Whenever an employee announces the new initiative of “greening” the office, at least a few people are bound to roll their eyes. Let’s face it, we’ve all had so much ‘green this’ and ‘green that’ shoved down our throats, many people are sick and tired of green. That’s why we recommend presenting green office initiatives as business-as-usual, focusing on terms like “efficiency” and “cost-savings”. In other words, turn down the green. The signage for recycling bins should be clear, professional, and unassuming. Just say “cans”, “paper”, or whatever the bin is for laminated and in VERY LARGE letters. Avoid annoyingly green cliches (i.e. “it’s easy being green”) and guilty messages (“do your part!”).
An office greening initiative will go a lot further with employees if they feel like it’s being quietly institutionalized instead of forced on them. After all, these things should have been done a long time ago anyway.