Seeking Creative Ideas for Our Week-Long Go Green Office Drive – How Would You Contribute?

I am planning to organize a GO GREEN drive in the office. I kindly request all of you to assist me by providing your inputs for planning this week-long drive with different sets of activities scheduled for each day.

Current Plan

Thus far, the following has been decided:
- One day will be dedicated to Tree Plantation.

I am eagerly looking forward to receiving some creative ideas that align with our Green Initiative.

Thanks,
Shraddha

Mural-Making Competition

- Mural-making competition with a "Save Environment" theme.

Slogan Competition

- Slogan competition on the "Save Environment" platform.

Photography Competition

- Photography competition on the "Save Environment" platform.

Special Resolutions

- Special resolutions to save electricity, paper, and avoid using paper cups for tea/coffee/water.

Cycling Initiative

- Drive a cycle for some days a week.

As it is a go-green initiative, it is related to nature. Nature is the best source for stress relief.

Stress-Relieving Activity: Daydream

A stress-releasing activity, i.e., Daydream, can be done in place of tree plantation where participants can be asked to imagine that place as green and as beautiful as they can. This will help them to work wholeheartedly and be clear on the focus.

Congratulations on taking the initiative to promote a green environment. You can suggest to your team to reduce paper usage and avoid unnecessary printing of documents. Additionally, consider organizing a vehicle-free day at your office, where all vehicles are prohibited within the office premises on that specific day.

You could also create awareness programs by visiting nearby schools and colleges. Encourage your team members to refrain from using or purchasing items made of plastic, such as plastic bags and containers made from low-quality plastics.

Regards,
Priya
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Instead of paper cups, team members can be provided with normal glasses and cups (washable, which we normally use at home). If necessary to print, print on both sides of the paper. Within the office, instead of sending paper hardcopy letters, memos, notices, improve your intranet so that all information is posted on the company intranet, and all people can read it on computers. Even salary slips are only available on our personal accounts in the company intranet (no hard copy), so avoid the use of paper. Even leave applications are also done online in our company with no paper used.

Regards,
Fani

Quite a few good suggestions have already come. You may try the following:

1. Encourage all forms of energy saving. Turn off unwanted lights, fans, ACs, etc.

2. If there are high energy-consuming appliances like ACs or refrigerators, periodically replace them with efficient ones.

3. If there is space on your premises, encourage tree sapling plantations by customers.

4. At a distant place where land is available, organize special programs to distribute saplings of trees.

5. Encourage the use of pool cars.

6. Discourage the overstay of persons beyond office hours (this should have management backing).

7. With slight modifications, if you can get natural light/air into the premises, explore those opportunities.

8. If company policy permits, encourage people to work from home on a selective basis.

9. Invite nearby school children and conduct an awareness program to help the next generation.

10. Try to conserve water by avoiding wastage, reuse, and recycle.

11. Restrict/avoid thin plastics entering your premises.

Regards,
V. Raghunathan
Navi Mumbai

You may consider the Rainwater Harvest Project, run by different Energy Consultancies. We managed a similar program for our employees at EDS, where they could work alongside the consultants in that project. This extended beyond the office environment, allowing us to engage employees in CSR activities and even build future leaders beyond their current task lists.

A few techniques came in handy and helped employees implement them even at their homes. The Windmill project is a little pricey but can be considered if you have the budget for it. This way, you bring a huge non-monetary benefit to the employee and serve society.

Wish you all the best!

You may like to conduct an environmental quiz program for your employees. You may also have a brainstorming program on going green by asking participants to give their ideas and thoughts, and provoking discussions. Debating on some topics of going green is also a good idea.

Best Regards,
B.S. Gopala Krishna, BE (Elect), DIS (CLI)
OM Sri Krishna Environment, Safety & Occupational Health Consultants
Lead Assessor ISO14001/OHSAS 18001
Mobile No: [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]
Residence No: [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]
Bangalore 560079

While daily tips exist for all of us to follow, when a department takes initiative like this, you can come up with ideas that yield visible real-time results, such as:

a. Educating the employees on the importance and easy ways of waste segregation at their homes by demonstrating the same in the office.

b. Many of us use RO water filters, yet do we actually save that non-potable water for washing purposes? If done on a daily basis, this practice can lead to significant results even at the individual level.

c. Whenever we use disposables such as paper napkins and wet wipes, they can be utilized completely instead of just once. If a wipe is larger than needed, it can be cut in half. This reduces disposable waste and saves money. People often consider it a matter of dignity to use such items and may even ridicule those who attempt to cut them in half or use one side of the sheets for rough purposes.

The real change required is in our thinking rather than merely searching for tips and using them for a week or two.