Boosting Office Sustainability: Summer Audits for Waste and Energy Management
As global warming and climate change impact our daily lives, it’s crucial to consider our impact on the world. From an organizational perspective, office sustainability is a critical way to reduce a business’s carbon footprint and maintain employees’ health and productivity.
Summer is the ideal time to consider this: temperatures rise, the cost of cooling office spaces impacts budgets and bills, and it’s time to think about corporate initiatives for the next quarter. Auditing waste and energy management is an initiative to champion at this time of year, when everyone is literally feeling the heat and the effects of climate change.
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Environmental Impact and Office Sustainability
The presence of mold, bacteria, and other environmental growth can have a negative impact on the environment around the office space, the building itself, and workers’ health. Often, office managers skip outdoor spaces or relegate the maintenance of outdoor spaces to landscapers. However, some areas may be prone to mold build-up.
To keep these areas clean and free of mold overgrowth, consider pressure washing services quarterly. Pressure washing keeps areas free of debris, contaminants found in bird droppings and other animal waste, and general dirt and grime.
Plus, pressure washing is sustainable because it doesn’t use harsh or harmful chemicals like other cleaning processes do. Instead, the high-pressure water stream flows naturally into the ground. You can use pressure washing on various surfaces such as main structure exteriors, sidewalks, parking garages, outdoor stairs, smokers’ enclaves, and more.
Waste Management and Personal Health
Employees’ personal health keeps companies moving, and it’s an integral part of office sustainability. Clean, healthy spaces mean office workers maintain their health in the office — and regular cleaning and reduction of dust can help make that happen.
For many, dust can irritate asthma and cause or exacerbate indoor allergies. Most indoor office dust comes in with people, through the door and on their shoes and clothing after they’ve been outside or in other indoor spaces with dust. If untreated, repeated exposure to dust can even lead to cardiovascular problems. Regular dusting and HVAC maintenance can help your workers stay safe and healthy.
Your Plan for Boosting Office Sustainability With an Audit
If you’re interested in creating sustainable practices in your office, a summer season audit can help. While you will set quarterly tasks as a result of the audit, you should revisit and re-audit each year during the summer season. Here are some things to consider when you perform your audit:
Outdoor Spaces
As mentioned above, outdoor spaces can reveal areas of potential waste, hazard, and harm to local wildlife, the environment, and your employees. Inspect outdoor areas for waste, water leaks, evidence of pests, and visible mold growth. After initial cleanup, make sure to obtain commercial cleaning services to ensure the area is fully clean.
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Be sure to remind your commercial cleaner that sustainability is important to you — that means no harsh chemicals outside.
Indoor Spaces
Indoor spaces can be a haven for sustainability issues. Workers might leave lights on when they leave the room and office equipment can really zap electricity. Dirt, dust, and grime can cause health issues, so regular cleaning services are required to sustain a healthy office.
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Don’t forget to inspect “extra” spaces like the company kitchen, bathrooms, lesser-used meeting rooms, and gyms. These spaces are particularly ideal havens for harmful viruses and bacteria, and if you’re relying on your office manager or other employees to be your professional cleaning staff, it’s time to rely on professional cleaners.
Implementing Changes Following Your Summer Sustainability Audit
The result of your audit should involve changes that make the workplace friendlier and healthier for every worker as well as the environment. In your indoor space, consider implementing policies about energy management (unplugging equipment on the weekends, installing lights that have auto-timers).
Make sure all trash and recycling are separate and clearly labeled, which will help workers place waste in the correct bin. Your commercial cleaners can ensure the recycling makes it into the appropriate place.
Devise a commercial cleaning schedule after consulting with your cleaning service. Determine how often cleaning services are required based upon use. Don’t forget to include seasonal factors and return to office (RTO) orders, as office space use can change dramatically depending on these variables.
Plan and budget for regular HVAC maintenance and the cleaning of outdoor spaces, and think about a quarterly audit list to check for needed changes, new areas that need cleaning, or problems that may crop up.
Communicate Your Sustainability Plan
Make sure you post and distribute clear signs and instructions about sustainability practices and ensure your office workers know about the commercial cleaning schedule and best practices, which can enable more efficient use of the cleaners’ time (for example, some offices uniformly set trash bins in the hallway at the end of the day).
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Be sure to communicate what you found in the audit, why sustainability is important to personal health and the environment, and what each person can do to ensure small changes add up. It’s also helpful to indicate openness to suggestions. If an employee sees an area that needs more regular cleaning or poses a hazard to the environment and the personal health of employees, establish a system for reporting it and communicating it to your professional cleaners.
