What can you do to improve your own environment at work and make a real difference to yourself and others?

Plants

Bring some plants into work. Plants not only look good but help increase humidity levels, and absorb many airborne pollutants and particulates, as well as releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.

Use the Stairs

Whether travelling to work or at work, taking the stairs instead of the escalator or lift makes you healthier (and lighter, by about 3 calories per flight), and saves a bit of energy as well. A number of studies have shown that simply by putting up a few notices around the place, the number of people using the stairs can be dramatically increased – go ahead, do it!

Food and Drink

Have you heard of the “latte effect”? If you saved all the money you spend on buying coffee it could make a considerable difference to your savings. Say you buy 2 cups of Starbucks / Costa coffee a day, that’s around £3. Over 20 years, with interest, that adds up to savings of over £50,000. In 30 years, its an even more impressive £130,000. If you add the £3 you spend on buying a pre-packed lunch, and instead make your own at home from leftovers, then you can double that figure. Of course there’s a balance between sensibly saving money and living for the day, and being a miserly misery guts, but it’s worth a thought!

Pre-packed food is also very wasteful on packaging. Try to buy food with minimal packaging, or maybe a wrap that has edible packaging!

At one place I worked the workplace Costa Coffee allowed you to take your own mug and have it filled. Mind you, there was a lot of reluctance to allow this, and they didn't advertise the service!

Charity Giving

Payroll Giving is a relatively pain-free way of regularly donating to charity as the money is taken from your payroll before you even see it. It is also tax-effective, and supported by the government. A range of charities can benefit, including environmental charities

See our section on Charity Giving.

Volunteering

Carrying out volunteering projects with a group of workmates doesn’t just help the community, it also helps form bonds between you, and may benefit your company through increased publicity, which may mean they will sponsor the work you are doing!