KnowBe4 Sustainability Blog

KnowBe4 Celebrates Waste Free February

Written by KnowBe4 HR | Apr 5, 2024 8:47:24 PM

Last month, KnowBe4 held a Waste Free February contest for our employees. As the name implies, the contest took place throughout February. 

Employees who participated took part in several daily challenges, such as using reusable mugs or cups rather than disposable, avoiding single-use plastic straws and utensils, turning off water when brushing teeth, etc. They also took part in the following challenges specific to days of the week (we shared several resources for ideas on how to participate):

๐Ÿƒ Meatless Monday - Eat no meat on Monday
โšก Turn-Down-Tuesday - Turn down your energy usage on Tuesday
๐ŸŒ Waste-Free Wednesday - Throw nothing away on Wednesday (only recycle, upcycle or compost)
๐Ÿ’š Thankful-Thursday - Upcycle, repair, repurpose, or donate something on Thursday 
โ™ป๏ธ Plastic-Free Friday - Avoid all single-use plastic on Friday (no plastic bags, water bottles, utensils, straws, etc)
๐Ÿ—‘๏ธ Cleanup Saturday - Pick up trash on Saturday (at an organized cleanup, or individually)
โ˜บ๏ธ Social Sunday - Talk to another person about ways THEY can help the planet as well

All said and done, we had 52 employees in 11 countries participate with a total of 559 daily entries. Countries that participated:
Australia ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น
Brazil ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท
Dubai ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ช
Germany ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช
India ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ
Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต
Netherlands ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ
Singapore ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ
South Africa ๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ
UK & I ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง
United States ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ

We had the highest level of participation from the US, UK &I, Netherlands, and Japan. And the impact our employees had on the environment in just one month was impressive! Among other things, participants (based on self-reporting):
- Kept 273 single-use drink containers out of the waste stream by using reusable bottles and mugs
- Saved nearly 5,000 gallons of water by reducing usage during teeth-brushing and showers
- Removed 166 pounds of food waste from the waste stream through composting and/or regrowing fruit and vegetable scraps there

KnowBe4 is lucky to have a passionate, engaged group of employees who are making a difference when it comes to the environment! Shoutout to them all, and a special high-five to our top five performers:

1st: Tara F - US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ

2nd: Ella M - Netherlands ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ

3rd: Hiroki H - Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต

4th: Jennifer L - US ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ

5th: Nina H - Germany ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช

 

Thank you to our Knowsters who participated in this year's Waste Free February! ๐Ÿงก