The Pitt Green Spotlights is a monthly series highlighting Pitt’s Green Offices & Labs! Each post highlights two Pitt Green Offices and/or Labs, sharing their experiences implementing sustainable practices, tips and tricks, lessons learned, and opportunities for more sustainable work at Pitt.

We hope these Green Offices & Labs will inspire you to try out new sustainable practices in your own workspace!

Want to be included in our next highlight? Contact us.

Pitt Green Office Spotlight: Center for Sustainable Business, Katz Graduate School of Business, Sennott Square

What sparked you to start looking for ways to make your office operate more sustainably?

Our office is the Center for Sustainable Business, so it was important we represented what we are teaching other organizations by becoming more green.

What sustainable practices have made the most noticeable difference in your office?

I think the practices that have made the most impact are the organized recycling practices. We didn’t have signage before, so the public space was often cross contaminating recycling. I have seen a huge difference since this was finished.

Also, the green office section talking about healthy work habits has improved some of our team dynamics.

What practice would you recommend other offices try?

I have personally utilized making my own recycling signs in Canva for the non-profits I am apart of. I also think offices could be smarter about the supplies they buy, how much they buy, and where they come from.

What opportunities or challenges would you like to see addressed for a more sustainable office?

1. A focus on consumption and overspending on supplies
2. A focus on energy efficient appliances and setting them up to go on sleep mode
3. Encouragement of team to bring a lunch and eat together

Pitt Green Office Spotlight: Renal-Electrolyte Research Division, School of Medicine, Scaife Hall

What sparked you to start looking for ways to make your office operate more sustainably?

I actually started making our office more sustainable from the moment I started. My brother had passed away only a year prior, and he was a true advocate for our planet. No matter where I go, I pick up garbage and recycle because I have his voice in my ear that we need to protect ‘Mama Earth’ for my kids.

What sustainable practices have made the most noticeable difference in your office?

To me, some of our most impactful sustainability practices are our water dispenser, 100% recycled paper; sugarcane plates and utensils; and our glove recycling program. The boxes are expensive when you need them ($500 for 5 boxes), but they last us for years at a time and make it truly worthwhile. However, the one that has saved us the most money and materials has to be our stockpile of folders. We had a room being used as storage that nobody went into for quite a long time. I took on the challenge of clearing it out and found four large filing cabinets PACKED with hanging file folders. I mean, thousands. Whenever I need space in the filing cabinets, I fill up a few boxes with empty hanging file folders and leave them throughout our building with signs that say ‘free to good home’. It’s saving us and quite a few other places within the entire building.

What practice would you recommend other offices try?

I’d recommend other offices utilizing the sugarcane products where available and the glove/ppe recycling as well as the k-cup recycling programs.

What opportunities or challenges would you like to see addressed for a more sustainable office?

Honestly, I wish Pitt would assist in the startup of sustainable efforts instead of just letting us flail around trying to figure out how to handle it all. Not to mention that our recycling and garbage was all going together in Scaife for quite a long time due to a compactor being down. To know that it took them over a month to get it fixed was truly heartbreaking.