Electricity: Very High
Water: Very high
Fuel: High
These are the resources which
form the basic resources, for
employees to survive.
Electricity make the computers
functional, water is utilized for
drinking purposes as well as in
rest rooms. The vehicles of the
company make use of fuel, and
gas is used for preparation of
tea, coffee and such other
things.
The different scale mentioned for representing the level of usage denotes:
Very High – high level of utilization

High – utilized on a daily basis at all times
Medium – used once or twice in a day
Low – utilized once in a while
very low – usage has almost been extinguished
The management of the company has adopted a sustainable approach in utilization of
resources, especially in respect to the important usage of electricity, water and fuel. The daily
consumption levels are recorded, in order to keep a track. In this manner the management has
reduced the level of wastage. For instance, consumption of fuel has been reduced as the concept
of pooling has been introduced wherein 4-5 employees travel by a single car. It is important to
note that with an increase in technological advancement, the need of human resource has reduced
for various activities. Thus, the dependency of all the systems on technology has increased to a
significant level.
Part II
Recently, our organisation changed policy on the resource efficiency, referring also to
environmental issues. We started purchasing only recycled paper for our notebooks and printable
paper, we have also gotten rid of all of our desktop machines and now all staff have a Surface
Pro, which can be connected to one larger monitor if required. Staff no longer have their own
personal work space, but rather hot desk around the office. We have also started to purchase our
toner and ink cartridge from eco friendly stores. As a part of the green office movement, our
organisation has removed our compactors filing system and have gone completely digital. All
paperwork that was in these compactors have been recorded in our system and sent to National
Archives. Paperwork from 2013 onwards has been scanned into and filed in our Sharepoint
Document Management System. All new documents that are produced are now produced
digitally, and are no longer printed.
Our organisation recycles not only paper and cardboard, but also damaged and old
computers and monitors, toner & ink cartridges, batteries and furniture.
To improve our approach to the environmental issues, help reduce the waste coming from
our office and be aware on the ways we, as employees can help. This is why my team is trying to
set a limit on the waste and recycling as much we can, without interrupting the working process.

In order to keep up with our goals, our team has some creative ways to achieve
effectiveness and environmental awareness. First we have selective bins to separate plastic from
paper and other organic or aluminum materials. This maximizes the recycle process. Other than
that we try to take notes on the back of A4 papers that have been printed on before and no longer
serve their purposes. We also use these papers in the fax machine. The fax machine is no longer
used as frequently, as most documentation is emailed. Also we now use shared online storage
(Sharepoint) and share our desks (hot desking). We also don’t print out too much documentation
anymore as we either use our internal Sharepoint system to share files, or when leaving the
office, we upload our documentation to USB to use in meetings outside the office or download
the document onto our Surface Pro.
We have invested in security software for all of our Surface Pros. The old computers &
laptops are also recycled as the contract predicts.
In conclusion I think it is not enough that only the board of directors and senior
management, takes care of the offices’ environmental issues. It is a job that includes all
employees. There are no negative effects, the resources are maximized, we are efficient in our
work and finances and as a group we learn to communicate and co-operate. This new policy
helps the environment and reduces the costs for our organisation.
The activities at our workplace are subject to various rules and regulations such as Waste
Electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), Electrical Equipment Regulations 1994 and so on.
In pursuance to the same the management has introduced an effective measure for ensuring a
proper disposal of all kind of wastage or recycling it. All the equipments which become
redundant over the time are either given back to the respective industries or recycled in a proper
manner. All the domestic safety regulations are strictly complied with, and in pursuance to the
same special training sessions are also organized for the employees. In order to ensure
compliance with all the regulations a monitoring team has been established, which assures no
wastage goes un noticed. Moreover, the utilization of resources is made in an optimum manner,
for instance the workplace is lit up only to the extent required. In addition, a functional grievance
department has also been installed, which accept complaints even in connection to exploitation
of any of the resources. A strict action is taken if the complaint is found to be true after
investigation of the issue.