Greening your business requires employee participation throughout the organization. Use stickers, labels and posters to inform and remind employees about specific actions. These ideas will also make it easy and result in greater savings for your business. Also, remember to recognize those employees that are contributing to success. As you design your employee education program, be sure to:
Communicate Desired Behavior
Person-to-person communication is the best way to educate employees. It is more effective than memos and results in less confusion and greater participation.
Staff Meetings
Spend 10-15 minutes quarterly or
twice per year at staff meetings to provide updates on new actions, discuss
concerns, present program results and address questions.
New Employee Orientation
Devote 10-15 minutes with new
employees to teach green practices associated with their job such as recycling,
managing spills, preventing stormwater pollution, properly managing fats, oils
and grease or purchasing green products.
Provide the Right Tools
These tools will make it easy to get employees on-board and result in greater savings for your business.
Recycling
For the most effective recycling program, staff will need properly labeled
containers placed in the most convenient locations.
- Containers.(PDF, 37kb). Provide enough and place them in the best places, i.e. next to garbage
containers and in high-traffic areas. Remember to place recycling bins in
conference rooms, kitchens and copy rooms, next to printers and near mail
boxes. Go to Recycling Container Suppliers for a list of
recycling container suppliers for the Puget Sound
region.
- Labels (PDF, 720
kb). Clearly label every container. If
your recycler did not provide you with the proper recycling container
labels, you can create your own (go to Effective Signage Guide & Samples (PDF, 720
kb), download Resource Venture’s container
labels, or order free,
self-adhesive, indoor labels by visiting our Stickers, Labels, and Posters
page.
Stormwater Pollution Prevention
To implement best management practices (BMPs), staff need good cleaning
tools, storage containers and equipment to use in case of a spill or for
equipment maintenance
- Spill
Kits. If there is a chance that pollutants could be
carried by rainwater off your site, your business is required to:
- Create and follow a
spill prevention and clean up plan
- Keep a spill kit with
response equipment anywhere spills may occur
- Train your employees
in how to prevent and respond to spills
- Cleaning. Provide the
equipment needed for staff to implement best management practices for
pollution prevention. These include:
- Pot scrapers for
scraping fats, oils and grease off before washing this residue down the
drain.
- Brooms for sweeping
surfaces rather than washing with water that will carry residues and
potential pollutants down drains
- Grease trap testers
that indicate when a trap is 25% full of solids and needs cleaning
- Outdoor storage
containers with tight fitting lids to prevent potential pollutants from
leaking into stormdrains
Water Conservation
Installing water efficient equipment is the most effective way to conserve
water for your business.
- Replace sink faucet nozzles
with aerators that are rated at 1.0 gallons per minute or less.
Low-flow aerators can reduce your business's water consumption and energy
costs by up to 50%.
- Upgrade to water efficient
spray heads, faucets, shower heads and toilets.
- Install water efficient
appliances and large equipment such as washers, ice machines, food
steamers and irrigation systems.
Keep Employees
Interested
These ideas have been proven as effective means to initiate and sustain
behavior change in the workplace.
- Add a Green Business column
to your company’s employee newsletter or intranet.
- Send reminder emails. Send
out monthly emails with Green Business tips. Below are several links where
you can copy and paste tips and factoids for your monthly emails.
WSRA's Hot Topic Fact Sheets
EPA's
Environmental Factoids
Archive
of NRDC Tips & Facts
Metro's Fast Facts About Waste
Reduction
- Report Success and Savings -
Employees will stay interested if they know their actions are making a
difference.
