5 Top Tips for Creating a More Sustainable Office in 2023

With environmental policies becoming more important for companies, sustainable offices will become a big part of the future of business.

There are numerous methods that companies can utilise to create sustainable offices and to make their entire business operation more environmentally friendly.

From going paperless or using reduced and recyclable packaging from renewable sources to composting office kitchen waste, there are so many changes that can make a big impact on sustainability.

While there are multiple diverse approaches available to businesses that can boost your sustainability in the long term both financially and in terms of green credentials, some of them will be easier than others.

It’s certainly true that some methods can make a positive change without too many additional chores, and others are more of a challenge and investment for businesses, especially in terms of additional downtime.

So, what are some of the simplest, most effective, and least challenging ways that businesses can create more sustainable offices?

By far the best way is to find suppliers and partners who excel in sustainable practices and who offer services than can bolster your company’s sustainability.

By partnering with sustainability experts like Hardsoft, companies can access cutting-edge services that make your business more sustainable quickly and without lots of additional burdens.

Let’s look at 5 top tips for creating more sustainable offices and how Hardsoft can help companies with these changes.

5 Top Tips For A More Sustainable Office

1 Carbon Offsetting

Carbon offsetting is one of the easiest ways to make your company more sustainable. It is fast and stress-free for companies to become a carbon offset business and make up for the emissions that their operations release into the atmosphere.

Carbon offsetting works by businesses investing in emission reducing initiatives. These are projects that remove emissions from our atmosphere and compensate for them. It, therefore, balances out the harmful emissions released by your business operations.

When you become a carbon offset business, you receive certification and carbon credits detailing the volume of emissions that you have offset with your investment.

Carbon reduction initiatives include projects such as wind farming, reforestation, clean water projects, sustainable international travel research, converting waste into energy, etc.

Hardsoft can help businesses offset the environmental emissions cost of their IT hardware. We are one of the most affordable options for carbon offsetting and the whole process involves no extra labour from you. For just an extra 3% on top of your computer hardware lease, all your IT devices will be automatically offset. We are currently investing the money into wind farming in Brazil.

With Hardsoft you can also offset individual devices that you already own as well.

2 Recycling

Recycling is one of the best ways to create more sustainable offices. It reduces physical waste, energy, and emissions if carried out using green methods.

However, recycling is an extra chore for businesses and IT equipment recycling is especially complex. This is why Hardsoft can handle IT recycling for you. We use the very latest and greenest methods for recycling hardware and IT components. We take care of the whole device lifecycle, including recycling, so your offices can be sustainable without you lifting a finger.

3 Repurposing and Repairing

The creation of new products, especially IT equipment is a massive contributor to emissions and e-waste. To be truly sustainable, businesses need to look at decreasing demand for new products. This involves making the products that we do have, including computer equipment, last longer.

So, how can businesses make computer devices last longer without compromising on performance and work quality output?

The answer is by using talented specialists to repair and repurpose your IT hardware.

Hardsoft can use our technical team to repair your hardware and give it the longest life possible at peak performance, but we can also repurpose it. Repurposing hardware includes wiping sensitive data, updating any required parts for power and efficiency, and reconfiguring the device for a different user in the business.

That means that if an employee leaves, you can retain the hardware for new staff and have it secure and fully set up, and ready to go when they start work.

This enables businesses to get the full value from all their devices.

4 Be More Energy Efficient

Increasing your energy efficiency will reduce how much energy your business needs to use to produce the same top quality results.

By reducing your energy consumption, you limit your contribution to emissions via the use of fossil fuels. Cultivating greater energy efficiency is a great way to create more sustainable offices while saving money too.

High energy usage isn’t only bad for the environment, but also bad for businesses’ profit margins thanks to the rising cost of energy and the cost of living.

By investing in energy saving laptops, companies unlock a smart way to be more efficient and reduce emissions.

Hardsoft has specific Green Devices collections to make it even easier for businesses to make the ethical choice when it comes to their business hardware. Our MacBook Pros, Lenovo ThinkPads and Fairphones are part of our energy efficient laptop collection.

5 Embrace Remote Teams

One interesting method for greater sustainability is a feature that many businesses have resisted.

Embracing WFH staff can make a business significantly more environmentally friendly because it reduces energy costs in offices. Businesses save money and rely less on fossil fuels because they don’t need to heat their offices as much or as often or have as many lights on.

Additionally, the sustainability and kindness to the planet go further because WFH staff don’t need to commute as often, so it further reduces emissions from vehicles as well. Thanks to this there is also less pollution.

WFH can be scary for businesses due to security reasons, but Hardsoft has various services that make WFH easier and safer.

With remote deployment, Hardsoft can easily deliver fully configured devices to WFH staff.

With MDM management and enhanced cybersecurity options available with your support packages, businesses can control how devices and data are used even beyond the offices. Business owners can decide which apps their staff can use and how thanks to MDM management.

Why Should Sustainable Office Tactics Matter To Business Owners?

Sustainability is something that is increasingly on managers’ minds.

For some it may be a committed ethos of the company, for others, it might be about attracting customers with positive ethics, and for many, it might be due to the looming possibility of rising legal requirements in this area.

The concept of sustainability was once far more niche and had a lot to do with your industry, product, and/or customer base. It then became downright trendy as the population became more educated on climate change and pollution.

Now, environmental damage is something that is creating a tangible threat to our way of life in the present.

The effects of climate change and pollution are more noticeable in everyone’s daily lives and no longer a world away, out of sight, or out of mind. Flooding, drought, and other extreme weather have affected the UK in recent years.

As an island and one of the most urbanised countries in the world, Britain would be especially affected by rising sea levels due to climate change. We also outsource a lot of our waste responsibilities.

The UK ships two-thirds of its plastic waste to third-world countries and is the largest plastic waste creator in Europe and the second biggest plastic waste producer in the world, second only to the USA. We are now shipping in excess of 7133 metric tonnes of waste to non-OECD countries.

It is, therefore, little wonder that businesses are paying more attention and that the government has toyed with the notion of introducing fines for high greenhouse gas emitting companies.

While reducing emissions is not yet a legal requirement in the UK, this could change very suddenly and becomes a greater possibility as time progresses.

The government has already made a commitment to netzero emissions by 2050. The Environment Act has also been enshrined in law and the Environment Agency has fined some businesses for failure of environmental policy.

Companies must, therefore, think seriously about how they can be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.