As a Living Planet @ Work champion, Izabela Popova, environmental sustainability consultant for BMO Financial Group, loves to engage employees in sustainable practices. This year, part of her focus has been on greening IT by organizing an e-waste collection event, making environmentally-responsible paper accessible, and raising employee awareness of the environmental implications of IT-related activities and tools. So far, the results have been very positive!
Here are three ways Izabela rallied BMO staff around green IT:

Recycling E-Waste Responsibly

For the very first time, Izabela organized an e-waste recycling collection for BMO’s Toronto staff, and it was a huge success. In total, over 3,100 lbs of personal electronics were collected, and ultimately diverted from landfill.
Izabela emphasizes that a critical factor in the success of this environmental event was cultivating collaboration between cross-functional teams: “BMO’s e-waste drive would not have happened without partnering with our technology disposal team, our electronics recycling vendors, the onsite facilities manager, and our amazing volunteers.”

KEY INSIGHT #1: Collaboration is essential.

Printing with the Environment in Mind

BMO has taken significant steps to reduce printing and paper use. Efforts include:

• Increasing the number of office printers that are set to automatically print double-sided
• Switching BMO’s preferred everyday copy paper to premium EcoLogo and FSC certified paper with 30 per cent post-consumer recycled content
• Making the FSC certified recycled-content paper the only available option to staff when purchasing office paper online
• Launching a promotional campaign on their corporate Intranet to help employees make the more responsible choice

KEY INSIGHT #2: Make sustainability accessible and widely available.

Educating Employees on the Environment

To educate employees on the organization’s technology strategy, tools and programs, BMO hosts regular online training webinars. By collaborating with the developers of these webinars, Izabela was able to create an opportunity to raise employee awareness of another key business matter: sustainability.
“By incorporating environmental messages into webinars, we are able to teach employees about the environmental benefits of new IT tools. We want employees to think about the environmental consequences of everyday business activities, with the ultimate goal of embedding environmental sustainability into BMO’s business structure and culture.”

KEY INSIGHT #3: Integrate sustainability into key inter-departmental business communications.

By championing sustainability in her workplace through these three initiatives, Izabela has managed to enhance employee engagement, increase internal awareness of environmental issues, and receive well-deserved recognition from employees across the organization.
Now, it’s your turn to take action.
Rally employees around green IT by taking the Smart Office Challenge – a campaign focused on reducing the energy and waste impacts of computers, paper, printing, and travel. Download the toolkit to get started.
For more tools and resources on environmental employee engagement, visit the Living Planet @ Work website.