Show staff how to save at home

Changing habits takes time. Here we provide some additional resources for busy people to help make changes across many aspects of their personal lives.

Being more resource efficient isn’t just good for the environment, it’s good for cutting costs too. That applies for staff in their homes and at work.

Run a Recycle Week campaign

Zero Waste Scotland has a range of resources to support workplaces encouraging staff to recycle. Our Recycle for Scotland materials, which include posters, digital artwork, quizzes, videos and more. Recycle Week takes place every September and is a great way to engage your staff in improving recycling. Go to www.recycleforscotland.com for more info and download materials here.

Run a Pass it on! campaign

Re-using things is even better than recycling them, so if you want a topic to get staff doing something with a real environmental impact that is also sociable and fun, then doing activities around passing items on is a great option. Zero Waste Scotland has a range of free resources for Pass it on Week or staff campaigns which you can download and use with guidance on how to;  run swap shops, swish events, set up lending libraries, donation boxes and table top/car boot sales.

Engaging staff on Food Waste Reduction

Every year Scottish households are throwing away 600,000 tonnes of food and drink- around £1 billion worth. That’s £460 per year or £38 per month for the average household. Some of this is made up of things like peelings, cores and bones, but the majority is perfectly good food that we simply didn’t get round to eating.

Wasted food is also a major contributor to climate change, as most of it ends up in landfill sites where it rots and releases methane, a damaging greenhouse gas. The food we throw away is also a huge waste of the energy, water and packaging used in its production, transportation and storage.

Staff can visit the Love Food Hate Waste website and learn more about:

• Understanding date labels
• Storage
• Better use of the freezer
• Portion sizes
• How to use up leftovers

Show staff how to save energy and water home to reduce their bills

Energy Saving Trust, through the Home Energy Scotland network, can provide you with an employee engagement programme to increase your staff wellbeing.

Bespoke, interactive group workshops and online tools cover all domestic aspects of energy efficiency, heat and electricity generating renewable technology, water efficiency and low carbon transport. Workshops can be tailored if you have identified specific energy-saving needs or interests.

The home energy check is an online tool for staff to enter basis data about their home (e.g. type of boiler, walls, windows, lighting and so on). The result of the exercise is a report, similar to an Energy Performance Certificate, with recommendations on the areas that can be improved and how much can be saved in their own home.

The Energy Efficiency e-learning module will help guide your staff through energy-saving improvements at home and the differences these can make to their household bills. It also provides valuable information on where to find support and what funding might be available. A valuable self-learning tool, it can be completed by your employees at their own pace. The training module can potentially save staff around £250 a year.

A wide range of online tools and calculators can help staff save energy and water in their homes. Plus, sharing these free driving tips with your staff can help them drive more efficiently and reduce fuel costs.

Email employeeengagement@est.org.uk or go online for more information.