Elron’s Green Office – small steps towards a more ecofriendly future

Elron’s Green Office – small steps towards a more ecofriendly future

Companies are increasingly contributing to environmental protection and take responsibility for their action to leave a smaller CO₂ foot- or handprint on nature. Elron, a company offering railway transportation services in Estonia, inspires us by their example, showing how even the smallest of changes in a company’s activity can help to conserve nature and the surrounding environment.

The purpose of a green or ecofriendly office is to constantly observe and reduce the environmental impact of all its activities, contribute to a healthy working environment and reduce the volume of produced waste. It can be described as a simple environmental management system that establishes the significant office-life related principles and criteria of environmental action that the office needs to observe. Elron’s Administrative Manager Kati Tammjärv spoke with us about the Green Office title awarded to Elron and their ecofriendly choices.

Why is environmental conservation and acknowledgment as a Green Office important to Elron?

“The team of Elron cares about environmental issues in general – for example, in addition to the Green Office activities, our trains operate on green energy. We started with the implementation of a Green Office system in 2020, and by now, green issues are acknowledged in the entire building. We recycle, use a minimal amount of paper, turn off lights in unoccupied rooms and have many other actions that each employee can contribute to. In the future, we plan to introduce and improve the eco-friendliness of other activities on trains. This year, in 2023, we focus on sustainability and will start measuring our CO₂ footprint. Even though it becomes obligatory from 2025, we decided to be one of the first companies to start earlier,” said Elron’s Administrative Manager Kati Tammjärv.

Please describe the hygiene and cleanliness challenges you face daily at Elron?

Kati Tammjärv continues: “Hygiene and cleanliness is not an issue in our office, but naturally we face many challenges on our trains because there is a lot of mobility that leads to soiling. We clean the trains daily and do deep cleaning. We have implemented several new solutions in cleanliness and cleaning and have created convenient processes to care for our cleaning staff. We use ecofriendly cleaning products where possible and Puhastusimport as the provider of new solutions naturally has an important role to play. The office spaces have been easier to handle in this regard with no major challenges faced.”

Which products of Puhastusimport have helped you maintain the standards of a Green Office?

“I can say that Puhastusimport provides us with everything we need for keeping and maintaining cleanliness – tools and devices, waste management solutions and anything else we need to correspond to the standards of a Green Office. As I recall, we recently bought a recycling solution as well as Vileda SWEP mops that are made of 50% reused materials and can handle our intense workload of cleaning train floors,” shares Tammjärv.

Please tell us about the advantages of the Miele Professional mop washing machine?

The Miele Professional mop washing machine is an important tool in our cleaning process. We operate two washers, of which one is quite old. We have separate washers for mops and cloths and naturally the detergents reach the machines through a dosage system. We used to soak cleaning cloths in buckets, and it was a nightmare. Thanks to the washing machines, we now save water, energy and people’s time. The whole system is set up so that all mops are washed together, no one needs to wash anything by hand and the pre-dampened and ready-to-use mops and cloths are taken from the machines before work. Automatic dosage is also important so that the workers don’t have to calculate and think about it. The machines are in constant operation so that the staff can focus on cleaning,” says Kati Tammjärv with satisfaction.

How has Elron’s staff adapted to green thinking? Which changes have you had to make in your daily work?

“We can say that people have adapted by now. The most complicated was the implementation of the new recycling system. Naturally, we used to have a waste bin under each desk and when we came in one day saying that we will be removing the individual bins and be taking our trash to a recycling station, we did sense some dissatisfaction. Our office has a long 70-metre hallway, so we placed the recycling station in the middle of it. People had questions at first about where to put their candy wrappers or apple hearts and whether it was truly necessary to stand up and walk to throw one’s trash away. Quite soon, the staff got used to it and have found their solutions as well as a positive attitude towards the need to move around. We still need to explain the recycling principles and show where everything goes. We have also outsourced recycling trainings,” said Kati.

According to Kati Tammjärv, reducing water consumption has been another important ecofriendly action. While water pressure from taps used to be stronger, it was slightly corrected to less pressure. It again created confusion in people at first, but when explained, people realised that taps can work on lower water pressure. According to Kati, bottled water has never been used at Elron.

Kati shared an interesting example: “It is interesting to observe people in the Green Office creation stage. We were even asked why it is necessary to turn off the light and air conditioning when you leave the room. But when we reminded people of the simple rules, they had the revelation that they do the same thing at home when they leave a room.”

How do you measure the efficiency of your office’s environmental action?

Kati Tammjärv continues: “Naturally we measure and monitor efficiency. For example, the reduction of hazardous as well as general waste. The bulk of our waste comes from the trains, and it is quite difficult to reduce its volume. We have been able to contribute to the reduction of hazardous waste by replacing the filters used in trains. While previously we used filters in metal frames that had to be utilised as hazardous waste, then now, we order filters made from a mixture of wood and paper, which we can put into regular waste. They are also more reliable as well as more ecofriendly.

We also measure the use of chemicals in cleaning – the daily cleaning of trains is chemical-free. We supplement cleaning water with a little bit of general cleaner Torvan only in winter when there’s more dirt, but not in the summer.

We also measure paper use and the consumption of electricity and water in the office. We will start with the calculation and reduction of our CO₂ footprint from April.”

Has Elron managed to cut costs thanks to the Green Office and environmental action?

Kati says that the reduction of hazardous waste has helped to cut costs significantly: “In the future, we will also rebuild our diesel-trains to run on batteries. We will save from the maintenance of diesel trains and will significantly decrease our CO₂ footprint caused by their strong emissions.

The public may not know that diesel trains also need more cleaning – the carbon black also enters the salons through the ventilation outlets, and we use the Kiehl Hodrupa cleaner to remove it. When Elron transitions to electric trains by 2026, we reduce the use of chemicals as well as the workload of our staff.”

Please tell us about your waste reduction goals and what is helping you achieve them?

“Yes, the goal is to reduce the amount of generated waste and we constantly think about new opportunities to achieve this. The office orders a lot of takeout food that produces boxes, packaging and paper bag. I think the issue is not the ordering of food but how to package and deliver it every time in a way that would generate less waste. We should not lay all the responsibility on the consumer; the producers should also use less packaging or should use reusable options. Many of our employees bring their own boxed lunch and use personal thermos mugs and bottles. During events, we eat from real dishes and avoid disposable ones. We stopped using disposable dishes a long time ago,” Kati calls for action.

Green Office also values a healthy working environment. What’s Elron’s practice in this regard?

According to Kati, there are several important topics when creating a healthy working environment. A good and healthy working environment starts from suitable room lighting: “We use ergonomic tools, all our staff members have ergonomic workstations – adjustable desks and chairs and everyone can order ergonomic tools (backrests, computer mouses, etc.). We compensate for sports opportunities and massages and do different athletic activities together. We have a good practice that each department organises some joint activities every year. We have gone on bike hikes, but also cart-riding.

We also value mental health. For example, Elron has an e-learning platform with training courses on different mental health topics. While everyone cannot attend a training course at the same time, it is possible to listen to a recorded lecture later. Train drivers have access to mental health support and when a train driver is part of an accident, it is strictly recommended to use the services of a psychologist.

We conduct customer as well as employee satisfaction surveys and work on the mission of saving people’s time. Elron has a total of 330 staff members, 40 of whom work at the office.