McKinsey is committed to minimizing the impact our firm has on the environment. We sat down with Radka, a senior recruiter in Prague, to learn how she’s been improving the environmental sustainability of her office as part of one of McKinsey’s Green Teams.
What are you doing in the Prague office?
In 2018, we moved to a new office with LEED Platinum certification, which means it has the highest environmental standards. We have a green roof, use only LED lights, recycle our wastewater, and consume smog and emissions through our building façade.
Colleagues in the Prague office formed a Green Team to further drive sustainability. We pulled levers to significantly reduce waste by:
• Replacing plastic bottles with water fountains• Making double–sided printing our default
• Removing single–use coffee pods, milk containers and sugar packets
• Replacing bathroom paper towels with energy efficient hand–drying machines
• Removing trash bins from the conference rooms, which makes people go the recycling bins and sort trash properly
• Introducing juice carton and metal recycling
All of the initiatives we’ve implemented are supported by open discussions and awareness campaigns to the office via emails and posters. The Prague Green Team has also organized a series of events over the last year to help change colleagues’ mind–sets, such as:
• The Eco Festival, an introduction to zero–waste lifestyle practices and the eco–cosmetic industry• A guided tour of a local recycling plant
• The Trash Hero event to clean the riverside in Prague
• A Bike to Work Day where we had 10 teams run, walk and cycle ~3300km
• Screening of the documentary film A Plastic Ocean
How have you measured the outcome of these efforts?
In one year, we reduced office costs and more than three tons of waste, mainly in the form of PET plastic bottles and paper towels, as well as 14 tons CO2e.
What work are you most proud of?
To maximize our improvements, we partnered with a local sustainability NGO with expertise in creating green offices, who confirmed that we were adopting best practices.