Home 5 News 5 Cost-effective sustainability at work in the GreenCape office

22 July 2021

Welcome to GreenCape’s workspace! We have gone the extra mile to revamp the space to ensure that the office is not only safer for our team and guests (with respect to COVID-19), but it also demonstrates cost-effective sustainable solutions and materials that enables the organisation to operate in a greener, more financially robust manner.

 

Circular thinking that has gone into the design of the space includes:

 

  • Carpets manufactured from 100% recycled waste cotton and acrylic. The carpets in this office were not glued down, only gripper rods hold them in place, so they can also easily be removed and reused.
  • Felt on desk screens, to improve employee safety in the wake of COVID-19, is made from recycled plastic.
  • Installation of a range of plants improves air quality by acting as natural air filters. Additionally, they add an aesthetic pleasure, making a more pleasing working environment. Team wellbeing is essential!
  • We reused previous office furniture and equipment as far as possible when setting up the new space. Environmentally conscious suppliers were commissioned to provide additional furniture, tiles, blinds, light fittings and planters.
  • Led lighting is used throughout. Our bathrooms have lights that go on with motion sensors so that we only use what we need, when we need it.
  • The office is equipped with smart energy and water meters that enable us to monitor and manage our consumption responsibly, and on a real-time basis (see summary of monthly usage here). These interventions have the potential to provide monthly expenditure savings through monitoring (leak detection etc; for example  we’ve already detected a leaky toilet from the water meter). Thank you to Kamstrup (smart water meter) and InfoLED (smart energy meter) for donating the meters. 
  • Toilet cisterns have a low flow rate of small flush -3L and full flush- 6L.
  • A hydroboil in the kitchen results in demand-loading being reduced considerably in comparison to traditional kettles and an urn.
  • We don’t have bins at our desks to remind us to get up and dispose of our waste responsibly, in the dedicated recycling bins.
  • Posters and cue cards displayed around the office not only add a pop of colour to the beautiful neutral environment, but also include a QR code that, once connected, highlights efforts to create a sustainable working environment.

 

Thanks to Bone Interior Design Studio for the care that has gone into designing and creating this this space for the GreenCape team to flourish, and our guests to feel welcome.

Thank you for the donations.