One of the first steps in improving environmental performance should be to measure and monitor resource use. This will facilitate understanding of use, and thus be able to identify opportunities for improvement. You will first need to figure out how your office uses resources – paper, other consumables, water, energy, etc. – and why/how waste is generated.

Just as with the previous articles on water conservation, you will need to establish a baseline against which to measure and monitor you performance. First, decide what measurements you will need to take and then gather the data on a regular basis. The table shows a few ideas to get you started.

The data you collect and/or measure will help you keep track of your performance over time, and help highlight areas for improvement. It will also help you to show your improvements – such as reduced spending on office paper, or energy reductions, or water use reductions.

Key Performance

Indicators While raw data will give you some information, it will not give you the entire picture. Comparisons to production, sales or number of employees will illustrate changes in environmental efficiency in a meaningful way. For example, an indicator could be the number of reams of paper used per number of office-based employees per year.