Many of us here in Eagle County have likely implemented sustainability practices into our homes, such as recycling or composting, but how often have you thought about incorporating some of these home habits into your workplace? Given that Eagle County is a rural community, it’s likely that a commute of some sort is required for your job. It’s important that people give thought about how they are getting to and from work. Some ways to go green while using transportation in Eagle County include CORE Transit (formerly ECO Transit), which is fare-free from Eagle to Vail through the summer, Shift Bike, carpooling, or working remotely if applicable.
Okay, now that we have discussed how to reduce emissions from transportation, let’s get into how to incorporate sustainability into the workplace:
- Use of a personal compost bin or having one place in a shared kitchen space or common area. If you or your business is interested in composting in the workplace Honeywagon Organics (970) 476-3511 or EverGreen Zero Waste (970) 930-7900 are local options that are great resources for all things compost related. It’s important to note that a proper dumpster and hauler is required in order to incorporate workplace composting.
- Reducing the amount of paper that is printed and switching to email, or enforcing a zero-paper system that uses digital documentation rather than physical documents is a great way to reduce waste.
- Being a conscious recycler and staying in the loop with what Eagle County can recycle and can not recycle is critical to working toward sustainable business practices. If you aren’t sure what can be recycled, you can use the Waste Wizard App that has been specifically designed for Eagle County so it is clear what can and cannot be recycled, or check in with your waste hauler. If you are interested in where our waste goes, private recycling tours for businesses can be booked through the Walking Mountains website. This is a great way to see where our waste goes and how it gets processed.
- Energy conservation is a great tool to utilize for sustainable workplace development. The use of natural lighting and efficient lighting solutions such as LED lights use up to 90% less energy than traditional bulbs, not to mention they last about 25 times longer than a typical lightbulb. Installing motion sensor lights can also help minimize the amount of energy wasted by leaving lights on in an empty room or bathroom. Green energy is also a great way to practice sustainability at the workplace with the implementation of solar panels and energy-efficient appliances. Many places in Eagle County get their electricity from Holy Cross Energy, a rural electric co-op with a goal of 100% clean energy provided to its members by 2030. As of March 2024, they are 76% renewable.
- In order to promote sustainability in the workplace, the start of a Green Team could be greatly beneficial to implementing more sustainable practices in the workplace.
- Walking Mountains offers sustainable business leadership programs where business owners can meet with a sustainable business coach monthly to implement sustainable action plans and obtain a Walking Mountain’s Actively Green certification. Actively Green Sustainable Business Certification is simply a certification business can receive that implements sustainable business criteria to elevate performance and sustainable leadership practices. If you or your business is interested in learning more about obtaining certification check out the Walking Mountains website as well as list of businesses who are certified actively green.
All careers can be sustainable careers if people are educated on what sustainability looks like in the workplace. You don’t have to work in the sustainability field to make your workplace more sustainable.
Quinn Stewart is a Sustainability Intern at Walking Mountains