EPMEPM: Productivity

How Green is Your Office?

It’s not surprising that Real Estate offices are among the highest users of paper, but have you considered how much excess water, energy and other natural resources your workplace might be using? Not only will reducing your ecological footprint help the environment, it will save your business money and can potentially strengthen relationships with customers (and attract new ones!). It’s easy to get started.

Top five tips to reduce your office’s impact on the environment

  1.  Measure your ecological footprint
    If you’re about to focus on “greening” your office, a good starting point is to measure your ecological footprint – or the amount of finite natural resources you are using in your business. You can quickly gain an overview of your main areas of resource usage so that you can develop strategies to reduce your environmental impact in these areas. There are many footprint calculators available online. As an example, try EPA Victoria’s calculator at www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/calculators/ Once you’ve measured your ecological footprint, involve your team in setting objectives and targets, implementing strategies and measuring progress towards building a greener office.
  2. Recycle, recycle, recycle!
    At the most basic level, you should be using separate bins in your office to separate paper, glass, aluminium and other recyclables for your local rubbish collection. Think of the other items in your office that can be re-used or recycled. Did you know that ink and toner cartridges are a huge contributor to landfill but they can be easily collected and recycled via Planet Ark’s ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ program? You can register for a free collection box at www.planetart.org.au and help the materials in used cartridges be recycled for use in other products or be re-manufactured back into working cartridges.Paper is the largest component of solid waste generated by offices. As well as recycling your used paper, you can conserve resources by buying recycled content office paper. The Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW publishes a guide to purchasing recycled content office paper, including a list of paper brand names, country of manufacture and percentage of recycled fibre at www.environment.nsw.gov.au
  3. Electronic document management
    The concept of the “paperless office” is becoming more achievable with electronic document management systems (DMS) available to suit the needs of even the smallest businesses. Not only will a dedicated DMS save paper, storage/archive space and the time spent on manual filing tasks, it has the benefit of assisting staff who work remotely ie from home, “on the road” or other branch locations. Talk to Rockend www.rockend.com.au about DMS systems specific to Property Management.
  4. Become energy efficient
    The simplest steps to becoming energy efficient are as basic as turning off lights when not required, unplugging electric devices (like mobile phone chargers) from powerpoints when not in use and logging off and turning off your computer when unattended for long periods. Choosing the right lighting for the job and replacing old lights with new energy efficient lights is also a good place to start. Visit www.neco.com.au for buying guides on energy efficient lighting and other products.First National Real Estate has recently launched a national energy efficiency program, recognising a corporate responsibility to make its offices environmentally friendly and provide advice to its customers on how they can lessen energy consumption – helping the planet but helping family budgets at the same time. First National has also partnered with Greening Australia to encourage its Real Estate customers to plant Australian Native Plants in their backyards. See how First National is turning over a new leaf at www.firstnational.com.au/energyefficient
  5. Save water
    Most people tend to associate water conservation with activities in the home such as turning off taps, installing low-flow showerheads and limiting car washing and garden watering, but it is equally important in the office – even if your office is within a retail centre. Report dripping taps, leaking plumbing and faulty toilets to your maintenance officer, or if this is your responsibility then have them repaired. Not only are you wasting water but you are pouring money down the drain which directly impacts your financial bottom line. As a Real Estate professional, you are also in a socially responsible position that enables you to advise your clients, tenants and landlords on ways that they too can conserve water. Proactively provide them with contact details for your local council or tradespeople that can help them install water tanks and greywater systems, make their swimming pools water neutral and implement other household water saving strategies. It’s also an excellent relationship building exercise between your office and its clients plus local tradespeople.

For more information and plenty of ideas on how to make your workplace more sustainable, sign up to receive GreenWorks, an electronic newsletter developed by Planet Ark, delivered to your inbox once every six weeks.www.planetark.org.au

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John Goddard

John Goddard is the former CEO of Rockend since 2004. He is personally committed to life-long learning and encourages all Rockend staff to take control of their personal development, both through work and personal learning.