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8 Easy Ways to Have an Eco-Friendly Office

Posted: November 11, 2019

Business Type: Office

"Employees in offices with sustainability practices are 16% more productive"¹

Offices with sustainability practices have employees who are 16% more productive.¹ These practices can increase employee engagement and raise morale around the office. Eco-friendly and green initiatives are a big part of the culture here at Keurig: the brand transitioned to recyclable K-Cup^® pods in Canada in 2018, and is on track to make all K-Cup^® pods 100% recyclable by the end of 2020. (To see if yours are recyclable, check for the green recycling symbol.)

More cities and towns are mandating recycling, banning plastic bags, and implementing environmentally responsible waste disposal. Don’t let your office fall behind. Here are a few easy ways to implement eco-friendly habits in your office.

1. Put office recycling bins within reach

Make recycling opportunities available throughout the office. Employees are likely to recycle if receptacles are easily accessible, and even more likely if the bins are in plain sight.² They’ll also serve double duty as a visual reminder to have overall greener habit.

The K-1500^™ Small Business Brewer is a simple way of enticing workers to hit the kitchen, not the coffee shop. The popular system has 4 cup size options, a “strong” button (for those seeking something more potent), and Quiet Brew Technology^™—a must for open floor plans. With the brewer and an assortment of seasonal K-Cup^® pod flavors like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters^® Pumpkin Spice Coffee, employees will be able to get their fix just steps from their desk instead of around the corner.

2. How to recycle K-Cup^® pods

Keurig^® Commercial offers workplaces an easy way to recycle K-Cup^® pods through the Grounds to Grow On^® program. Employees can dispose of used K-Cup^® pods in their office’s Grounds to Grow On^® bin. Once full, hand the bin off to UPS (using the prepaid shipping label provided) so it can be returned for processing. G2 revolution^®, an innovative recycling company, then helps to separate the K-Cup^® pods’ foil and plastic components, turning them turned into recycled products (like aluminum cans and shipping pallets) and composting the coffee grounds.³

Professional Woman at her office, recycling a used K-Cup Pod by placing it in a Grounds to Grow On Box next to the brewer

3. Sustainability is important to your employees

Giving stats and success metrics provides positive reinforcement for a new habit. It also lets your employees know that the office is delivering on its promise for more eco-friendly practices. With an influx of millennials in the workplace, research has shown that 90% of employees aged 18 – 34 feel it’s important to work for a company with sustainable practices, while only 84% of Gen X-ers and 77% of Baby Boomers share this sentiment.⁴ Appeasing this increasingly eco-forward workforce will not only make your office a more environmentally-friendly place, it will also make it a more desirable place to work and can aid in employee retention.

How Each Generation Prioritizes a Company's Sustainability Practices when Seeking Employment⁴

4. Fund your sustainability efforts

Goodwill alone won’t create a greener office. Recycling bins, reusable items, and greener office supplies all cost money. With items like Grounds to Grow On^®bins, low-cost recycling containers, and many U.S. states offering refunds for recycled plastic and glass, an investment in recycling can ultimately earn you money.⁵

5. Working at home is a green perk

Allowing work-from-home or hot-desking some employees can cut down on carbon emissions from the daily commute. One employee commuting in a typical passenger vehicle will emit roughly 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.⁶ Using video chat and online meetings can also cut down on travel for meetings.

Cup of Coffee

Easy on the AC

6. Conserve energy in the office

Dialing up the office thermostat only 1 or 2 degrees in the summer conserves a massive amount of energy. Plus, you’ll be cutting down significantly on your building operations costs over time. By raising the temperature on your office thermostat by as little as 7 degrees overnight you could save up to 10% on your annual cooling costs.⁷ Those few degrees overnight will cut down on carbon emissions significantly and stop you from throwing your money away cooling an empty office.

7. Easy ways to use less electricity

Several small changes around the office like installing motion-detecting lights and timed computer monitors could slash your electricity bill each month. Most laptops consume up to 80% less electricity than the average desktop computer and only require roughly one-fifth to one-third as much energy.⁸ In the breakroom, many Keurig^® Commercial brewers have energy-save modes, so they don’t continue to run when not in use.

8. Print less to decrease office waste

In the average American office, 45% of all documents printed in a day find themselves in the trash by the end of the same day.⁹In the United States alone paper consumption has increased 126% in the last 20 years, from 92 million tons to 208 million tons.⁹This increase has occurred simultaneously with technological advancements that provide the opportunity for workplaces to become nearly paperless. Pass on the paper and turn to tech for everyday documents and files.

More and more companies implement eco-friendly programs every year. It boosts employee engagement and morale, and can also save your company a ton of money over time.