6 Reasons to Start a Green Team
By: Carlos Angelo Nóbile Filho
Tags: Green Team, Sustainability, Team Building, Leadership Skills

6 Reasons to Start a Green Team

In this article, I provide an overview of Teach Starter’s green team journey that has led to a successful company-wide sustainability pathway!

Although I was familiar with the importance of sustainability when I first started at Teach Starter, I had no idea how to implement company-wide solutions for a green future. My only attempts before Teach Starter to make a sustainable change in the workplace was to add a recycling bin in the kitchen area. I also added signs to remind my colleagues not to confuse what goes to landfill and what can be recycled.

On my first day at our Milton office, I was excited to see a sign at the entrance reminding everyone to take a reusable cup to the coffee shop. We have plenty of good options close by. I soon learned about the Green Future team, one of three reference groups led by Teach Starter staff responsible for finding and implementing sustainable solutions for our organisation. Starting a green team can bring many benefits to the workplace and this has been confirmed here at Teach Starter.

Greening the workplace processes

Before strategies and an action plan, it is best to do your housekeeping. Start with easy-to-implement actions, so the group can feel engaged and see the results they have achieved together. The green team can improve waste management processes and help educate colleagues about recycling, composting and the circular economy.

Adopting the Containers for Change programme is a perfect example of a team-led initiative. We collect all the eligible containers in the office to send them to a recycling depot. The funds raised are donated to the charitable giving program. This recovery program is not only a more efficient way to recycle, but also has a positive impact on the community.

The latest improvement to our waste management system has been the collection of paper and cardboard. The Green Future team realised that by having an exclusive collection for this resource, which can be 60–80% of all the waste generated in an average office, would ensure we have a better chance to maintain its higher value than in the general recycling bin. For more examples of waste-management initiatives implemented by the Green Future read our article, How to Transform Your Workplace Into a Sustainability Hub.

Bringing new habits home

The benefits of sustainable practices go well beyond the office environment. Actions implemented in the office space by a green team can spark new lifestyle habits for the staff members. Composting is the perfect example of a waste management initiative that can easily be applied by team members in their own homes.

“Carlos, you should be proud of me, I have started separating the organic compost at home to bring into the office.” Teach Starter’s Steph Mulrooney recently told me.

Campaigns are a great way to start a conversation about sustainability topics. The Green Future team launched a Meat Free Mondays campaign at our workplace to highlight the importance of reducing meat consumption and its impact on the environment. One plant-based recipe was shared weekly by the campaign organisers, who encouraged staff to post photos and comment on their experience on the Teach Starter internal Slack channel dedicated to the project.

Getting our hands dirty

One of the benefits of a green team in the workplace is to organise volunteer activities that have a positive impact on the community and the environment. Teach Starter has organised a Clean-Up Australia Day activity for the past two years. In less than one hour, 18 members of the Milton office, including our Resources Manager dressed as a T-Rex, removed over 20kgs of litter from the streets around our office.

Clean-Up Australia Day 2020

Most of the material collected was recyclable, including water bottles, soft drink cans and glass bottles. Unfortunately, harmful litter to the wildlife such as cigarette butts, plastic straws, take-away cups and cutlery were also discovered.

A month ago, in partnership with Wildlife Queensland, 12 members of the Teach Starter office travelled to Witta nature refuge, about two hours drive north of Brisbane. The team helped a group of local volunteers control invasive weeds on the property so that native species could reclaim the area. The day also included a visit to the gorge creek, surrounded by lush transitional rainforest. According to the participants, this initiative was a big boost not only for the charity but also beneficial as a team mental-health exercise.

Teach Starter during the volunteer day at Witta nature refuge.

Direct actions like these examples highlight the positive impacts on businesses that can be generated by a passionate green team. The benefits extend beyond helping the environment and community to strengthen staff morale and team relationships.

“That feeling of accomplishment of helping the local community and the environment was invigorating’’ Teach Starter’s Heath Murray said after the Wildlife Queensland day.

Creating a team of leaders

Starting a green team at your organisation allows employees to explore and improve their leadership skills and independent thinking. I can talk from my personal experience as I led the Green Future alongside my colleagues for over a year. Naturally an introvert, after a few months I started feeling more relaxed to speak in public, I have also learned how to conduct meetings, create agendas, coordinate internal campaigns and engage my colleagues to take on sustainable habits.

Teach Starter’s Green Future team is a great space for staff to test new skills and come up with innovative ideas. Everyone is encouraged to participate in actions and campaigns. We change the group leadership yearly, so everyone has the opportunity to try roles within the team. This practice has proven successful in increasing engagement and a sense of responsibility.

Building a greener community

Two weeks before launching the fundraising campaign for the Wildlife QLD, the Green Future had a meeting with Earthbots — the green team from our neighbouring business Codebots — to encourage collaboration between the groups. As a first step, we invited them to participate in a Biodiversity Talk given by Matt and Desmond from Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, hosted at Teach Starter’s office. The Codebots team also attended the Green Future monthly meeting. Inspired by the sound work that the Wildlife QLD has been doing, Earthbots decided to join forces and extend the fundraising campaign into their office.

This collaboration was the first of what we hope will be many partnerships between our teams. The neighbouring business will be cooperating next by testing the carbon calculator application developed by Codebots, which can help companies to monitor their greenhouse output so they can implement actions to reduce its emissions confidently. Clean UP Australia 2021 will be another opportunity for the teams to combine forces to ensure the Milton area is litter-free, improving our community.

Leading sustainable change in your industry

At a later stage, when the green team is well-structured and mature they can broaden their sustainable actions, for instance, aligning services, products and processes with the environmental policy. Other initiatives may include, monitoring the business greenhouse gas emissions, providing colleagues with incentives to use alternative commuting options to get to work and encouraging employees to use virtual meetings to reduce travel.

“What our Green Future team has managed to achieve over the years is incredible and I’m so proud of their efforts. Encouraging sustainability in such a positive and inclusive manner has been one of Green Futures goals from day one.” Jill Snape, Teach Starter’s cofounder.

Now that your enterprise has a sound sustainable practice in place why not spread the word and be the model in your industry. The green team can also assist by advocating reforms in the industry by participating in corporate social responsibility awards, sharing sustainability achievements and roadblocks in conferences, helping to educate peers at network events and promoting voluntary environmental reporting standards.