Cisco may have been in the news of late for laying off thousands of employees resulting from a change in its business focus, but it’s also doing away with something for the better.
The networking company has been encouraging its employees to reduce paper wastage and bring their own bottles and mugs to the office. As a result, employees have been using ceramic mugs for tea and coffee instead of using paper cups. This small change has had a huge impact in the Bengaluru office alone. Upto 900,000 paper cups have been saved in a month.
“Based on the results of this pilot, we will implement this initiative across Cisco premises in India,” a Cisco spokesperson has told ET. The US-based IT giant is a champion of conservation of energy and sustainable development and has implemented various initiatives at its campuses.
The company runs a program called Cisco Sustainability, and has inhouse groups such as Pack it Green and Cisco Recycling that take ownership of decreasing waste and handling it responsibly. Additionally, it has a 940-kilowatt solar energy generation system on its campus which meets about half of all hot water demands.
Many other corporate giants have been focussing on environment and green initiatives. Infosys was lauded for using steel glasses at a Tedx conference held at its Bangalore office recently.
Google too has been promoting the the usage of fewer cups in the office, and gives its employees plastic bottles to drink water from.
Large corporations have often been looked down upon for excessive consumption and resulting wastage, but with these initiatives like these, companies can not only conserve resources at campus, but also instil a sense of responsibilities in their employees.