Sustainability Week 2019

Every journey starts with a first step.

Check out some ideas to reduce garbage during lunch break or where to find a close second hand shop for books and cloths. Find out where you can get help to repair broken shoes or to get rid of your unused training tools instead of throwing them away!

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You would like to recommend more spots in Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf or Aachen? Contact us and we add it to the map!

Jessica, Lara & Pia

Take a look into the map and take the next step on our sustainability journey!

Sustainable consumption can be very easy! In the environment around our workplace many places can be discovered where a different kind of consumption is possible. Our map below shows these different sustainability spots in Cologne, arranged by categories.

For example, in the lunch break try delicious food in the vegan / vegetarian restaurant. At some restaurants, the food can even be picked up in your own box – plastic free lunch! Or rent the cargo bike around the corner for a trip after work. And for the next meeting with clients high-quality clothes can be found in second-hand shops or in small clothing stores that specialize in sustainable textiles. Also don’t miss our link-collection below with even more tips and tricks for a more sustainable professional and personal life.

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Don’t forget to zoom out to explore more options in Cologne. We would be happy to receive your ideas and expand this collection also for other districts and other cities. Get in touch!

Explore more tips and tricks, locations and recommendations

Second Hand

Mobility

General Consumption Tips

  • Use electronic devices that have a changeable battery – mobile phones, electric tooth brushes, electric shavers. Even if the battery is not changeable, you can still buy a battery, open the device (search on google on how to do it!), unsolder the old battery and solder the new one at the exact same position. You will see that the battery time is as long as before!
  • Allrounder Vinegar:
    Vinegar helps clothes keep their color (just soak your clothes in vinegar before washing it).
    Vinegar removes odors – even from your sport shoes! Take a cloth and put it in vinegar. Then stuff it in your stinking sport shoes. No need to buy new ones – they get as good as before.
    As substitute for cleaning agent: put some vinegar water and detergent in a spray bottle and treat lime stains, grease splashes, dirty mirrors and windows with it. Cheap and ecological!
    Add a part of vinegar essence with three parts of water to your kettle and boil it. Then leave the mixture for 30 minutes. Now simply rinse out the kettle and rinse several times with water, so the smell of vinegar disappears.
  • Drink tab water. Tab water in Germany is safe to drink. If you are unsure, you can test it though: https://www.wassertest-online.de
  • Soap, shampoo, shower gel and tooth paste all exist plastic free, e.g. on this website: https://www.ecco-verde.de/themen/plastikfrei or at the shop Lush (https://de.lush.com/shops/5/all/K%C3%B6ln). Just give it a try! A safety razor (wet shave) is more sustainable than disposable shavers as it lasts way longer. Zero waste!
  • One of the easiest ways to save plastic: use your own bag for your (grocery) shopping.
  • Get a reusable water bottle and a coffee-to-go mug, so you do not need to buy plastic bottles or coffee-to-go in a paper cup.
  • Tools: seriously – how often do you need tools? Not THAT often? No worries – you can rent it, instead of buying! Even at the big DIY stores: OBI for example rents almost everything: from a drilling machine, a carpet cleaner to a chainsaw. https://www.obi.de/mietgeraete/
  • And now the most important tip: Spend money on experiences, not things! Not only is it more sustainable, it will make you happier as well. You don’t believe it? Read this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2016/03/03/the-secret-to-happiness-spend-money-on-experiences-not-things/#59b06ccb39a6