In our never ending commitment to becoming more sustainable, the BeadforLife environmental committee attended a “greening your office” session last Friday. The Business Leaders in Action for Sustainability Today or BLAST! is an entity created by the folks at Amadeus Consulting, an amazing tech consulting group who offers a free presentation to other businesses and organizations about their path to going green.
We first attended a brief overview and power point of Amadeus’s accomplishments including winning a “Zero Waste Honor” from Eco-Cycle. We were then treated to a tour of the office and had a first-hand look at the sustainability steps they have initiated over the years.
Some of the things we saw:
- Their office is a zero waste office, meaning almost all their trash is diverted from the landfills (up to 90%) and sent to a compost bin, recycling, or use of a policy of avoidance of disposals/waste all together, like using reusable plate ware instead of paper plates.
- A fantastic display and recycling bin for hard-to-recycle items (see pic).
- Other features: light-motion sensors, innovative day lighting, low voc paints, almost a completely paperless office, busing and biking to work incentives, and much, much more.
What was really inspirational about Amadeus is that they are NOT a green company by trade. They simply had some committed employees who wanted to implement sustainability initiatives in their company. Not only has it inspired the Amadeus employees and enhanced the culture there, but it has ended up saving the company quite a bit of money!
The BeadforLife office in Boulder was inspired by the presentation/tour and we hope to recreate many of the ideas Amadeus presented into our workplace.
For more information on BLAST, how to participate, or attend a free presentation, go to: http://www.blastnetwork.org/
Tags: BeadforLife, Boulder, Colorado, paper jewelry, sustainability, Women Making A Difference