This week alfaenergy participated in a week-long Greenspiration challenge. The initiative, which lasted from June 9th to June 13th, aimed at promoting carbon footprint reduction through sustainable business practices. Each day marked a new challenge, which alfaenergy’s employees welcomed with excitement. In our 4 offices located in London, Sarajevo, Frankfurt and Chicago, Alfarians found crazy and creative ways to approach the daily challenges.
More-Recyling Monday
On Monday the first challenge was to recycle everything and anything and our Alfarians responded by doing just that. Our London office managed to fill up 3 large recycling bags with recyclable material in just one day. Alfarians in Sarajevo went in a different direction; while recycling paper, they decided to also recycle old, broken electronics such as PCs, CDs, old mobile devices, phones and similar electronic gizmos. Our Frankfurt and Chicago offices also made significant strides in recycling everything from papers to plastics. alfaenergy made a conscious effort to reduce the use of disposable supplies like cups and cutlery by opting for reusable alternatives, and limiting the use of printers in all its offices.
Travel Light Tuesday
Tuesday’s challenge had our Alfarians travelling light and using eco-friendly means of transportation. London’s Alfarians opted for public means of transportation such as the subway and local buses. Some even went as far as to take the cool hybrid buses, just to show their green support. Many of those in Sarajevo took advantage of the sunny weather and decided to walk to the office. A select few Sarajevo Alfarians even invented human-pooling, whereby a group of co-workers travel to work together on foot, taking turns giving each other piggy back ride. Our greenspiration heroes were, however, the London Alfarians who walked just over 3 miles to get to work on Tuesday, all in the name of reducing their carbon footprint – one step at a time. All our employees were real troopers!
Water Saving Wednesday
Wednesday was all about saving water and at alfaenergy we appreciate the scarcity of clean water in the world. Generally, our offices do not use excessive amounts of water, but this didn’t stop us from contributing. Our London office hid their kettles in the most interesting places, where nobody would look – among the cleaning supplies. Our Alfarians in all the offices pledged to reduce their tea/coffee intake by at least 1 cup, decreasing the amount of water we used for the day. London was none too happy to lose their tea and Sarajevo felt similarly about their coffee. Nonetheless, it was a sacrifice they made willingly for the cause. We also encouraged smart water usage practices at home such as turning taps off while brushing teeth, doing only full loads of laundry and similar.
Switch Off Thursday
The challenge on Thursday was to unplug everything and anything in order to save energy. Alfarians in London went without their kettles for yet another day, taking inspiration from Wednesday’s challenge by conserving both water and electricity. After all, what’s one more day without tea in London? At the end of the workday, all electronic equipment was turned off throughout our offices – mainly the computers – 15 minutes before close of play. At alfaenergy we encourage shutting off computers at the end of every work day, to conserve electricity, however, this is not always the case. But today, all our employees were eager to meet the challenge particularly if it meant 15 minutes of computer-free work time.
Meat-Free Friday
Meat-Free Friday was the final challenge, and the most difficult one at that. Despite being in the midst of the FIFA World Cup and craving a burger, our Alfarians rallied together to meet the challenge. Salads, fruit bowls and green-goodness were served up for lunch as our offices went green, in more ways than one. In Sarajevo, the challenge was perhaps the most intense, seeing as the Balkans are known for their love of meat. Nonetheless, after establishing that no, chicken does not count as a vegetable, everyone was ready and willing to step up and make the meaty sacrifice, if only for a day. Some employees even agreed to go vegetarian for the rest of the week, pledging to avoid meat over the weekend and only purchase domestic produce.
alfaenergy was proud to have participated in the Greenspiration Week challenge and looks forward to similar endeavours. Protecting the environment and ensuring sustainable business practices are implemented in our offices has always been a growing concern of ours. We encourage others to take the right steps towards green business practices, reducing their carbon footprint and contributing to a batter future. There are many ways to tackle the issue, but they all begin with you.
Visit our twitter pages @AlfaEnergyUK, @AlfaEnergyUS and @AlfaEnergyDE to check out the hilarious photos of our alfarians going green.
To find out more about the Greenspiration Week challenge, click here.
