Green Office Week day 4 – Purchasing as part of the sustainable business strategy

Green Office Week focuses on Purchasing on the fourth day of the initiative and this is a topic close to our heart because we know so many sustainable ways that companies can make a huge difference to their carbon footprint.

It’s true that by better management of consumables such as stationery, printer supplies and so on, that businesses can be greener. But they will have the biggest impact if their purchasing strategies include the acquisition of office solutions that cut carbon and save money,

Avery, the office supplies specialist that is driving Green Office Week, offers five tips on Green Purchasing today, and we wanted to expand on two of them:

• When choosing electrical products, choose items with energy star ratings which are more efficient and economical to run.
• Switch to a green energy tariff which will help towards investment in clean energy from renewable sources

We couldn’t agree more. Companies should be looking at their lighting products, both internal and external, and taking stock on how they can replace current solutions with products that will cut carbon footprint substantially. These solutions will also save a massive amount of money by slashing electricity use.

For example, retro-fitting the right kind of internal LED lighting reduces energy use by up to 85 per cent, reducing carbon footprint by 80 per cent and also gives out 85 per cent less heat. You would also reduce your maintenance costs by 80 per cent Find out more here.

Exterior lighting costs can be a significant “fixed cost” for businesses, although with the spiralling bills from electricity suppliers, that “fixed” element is looking less certain. If your external lighting demands are high, there are solutions that would deliver savings of up to 75 per cent. See the light here.

There are other ways of reducing energy consumption and so cutting carbon emissions. Think about how water is heated in your offices and consider retro fitting tap aerators, eco smart taps and eco shower heads – three simple, cost-effective ways to reduce water consumption and the energy needed to heat the water.

These solutions pay for themselves very quickly and then go on delivering savings month on month, year on year. In fact, you can quickly see the water savings by using our flow bags, measuring before and after installation of the chosen products – we provide these for free when we deliver your orders.

We’ve shared thoughts on the first three days’ initiatives: Energy, Transport and Waste, all of which in their own ways reflect our business vision and underline our proven strategies to help both companies and consumers cut carbon and save money.

As an added bonus, these solutions have no negative impact on performance or the people using them – they are invisible miracles.

Tomorrow (Friday 17^th May) is the last day of Green Office Week, rounding off with “Innovation” and Avery is encouraging every office professional in the UK to be “a true green champion” by extending the Green Office Week themes into daily work life.

For us, that includes asking their companies’ sustainability stakeholders about energy and water-saving initiatives that have a strong impact on carbon emissions and business costs. You can find out more about Green Office Week here.

If you have any questions or want to find out more about our money saving, carbon cutting solutions, just contact us or call us on 0845 123 5464.