Today, I’ll…purge PVC
Going green is simple, cost-effective and good for everyone. Don’t’ panic, it doesn’t all have to happen at once. Try
changing one thing a day and you’ll see just how rapidly your office changes – for the better.
How about starting with PVC? It’s widely used due to its versatility. This means it’s hiding in all sorts of things like your ring binders, lever arch files, plastic cutlery, phones, keyboards and more. More and more big manufacturers are turning their backs on it and you can too.
Why say bye to PVC?
The danger of PVC is widely recorded and campaigned. Throughout its life cycle, PVC, or Polyvinyl chloride, emits a range of toxins damaging to the environment and your health, including dioxins.
So, do you really want this in your office? Think of it this way: you’ve got an allergy to bee stings and two bees have just flown in through the window. You want to get rid of them as soon as possible, don’t you? It’s unlikely you’ll encourage more bees in. Then why keep bringing more and more PVC into your office, working alongside it ay in, day out. It’s not good for anyone.
There’s plenty of viable alternatives, from our PVC free files to anything your office could need. Don’t give in to temptation, just remember – PVC is not for me.
Change that today and the possibilities to improving your office the next day are endless. See how we can bring about dramatic change to your environmental impact through these simple changes.
Kermit, I disagree
I’m sorry, Kermit, but I respectfully disagree – it is easy being green. You don’t have to go all out and build an eco-office, entirely run on geothermal power (though that’d be brilliant). Small changes can make a big difference.
Just look around your office. All the equipment came from somewhere, was made from something. The more locally it was made and the more environmentally friendly it was made, the greener your office becomes. It becomes a case of a change of pens, or perhaps switching to a different kind of paper.
Yes, it’s that simple. Let’s say for example you use a lot of ink cartridges. Let’s add the fact they were mass produced in China. Right there you’re adding the carbon footprint of them getting to you – not including the plastics used and so on. Switch that for UK made toners and cartridges using, vegetable based inks and reclaimed materials and you’ve just added a shade of green to your workplace.
So, what’s stopping you going green? The options are out there, ready and waiting. Just take a look for yourself.
How Green is Your Office?
Being green has become a lot more commonplace now. A lot of people are doing it and, importantly, a lot of people
want to know who else is. It’s likely visitors to your office will ask more and more “so, just how green is that? What’s it made of?” Do you know? More often than not, you probably won’t.
After all, something can say it’s recycled, but that doesn’t mean it is. 23% recycled is great – but it’s not 100%. If you were given a chicken breast made up of 23% chicken, you probably wouldn’t fancy it. So where’s the difference in the things you use every day?
You also might know what something is made of, but perhaps not where it’s come from. A USB stick made of cornstarch is a brilliant concept. The problem is, it’s been brought in from Asia. That doesn’t give it a very good carbon footprint, which in turn becomes part of your office’s carbon footprint.
This is why, at The Green Desk, we’re incredibly picky. We want to know everything that’s in our green office supplies and exactly where they’ve come from.
By doing so, we can ensure you receive the most eco friendly products that genuinely boost your company’s environmental impact. In most cases, it will be made in the UK. If we can’t find it here, then we’ll search nearby Western Europe. If it can’t be attained there, we won’t be stocking it. So far, there’s not been anything we can’t find.
Social Enterprise – the new way forward for business
If you’ve never heard of a social enterprise, don’t worry, you’re not alone. At the moment, they’re not so well known. That’s all about to change. With over £24bn contributed into the economy annually, they’re here to transform the way business works.
It’s no secret that current big business isn’t sustainable. But the one positive to come from the recent economic collapse is that it has pushed the powers that be to seek a new, better way of working. That’s social enterprise. The figures speak for themselves, with social enterprises bucking the trend and making an 80% growth during the downturn.
So, what is social enterprise?
It’s a better way of working. This radical new business model puts people and planet first, before profit, fast cars and very sparkly watches. But don’t be mistaken, profit is still important. After all, all the profit from social enterprises is reinvested in a whole range of social and environmental projects to assist in the growth and improvement of communities, people’s lives and, essentially, the world.
At The Green Desk, our profits go to a wide range of great causes, particularly Women’s Aid. We greatly admire the valuable work carried out by the UK’s number one domestic violence charity, so 50% of our profits are passed on to them.
But it’s not just about giving money to good causes. Social enterprises work in a way that is socially and/or environmentally focused to make real differences around them.
What’s our goal? To transform office supplies. The Green Desk is the only social enterprise offering green office supplies. What we want to achieve is a new way of working for offices around the UK. By making them greener and use ethical, eco-friendly office supplies we can help dramatically reduce carbon footprints and the amount of POPs used unnecessarily.
Just think, virtually every workplace in the nation uses at least a pen – that’s quite a difference that can be made.
See how we’re making a difference by using the social enterprise model and we’ll show you how to transform the way you work.
- @dogwoof surly Lassi the curry loving healthy yoghurt dog
- Playing with my new hand operated shredder , clean green and addictive- I love testing new product ranges!