Offices ‘could do more’ to improve corporate social responsibility, says Office Coffee Company

The latest ‘how green is your office’ survey from the Office Coffee Company reveals there’s still a lot more work to do to improve corporate social responsibility (CSR).

More than 65% of respondents cited their office ‘could do more’ to be environmentally friendly. Only 27% claimed to be ‘doing everything’ they could to improve CSR. Almost 8% said they didn’t make any effort at all, while 60% of office workers felt that it was ‘very important that my employer has positive green credentials’.

Asking about environmentally friendly behaviours, many offices appear to be doing the basics, such as switching off lights and recycling paper, cardboard and food/drink packaging, but there is a surprising lack of support (25% of respondents) for purchasing from suppliers with green credentials.

“The research highlighted that recycling of food waste – particularly coffee grounds – is particularly low in offices,” comments Richard Doherty, Managing Director at the Office Coffee Company.

This statistic is of particular interest to the Office Coffee Company, which has recently launched a coffee ground-recycling service for clients based in Greater London. The service is provided in partnership with bio-bean, the first company in the world to industrialise the process of recycling waste coffee grounds into advanced biofuels.

On the research findings, Arthur Kay, bio-bean CEO comments: “Like Richard, we are surprised that such a quick CSR win is overlooked. Coffee waste is especially high in energy-rich oil, and every year hundreds of thousands of tonnes of coffee waste is produced in the London area alone. bio-bean has the potential to recycle 50,000 tonnes per year, or one in 10 cups of coffee drunk in the UK.”

The Office Coffee Company, a provider of ethical beverages and coffee machines for businesses, is on a mission to ensure nobody has a bad coffee at work ever again. With a range of coffee that triggers donations that support the rainforest charity Cool Earth and a monthly subscription service for speciality coffees, the company also provides next-day delivery via its online store.

The Office Coffee Company was recently awarded a Green Impact Gold award – an environmental certification and awards scheme run by the National Union of Students. Green Impact focuses on providing simple actions supporting employees to make environmentally friendly behaviour changes in the office and at home.