The fight for sustainability has come a long way. When the terms global warming and climate change were popularized in the 1980s, not many organisations believed their operations could have any impact on these issues. Today, sustainable workplace practice forms an important part of the Corporate Social Responsibility policy, and the companies wear this green badge proudly.
Since when we woke up to the call for sustainable practice? It’s probably when we found ourselves paddling in the middle of a plastic tsunami, or when we realised e-waste toxins will travel through farming soil and finally reach humans, or when we noticed the water is no longer safe to consume. It took us a while to understand, what goes around will eventually come back around.
From everyday life to work, we are making changes – reduce unnecessary waste, reuse what can be repurposed and recycle responsibly. Interestingly, sustainable workplace practice has become a talent magnet. Employees want to see climate-positive action from companies, especially the Millennials. According to The Cone Communications Millennial Employee Study, 64% of Millennials won’t take a job if their employer doesn’t have a strong CSR policy, and 83% would be more loyal to a company that helps them contribute to social and environmental issues.
There are a lot of areas to cover to create an environmentally sustainable workplace, waste management is a vital part of the blueprint. Roughly 90% of commercial waste and around 97% of office waste can be reused and/or recycled. One of the blind spots is commercial furniture, which accounts for a large percentage of the landfill by volume in Australia.
It seems pointless to make an enormous effort to select new “green” office furniture when all of the old furniture goes straight to the tip. Winya has come up with a solution to end this countereffect process – e-Board.
e-Board is made of 92% recycled timber from old office furniture, and it recycles that same piece at the end of its lifecycle, again and again. This whole waste recovery process is recorded and mapped. The original owner will be notified where the old furniture has gone and new owners can scan the barcode to see where their desk started its journey.
What goes around comes back around, but at Winya, we make it greener every round.