80% of staff want a more sustainable workplace – study

EIGHT out of 10 office employees would like their workplace to be more environmentallyfriendly, according to an Essity survey. Around 60% believe their colleagues would also react positively to more eco-friendly practices by employers, and 46% believe the green initiatives taken by their bosses are often an afterthought.

Top workplace sustainability gripes among staff members include a lack of food waste bins, computers left turned on all day and night, no options for recycling used paper towels, and no provision for charging electric cars.

“Over the past 18 months there has been a definite shift in our general attitudes towards how to be environmentally friendly,” said

Essity sales manager, Lee Radki. “People seem to be taking the issue more seriously than ever before. Working from home has prompted people to give more thought to their own actions towards the future of the planet, and it seems many had assumed their employers would do the same. We spend so much time in the workplace that it's a perfect place to set an example.”

The Essity survey of 2000 office workers was held to mark the UK launch of Tork PaperCircle, the recycling service for paper towels. Tork PaperCircle enables businesses to reduce their environmental footprint by 40% by creating a closed loop system for used washroom hand towels. These are collected by Tork PaperCircle sustainability partners and taken to local recycling centres where they are turned into other tissue products.

WWW.TORK.CO.UK/PAPERCIRCLE