Ethically Kate: How can I encourage sustainable practices in my workplace without coming across as an ‘eco-warrior’?

Kate Hall talks through three key ways you can encourage a more sustainable workplace. Photo / Getty

Kate Hall explains some practical ways to encourage sustainability in the workplace.

I cannot guarantee your reputation as a “tree-hugging hippy” will stay beneath the surface, but I can assure you that it’s worth taking the risk. Three key sustainable workplace areas to tackle are mobility (how your people get to the office and/or move around during work), office waste, and workplace values.

Let’s start with mobility.

This may involve talking to the office administrator about the logistics of workplace showers for cycle commutes or chatting with your manager to request flexibility of work hours due to bus routes.

If the nature of your work requires travel throughout the country, suggest a sustainable flying policy that encourages only necessary trips, rather than jumping on a domestic flight for a 30-minute meeting.

Electric vehicles are also becoming more popular in workplace fleets and can save money for the business, especially as petrol costs increase. If change around mobility will not happen easily, simply start with a discussion on sustainable commuting with your office or your closest workmates.

Strategising your office waste is the lowest-hanging fruit.

Check that your office manager has clearly instructed the cleaners on where the recycling goes. At my previous job we separated everything diligently in the lunchroom, but at the end of every day, the cleaners dropped it all into the same waste bin!

Instigate a reusable office serviceware system, for example, a stack of bowls and plates for people to take to get their lunch to avoid single-use plastic containers.

If you are up for it, visit the cafe where everyone gets their coffee. Ask if they would provide an exclusive discount for people who work at your office and bring their reusable cups. Speaking from experience, this incentivisation works a treat. I watched the takeaway coffee cups in the rubbish bin drop dramatically.

Has your office started composting yet?

Generally, a household’s waste bin is 50 per cent organic matter that should be diverted from landfill at all costs.

Although this statistic is different in various workplaces, there is still a need for composting at work.

If someone in your workplace isn’t keen to take the compost home (most composters will be grateful for the extra resources to turn into soil), find a local composting company that will pick it up - I promise they are out there.

Last, but certainly not least, is the focus on sustainable values?

No matter what your workplace specialises in, whether you sell computer equipment or provide financial advice, the most important part of becoming a sustainable workplace is to implement sustainable values that are enforced during the induction of new staff and carried through in every meeting.

When sustainable values are clear and consistent, they come through in all decision-making.

Sustainability cannot stay within the “green team”; values need to be spread heavily through the company, like a thick layer of whatever you like on your toast, so they can turn into action.