Think Green

Giving Your Storage a Fresh Look

Posted on August 12, 2014

We’ve all thrown out furniture that we no longer want or need, but what about schools and leisure centres? Have they ever thought of getting new lockers and throwing out the old ones? Well think again. How about taking those lockers and upcycling them, giving them a new home and a new role to play? After crawling the internet for some nice looking, ex-lockers I thought I’d share with you my selected favourites. Lockers obviously come in all shapes and sizes and this one seems perfect to store your shoes in. Nicely decorated and labelled with family member’s names. Credit Pinterest &n...

Why You Should Have Plants in Your Office

Posted on June 25, 2013

Ever wondered why the office feels so stuffy after someone’s been churning out reams on the photocopier all day or why more people take sick leave during winter? It’s because the pollutants from office equipment produce the kind of low humidity levels usually only found in winter. Now, you could get together and insist your boss spend a fortune on humidity creating equipment. Problem is—these new-fangled machines harbour bacteria and can be noisy. No, you’d be much better off petitioning your boss to introduce a few plants. If he refuses, try pointing out that improving office air quality is proven to reduce sick leave and the introduction of plants has the added benefit of increasing productivity. Indeed, more plants means improved concentration levels and an altogether happier work force, but your employer should be aware that going overboard could have negative effects. Don’t be surprised if you walk into the office one day and find Nutty Norma chatting to Simple...

Exercise Whilst Travelling to Work

Posted on April 03, 2013

Here at The Workplace Depot, most of the staff either walk, cycle or take public transport to work, and even walk into the town for lunch! So this is why we thought it would be a great idea to join The Big Wheel Campaign, which is to start on the 8th April. It is all about encouraging companies to exercise more by walking, cycling or use public transport to travel to work - and whoever travels the most miles via these methods, wins! But it's not just about the winning, its the taking part and considering we won the Silver Green Apple Award last year, we want to keep that up! Any workplace can join in with the campaign or just do it themselves. Most commuters spend at least 30 minutes to 2 hours per day t...

Energy Saving Tips for the Workplace

Posted on March 01, 2013

Energy Saving Tips for the Workplace Improving your business's energy efficiency makes great business sense. In uncertain times for the UK's economy, more and more businesses are having to make cuts, just to keep afloat. Saving energy in the workplace, can change your business dramatically and save you more money than you think. Following on from our case on 'Becoming a 'Greener' Company, here are some energy saving tips: Appliances -Turn both the PC and the monitor off at night – switching off your monitor and computer could save around £100 each year. It could also save the same amount of carbon a year that is emitted from driving a car 3,000 miles. -Turn off any appliances th...

Recycling Campaign

Posted on December 03, 2012

A new campaign has been launched in Nottinghamshire to encourage locals to recycle more efficiently. Veolia Environmental Services, the county's waste collector, and Nottinghamshire County Council have been working together on a campaign called 'Are you Bin Smart?' to remind residents which items can and can't be recycled. This will not only help to reduce bin contamination but will also ensure that materials can be sorted efficiently at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) based in Forest Town, Mansfield. The campaign was first piloted in Mansfield and, following it's success, will be rolled out across Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Newark and Sherwood and Rushcliffe. 18,000 households across Nottinghamshire will receive an information pack from Veolia which will explain what household items can be recycled. The packs include a leaflet and a bin sticker and the public are being directed to the Are...

Reasons an Environmentalist Might Hate Christmas

Posted on November 28, 2012

It's that time of year again, Christmas! The annual event that brings everyone together, family, friends, work colleagues, includes events such as stuffing ourselves silly with Christmas treats, chocolate, party snacks and singing and dancing to cheesy classics such as Mistletoe and Wine by Sir Cliff Richard and John Lennon's Happy Christmas (War is Over). But does anyone think about the environmental implications Christmas has on the world? Facts about Christmas and the environment According to The Mirror online in 2009, 200,000 trees are felled to make the 1.7 billion Christmas cards sent in the UK and 750,000 letters are sent to Santa by children in the UK each year. In all honesty, how many people put their cards in recycling bins once January 6th comes around? In the 21st century, and all the technology we have today, why don't children and citizens of...

Case Study – Becoming a 'Greener' Company

Posted on November 06, 2012

In 2012 the Workplace Depot decided to become a more environmentally aware organisation and set a good example for staff and customers. Having implemented a number of ideas we applied for and won a Green Apple Award in recognition or our environmental efforts. A number of companies have asked us what things we did to win our green business credentials, so here is an outline of most of what we did. Reduction in paper use The Workplace Depot produces a 500+ page workplace supplies catalogue which we distribute to all our customers and network of distributors. The number of catalogues we send out runs into many thousands but our next edition will use a smaller paper size and require less paper. As part of this strategy to reduce ...

Think Green Initiative #1 - Simply Recycle

Posted on May 24, 2012

Sometimes, thinking outside the box can be hard work. New initiatives can take lots of effort and time to develop and implement. Why start big? Sometimes the simplest things are the most effective. You often hear the term "build from the foundations up", well this is what we plan on doing with our first Think Green initiative... RECYCLE! It sounds so simple but that is exactly what we will try to do more of. We are trying to raise awareness within our head office to promote correct waste management. Each desk and office has been provided with one of our mini recycling bins and we will be encouraging all staff to use them correctly. Training to ensure awareness of the correct bins to use will be given and we will be providing extra perks for the staff who really give it a go by means of saying thank-you. ...