The Ultimate Guide For a Sustainable Office

Ken Ogura

October 23^rd 2025

Download The Guide

Download our Ultimate Guide For a Sustainable Office to learn how to make essential changes that reduce waste, lower your carbon footprint, and conserve resources. A sustainable office is a strategic imperative that translates into cost savings and a stronger ESG profile. The guide is split into five core pillars, detailing the financial, well-being, and brand benefits.

Pillar 1: Waste Hierarchy

You’ll be educated on the Waste Hierarchy, a universal framework that is crucial for sustainable waste management. The hierarchy shifts your focus from merely reacting to waste to actively pursuing waste prevention. We’ll explain its visual structure (a pyramid with preferred actions at the top) and demonstrate why this critical framework is essential for making your office waste strategy effective and sustainable.

Pillar 2: Waste Strategy

This pillar will guide you through creating a comprehensive waste strategy. You’ll learn the necessary components, including the role of Sustainability Executives or Champions, and the methodology for conducting a thorough waste audit. We’ll demonstrate how to build your strategy based on audit findings, engage all necessary stakeholders to ensure buy-in, and define and measure your success metrics.

Pillar 3: Waste Streams

You will receive a comprehensive breakdown of common office waste streams. We will outline the types of waste typically generated and highlight key facts and examples for each. Furthermore, we will explain the journey of this waste, from how your dry mixed recycling is processed right through to the handling of your Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

Pillar 4: Innovations

This pillar focuses on cutting-edge waste management innovations designed to optimise your operations. By leveraging these technologies, you can drive significant cost savings and drastically reduce your Co2 emissions. Today’s market offers numerous tools to significantly elevate office sustainability. As global organisations prioritise greener initiatives, your workplace should lead the change. Specifically, smart technologies such as waste compactors, advanced recycling systems, and AI powered sensors, can boost recycling accuracy and empower your team through better education.

Pillar 5: Behavioural Change

This pillar will teach you about behavioural science and how it can impact your office’s recycling rate. This behaviour is largely controlled by the basal ganglia section in our brain. This group of structures deep within the brain is crucial for motor control and automating behaviours. As an action becomes a habit, control shifts from the conscious, decision-making prefrontal cortex to the basal ganglia, turning it into an automatic sequence. To shift this pattern, a strategic approach is necessary. By using ‘nudging’ subtle changes to the environment or choices you can encourage occupants to adopt the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle). This approach, paired with effective education, is the key to creating significant and lasting shifts in people’s habits, ultimately making the entire office more sustainable.

Download the guide

These five pillars provide a comprehensive roadmap for transforming your organisation’s waste management from reactive compliance to proactive, sustainable leadership. By mastering the Waste Hierarchy, implementing a robust strategy, understanding your waste streams, adopting smart innovations, and fostering genuine behavioural change, you are positioned to achieve unparalleled efficiency and environmental impact.

Wrap Up London 2025

28/10/2025 Pavlos Lampropoulos

Each winter, thousands of Londoners donate their pre-loved coats through Wrap Up London, a campaign led by HandsOn London to keep vulnerable people warm. This year, Bywaters is proud to support the initiative once again, collecting coats, volunteering time, and helping give warmth a second life. Discover how small acts of kindness and circular thinking can make London a more sustainable and compassionate city.