Sustainability at Paperworld 2016: ‘Sustainable Office Day’ on the Tuesday of the fair
Around 17 million people work in Germany’s offices. From an environmental point of view, these jobs are considered to be unproblematic. However, the ecological burden resulting from these jobs is enormous. Apart from the large amount of paper consumed, offices not only generate vast quantities of environmentally unfriendly waste in the form of inkjet and laser printer cartridges but also contribute to emissions through the growing energy consumption of the expanding IT facilities. Thus, as a mirror of the paper, office supplies and stationery sector, it is important for Paperworld to draw attention to this problem and call for change.
Since 2009, the leading international trade fair for paper, office supplies and stationery has been spotlighting the subject of environmental protection and sustainability in the office. Together with the German Environmental Management Association (Bundes¬deutscher Arbeitskreis für Umweltbewusstes Management e.V. – B.A.U.M.), this year’s Paperworld will hold a series of lecture and discussion events and offer insights into the latest developments in the ‘sustainable office world’.
Green Office Day is now Sustainable Office Day
“This year, we are holding the ‘Green Office Day’ under a new title, the ‘Sustainable Office Day‘, says B.A.U.M. Board Member Dieter Brübach. “We decided to rename the event because we are expanding the lecture spectrum to include social themes in addition to environmental aspects.” Within the framework of the lectures, the notion of holistic sustainability will be examined in the morning with respect to ecologically equitable procurement and be one of the top themes of the ‘Sustainable Office Day’. To this end, we will include a wide variety of sub-issues to illustrate the breadth of the subject and, at the same time, provide specific starting points for visitors.
‘Office & Environment’ Award
Paperworld is also the platform for the ‘Office & Environment’ competition. B.A.U.M. will announce the winners for 2015 in the afternoon of the ‘Sustainable Office Day’. The main winners will make brief presentations describing their projects during the awards ceremony.
“Around 40 companies entered this year’s competition and more than half of them were awarded an above-average number of points”, explains Dieter Brübach. He adds: “For us, this indicates that a lot is already being done but that there is still need for further action and, in particular, the provision of information.”
Details of the competition for 2016 will also be announced at the ‘Sustainable Office Day’.
