Tips for Building a Sustainable Office in a Post-COVID World

As we move toward an increasingly COVID-19-free future, office lights around the world are beginning to flick on, and desks that have been vacant since early 2020 are slowly becoming occupied once more.

With the workforce returning to in-person business, industry leaders have been turning their attention to office sustainability, employee comfort, and work arrangements that make sense for business—and the planet.

Fortunately, if you’re looking for sustainable solutions that work for your team, the planet, and your bottom line, you’re in the right place. In this blog, our team explores different steps for promoting sustainable choices as we go back to work in person. Keep reading to learn more!

Find the Sustainable Solutions That Make Sense for Your Office

“Going green” doesn’t have to be a challenge, especially if you’re new to making sustainable choices at work. If you’re ready to get started shifting your office space to incorporating more sustainable practices, here are five tips to get you started.

1. Start Recycling Your Glass, Paper, and Plastic

Take a moment and think of all the areas in your workplace where there is a trash can. What is your team throwing away? Paper towels in the bathroom? Misprints in the copy room? Empty food containers in the kitchen? Diverting these recyclable materials from the trash can to the recycle bin is a great first step to a more sustainable office.

If you’re already recycling and looking to go a step further, consider a compost bin for food scraps. Many cities have composting programs that can even take your food scraps away and turn them into compost, diverting waste from a landfill.

2. Reduce Office Energy Use

Making sure the lights are turned off and electronics are unplugged before heading home for the night only takes minutes, but these small changes can slash your energy bills and make a big difference on your office’s environmental footprint. Even adjusting the temperature on the thermostat by a single degree will have tangible results. For every degree that you turn the thermostat down during the winter months, you can save around 3% on your energy bill.

If you’re ready to take it a step further, consider switching to LED bulbs and installing movement sensors that automatically turn lights off when someone leaves the room.

3. Reduce Consumption of Single-Use Items

The office is full of opportunities to cut back on items destined for the landfill. Instead of continuing to toss plastic silverware, individually packaged snacks, takeout containers, and other single-use items in the trash, look for reusable swaps that cut back on waste.

Consider replacing plastic utensils with metal, single-serve snacks with a larger bag, and wash and recycle takeout containers when you can.

4. Encourage Active Commuting

As a company with roots in China, Zen principles inform everything we do. Staying connected with our bodies promotes health and wellness, and it can help make your office more sustainable, too. Active commuting is a great way to reduce your employees’ carbon footprint and stay healthy at the same time. Consider implementing incentives for walking, biking, and bussing to work, or encourage employees to carpool to the office to reduce their carbon footprint.

If you’re ready to make active commuting even easier for your team, consider creating a designated bike storage area, shower facilities for people to freshen up after a long ride, and locked storage for helmets, saddlebags, and other gear.

5. Invest in Sustainably Manufactured Office Furniture

When you need a new couch for your lobby or desk for your executive’s office, take the opportunity to invest in furniture that’s designed and manufactured to be sustainable. Signs a brand is genuinely invested in sustainability (and not just “greenwashing” their products) include recognized certifications of sustainability, using recycled and recyclable components, and designing products to last.

At ZGO Solutions, every desk frame, table, and benching system that we create—from the initial design to the materials we use to bring it to life—is chosen, designed, and created with sustainability in mind. We’re proud of the extra thought and work that goes into every aspect of our products that have earned us ISO and SA8000® certificates for the care we have for our workers and the environment. As a manufacturer of electric desks, ZGO Solutions furthered our commitment to sustainable design by using only 0.1w of standby power consumption in all of our product lines. Apart from keeping energy bills low, this low energy consumption in our products allow us to leave as minimal a footprint on the environment as possible.

Plus, our systems are designed to change with your office. By using our groundbreaking Smart System™ to configure and reconfigure your setup, you can completely transform your desking configuration to meet your team’s ever-changing wants and needs.

RELATED: Going Back to the Office? Here’s How ZGO Solutions Can Create a Positive Back-to-Work Environment

Ready to Implement Sustainable Design in Your Office? ZGO Solutions Is Ready to Help

ZGO Solutions products are designed to be beautiful and promote a healthy lifestyle. With influences from Scandinavian design and Chinese Zen principles, ZGO Solutions products are built to last, making sure long-term quality and performance is something you can expect. Customizable options ensure that you aren’t compromising on your office’s needs, but can get the desking system that promotes efficiency, creativity, and productivity for your office.

If you’re looking to make sustainable choices in your office design, the small decisions are just as important as the big ones. Discover what ZGO Solutions has to offer you, including our acclaimed Zen collection that keeps sustainability and health at the forefront.

To learn more about our products and the sustainable design practices implemented into each one, contact us! We look forward to speaking with you, learning about your needs, or helping you place an order.

References

O’Leary, K. (2012, May 15). How Much is 1° Worth?. EnergyHub. Retrieved from https://info.energyhub.com/blog/how-much-is-one-degree-worth