UK OFFICE WORKERS ….NOT MY RESPONSABILITY TO BE GREEN !

[Anonymous]

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2220346/office-eco-apathy-threatening
Office workers suffer ‘eco-apathy’
Not my responsibility, mate
Most
UK workers are leaving green activities to others and lack faith in
their company’s environmental policies, new research from Canon has
shown.Just five per cent of workers questioned are more environmentally
conscious at work than at home, where recycling and energy efficiency
is common practice, the research found.

Furthermore, only four
in 10 believe that protecting the environment during office hours is
their responsibility.Instead 30 per cent of respondents feel that
company bosses should shoulder the burden, and 16 per cent that it
should be the government’s responsibility.”The green debate is not a
new one and big businesses have acknowledged the importance of a robust
environmental strategy,” said Andy Vickers, managing director of Canon
UK & Ireland.”However, these results indicate that individual
employees have either not bought into their company’s policies or
perhaps don’t believe they are genuine. “

Worryingly, just over
half of employees said that their company does not have a green policy
designed to reduce their environmental impact, and where one does exist
42 per cent said that it is just for show.And in a true sign of what
Canon has dubbed “eco-apathy” one in 10 admitted to not even knowing
what a green policy is.”These results do not paint a good picture in
offices up and down the country and it is shocking to see just how
disinterested UK workers seemingly are when it comes to doing their bit
to protect the environment,” said Vickers.”Every office worker needs to
understand their individual impact when it comes to the environment and
taking responsibility for improving company policy needs to be a
collaborative effort between company bosses and staff.”Without
effective communication of green strategy throughout an organisation,
more damage will be done than good.”Focusing on paper wastage, Canon
found that office workers unnecessarily throw away an average of eight
pages of A4 paper every day.This equates to approximately 120 million
pages of A4 that do not need to be printed every day. This could easily
be cut in half by setting office printers to default to double-sided
printing, Canon said.

[Author]

July 3, 2008 at 2:31 PM