Plastic Free Tips for Your Workplace

1. Provide refillable water station. A reusable water bottle only works if you have a spot to fill it up. Providing your team with a place to fill up their water bottles will help ensure that they are using reusable bottles over plastic.

2.  Stock plates, cups, and utensils in the kitchen. Employees will often bring their own lunch or pick up takeout from nearby restaurants. To cut down on the plastic they use, offer communal plates, cups, and utensils. Don’t forget to provide some dish soap and a sponge so they can be cleaned for the next person.

3. Gift your team reusable gear. If you want your team to be more sustainable in their habits, make it easier for them by gifting them reusable gear. Everyone loves a reusable coffee mug and water bottle. Take it a step further by offering reusable utensils and straws too. You can even brand the gear with your company logo to make your team look unified and spread your company name when your employees use their gear outside of the office.

4. Provide loose coffee and tea grounds. There’s no denying we can all use a little caffeine to get through the work day. Offering your team a coffee and tea machine that uses loose grounds will help everyone cut back on plastic. Survey your team on a few brands that everyone likes and stock up on those. Be sure that you are not using a machine that uses pods, as that will only add to plastic use.

5. Choose plastic free supplies. It’s hard to avoid plastic in the workplace. From plastic pens to printer ink, everything comes in plastic packaging and contains plastic itself. Help your team avoid some of this plastic waste by choosing supplies that are eco-friendly. Consider ordering supplies in bulk to help cut down on shipping plastic as well.

Here is a list of supplies that are plastic free or use significantly less plastic than traditional supplies to get you started.

6. Organize a park, river or beach cleanup. Individual actions can help but to truly create a plastic-free world, we need to work together. A park, river or beach cleanup can help beautify your local neighborhood, while showing your team just how much plastic is in our environment. Don’t just do this on Earth Day, make it a quarterly event. Ask your team for input on places they think might benefit from a cleanup day. It doesn’t need to take a full day, even a half day or a few hours can make a space beautiful when everyone comes together.