Green Office Week is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

annual awareness week that encourages workers across the UK to make small changes to their working habits to positively impact the environment. The week raises awareness of key green issues, providing office workers with the practical advice, tools and help they need to create a more sustainable way of working. The week has activities designed to promote the idea of greener working practices. These have included Q&A seminars and interactive digital tools. The week takes place around May each year.

History

The first Green Office Week was launched in 2009, in response to research showing that UK employees felt they were being held back from being environmentally friendly at work because of a lack of empowerment and facilities. The week set out to ‘champion change’ by raising awareness of the issues workers identified as holding them back from environmentally friendly working. Since 2009, the week has been held on an annual basis, with organisations, businesses and local councils using the week as a platform to encourage behaviour change.

What happens during Green Office Week

During the week, there is a different focus each day: * Focus on Energy (Monday) looks at practical ways to reduce energy consumption. * Focus on Transport (Tuesday) considers how workers can reduce their environmental impact through better transportation. * Focus on Waste (Wednesday) encourages workers to think about the three Rs: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. * Focus on Purchasing (Thursday) examines the importance of purchasing chains and promotes the use of environmentally friendly products. * Focus on Innovation (Friday) encourages workers to share their own ideas for developing more sustainable working practices. More information can be found about the week at the Green Office Week site

Green Offices for Dummies

As part of Green Office Week, a specially commissioned guide was produced in partnership with the worldwide reference series For ''Dummies''. ''Green Offices for Dummies'' covers a range of practical ways that workers can implement more sustainable working practices. The guide contains a number of case studies that look at the businesses case for becoming environmentally friendlier.

Eco-bikes

Throughout the week eco-bikes visit cities across the UK. They will be around major transport links including

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

and

tube stations The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Und ...

during rush hour and in the city centre at lunchtimes. Office workers will be able to get a copy of Green Offices for Dummies Guides. The bikes will be in the following cities:- *

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

– Monday / Tuesday, *

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

– Wednesday / Thursday, *

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

– Monday / Tuesday, *

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

– Wednesday / Thursday, *

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

– Monday / Tuesday, *

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

– Wednesday / Thursday, *

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

– Monday / Tuesday, *

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

– Wednesday / Thursday.

Results of the 2010 national survey with YouGov

At the start of 2010 Avery conducted a national environment survey with

YouGov YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...

to find out office workers’ views on helping the environment. These results will be published during Green Office Week.

References

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External links

Green Office week website Environment of the United Kingdom May observances