WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

Sustainable Practices for a Greener Office

Each year on June 5th, millions of people around the globe come together to celebrate World Environment Day. Established by the United Nations in 1972, this event aims to raise awareness and encourage action for the protection of our environment. Over the decades, it has evolved into a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 150 countries, focusing on critical issues such as pollution, climate change, and biodiversity conservation.

In honour of this year’s World Environment Day, we’re looking at a few of the practical ways RIFF is working towards sustainability.

Remote working

During the COVID pandemic, we saw how successfully our teams were able to carry out their work from home. When the regulations were relaxed, we decided to continue offering our employees the opportunity to work from home.

This has provided multiple benefits. Firstly, fewer people in the office equals fewer people travelling to work. This reduces the carbon emissions from cars or public transportation.
Secondly, reducing the number of staff we needed to house on a regular basis allowed us to also reduce our office space. We now use less energy to light and heat our smaller office.

Reduced cars

Limiting the number of parking spaces at our office is also a way that RIFF promotes sustainability. By reducing available parking, employees are prompted to seek alternative modes of transportation, such as public transit, cycling, or carpooling. This not only decreases the overall carbon footprint by reducing vehicle emissions, but also alleviates traffic congestion and minimizes the demand for extensive parking infrastructure. RIFF is very conveniently located close to a metro station, this is a great option for many of our staff to use, instead of other modes of transport.

Along with this, we’ve reduced our corporate lease fleet, and encourage employees to travel together when going to a client’s location for meetings.

Recycling

We’re probably all used to separating out our bottles, paper, and plastic from our general waste at home, but separated recycling is also greatly important in the office. At RIFF, we have a dedicated lunch room for our staff; it’s a great place to take a well-earned break during a busy day, but it’s also a big source a waste generation. The management and team leaders always make sure to nudge their teams to recycle any rubbish after lunch.
Another main waste product in offices is also paper, naturally, so we need to take care that we separate out all recyclable waste that we produce. At RIFF we try to limit paper use as much as possible; very few employees have access to the printer password, to prevent unnecessary printing. Most of our resources, such as handouts and instructions, are shared via Teams instead of in physical copies. Even our contracts and other HR documents are now signed digitally!

We also have the honour of working with some incredible clients, who are making incredible differences to the world with their work, actively improving the global environment with their practices.

We’re constantly looking at ways we can make our processes more efficient and sustainable, and aim to make even greater changes in the near future.

How does your business contribute to a greener planet? Is there something you could change today? Why not set up a meeting in honour of World Environment Day, and start a discussion with your colleagues to discuss what changes could be implemented in your office, big or small.

Let’s work together for a better tomorrow.