Reduce, Reuse, Ruin

The lights switched on with a dull buzzing noise, the meeting room awake with their fluorescent glow. Six employees filed in, walking towards the central table. They sat upright in their chairs like a set of matching graphite pencils, ready to underline the importance of finance in a dying world.  

The director walked in last, the door clicking shut as he sat at the head of the table. He shuffled his papers as he looked around the room like he wanted to organise his employees into a neat stack as well.  

“All right, let’s make a start,” he cleared his throat, “it has come to our attention that DMB, the firm’s biggest competitor, are being praised for their sustainability in becoming a  paperless office.”  

Shock rippled across the employees in a wave of grey. “So as director of marketing, I wanted to take a deep dive into how we too can be a ‘sustainable’ company. Does anyone have anything they’d like to contribute?”  

His lips were pulled upwards by an invisible string, exposing symmetrical lines of white teeth. Smiling was a workout for his facial muscles.  

Silence filled the office like smoke.  

“We could implement reusable cups?” a woman offered. Round glasses enlarged her blinking eyes. “It would be good exposure for our clients and competitors to see we are sustainable inside and outside the office.” 

“Excellent, Maggie! Now where do we source these from? Helen?” The director raised his eyebrows at the woman to his right. She began typing frantically on her chrome laptop.  

“From my research, it is clear we need to first pick a material for the cups. Bamboo looks promising, very popular for this sort of thing as it is fast growing,” she glanced at him over her laptop, “and cheap.” 

Signaling at her to continue, he strode over to the whiteboard behind his chair and began jotting down ideas under the heading ‘GOOD 4 ENVIRONMENT PLAN’. “Reusable cups made of bamboo is a great strategy to show our commitment to being eco-friendly.” 

The employees swivelled their heads in static movements from side to side, nodding at each other. 

“The bamboo can be sourced from China, and it’s cost efficient to make the cups there too.” Helen said. 

“What if,” a man in the middle of the table started, “we get the company symbol on the cups? To increase synergy and a sense of community in the firm.”  

The director wrote this beneath ‘BAMBOO - CHEAP’. “Adam, sketch designs for the cups; make it sharp. Helen-” 

“How many cups would we need?” she interrupted, “because we could inquire about sharing a factory or-”

“Share! Do DMB share? Did we become the best real estate firm nationally because we shared our properties and clients?” He loomed over the table, eyes bulging with a predatory glare. “We are going to outsource a whole factory. If we are going to make these cups, we are fully committed. It’s for the environment, goddammit.”  

Helen nodded; the pink in her cheeks was the only colour in the room. The director’s sigh was reminiscent of a dragon letting off steam. There was a timid cough from the far end of the table. 

“What if we made the cups different colours.” The man’s voice cracked on the last word. “Uh, different colours according to what part of the company someone works for.”

“For example, blue for residential, red for commercial,” the woman opposite him carried his words forward. 

“Commercialising on the different sectors of the firm and how everyone is valued.”  The workers continued on the flow of words, each one following on from before like connecting cogs in a machine.  

“Valued for their visions for the annual targets and strategies.” 

“Strategies that help the company succeed.” 

“Succeeding is crucial for the firm.”  

“The firm needs team players to advance.” 

After the last employee had spoken, they all jerked their heads to the director. Six identical lifeless smiles.  

He wrote down ‘COLOUR 4 SECTOR’ on the board. “Very good. Helen, figure out the colours.” 

Once more the rapid tapping sound filled the office like rain on rocks. “So, I found dyes concentrated enough for the bamboo and a source which has every colour dye available to purchase. The factory I was looking at actually connects to a local water reservoir so the excess dye can be drained out of the factory.”  

She paused suddenly, a frown creasing her forehead. “Hang on, that’s not good.” The typing and clicking resumed. “They no longer do tangerine as an option. That’s a shame.” One of the workers perked up suddenly.  

“There’s a reservoir by the factory? Do people drink from that?” he asked.  Helen nodded. “There’s a village next to the factory, complete with a school and a farm.” She added. 

“Insightful point, Josh!”  

“It’s John.” 

The director ignored him. “We could employ workers from the village, boost their economy.” 

The workers began bobbing their heads in quick succession. 

“The reservoir looks so dirty!” Helen muttered, “The dyes might help to brighten it up a bit.”

There was a gentle knock on the glass door. The director waved in the woman waiting outside, holding a phone to her ear. “Mr Richards, there’s a call for you. It’s  Jamieson, he wants you to advertise new land for potential builders.” 

“I’m busy saving the planet, Debbie. Tell him to send over the bullet points.” Turning back to his whiteboard, he added ‘LOCAL WORKERS = CHEAP LABOUR’.  

One year later…

The hands in the clock were the only things that changed over the year. That and the violet reusable cups with the firm’s emblem that sat before each employee.  “Let’s review the last year of our sustainability efforts and our targets.” The director  began, leaning over the table with arms spread wide. “Helen, start us off.” Already primed, she had connected her laptop to a projector which glowed on the whiteboard’s surface. A click revealed a series of graphs and numbers. 

“As you can see from the graphs, the reusable cup scheme was a paramount success. Cafeterias in each branch nationally replaced their disposable cups with the firm’s branded ones. Each employee was given one in a sector specific colour. Community and synergy increased 33.6%.”  

The Director offered an attempt at a smile, lips stretching into long pale lines on his face.  

“It is mandatory,” Helen continued, “to only use our cups. Employees cannot use their own from home. We supplied the cups to branch coffee shops instead of those single use plastic ones.”  

“Reusable cups were also gifted to shareholders as a token of appreciation.” Said a woman across the table. “The new designs also showed our commitments to the planet”.  She lifted her own cup to display an image of a tree printed on the front. 

Helen clicked onto the next slide of a photo showing sleek green recycling bins. It was full of the brightly coloured reusable cups.  

“I noticed,” began Adam, sitting beside Helen, “that there were no recycling bins in  any of the branches. Recycling is an easy entry way into sustainability.” He recited.  The employees responded with staccato nods.  

“Excellent!” the director said as he surveyed the faces before him. “Each one of you  has helped to create a sustainable legacy for the firm. As we have hit our eco targets this year and attracted support for our efforts, the chief executive is thinking about introducing an entire sustainability sector led, of course, by this team. This will not only benefit the firm’s appeal to clients, but also your wallets.” He smiled like a shark looking at a school of fish. “So, let’s brainstorm the framework for our environmental targets for next year.” 

Five years later…

“Thank you all for agreeing to have this meeting over lunch.” Said Helen standing at the head of the table. “As I mentioned in the email this was the only available slot this week  after the floods cancelled the last one. But at least the power is running again so we are no longer living in the Middle Ages.”  

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” The employees laughed in unison. They each pulled out a glass Tupperware box with wooden cutlery. 

“John, how is the net carbon emissions reduction scheme going?” Helen asked, taking a sip from her cup. It had a pattern of suns and waves on it, the ‘Fun in the Summer  Sun’ collection.  

“There is an efficient solution to offsetting the firm’s carbon. For every property sold by our estate agents, we plant a tree. I’m working on expanding this to apply to all sectors of the firm.” John said.  

Helen nodded. A green pin on her blazer flashed as she moved, a single tree among a  sea of grey fabric. “Where are the trees being planted?” she asked. 

“Well, we are not actually planting the trees ourselves of course. There are schemes where you pay to off-set your carbon and the company planting our trees is based in,” he  peered at his laptop, “India.” He turned the screen to face the others. “This is all the trees we have planted.” 

“What beautiful lines of symmetry.”  

“Such neat lines.” 

“Are they all the same tree? How satisfying!” 

John turned his laptop back to face him. “It used to be a jungle. No more messy roots and branches anymore.” 

“Good,” said Helen, “surveys have shown that clients are more likely to invest in real estate if they believe they are also being environmentally responsible.”

“We are responsible for our planet’s future.” A man sat in the middle said, head bobbing up and down in a mechanical nod.  

“Future for the next generation is endangered. We must work to protect and  enhance biodiversity.” The woman next to him continued.  

“Should we look into how we can make our own practices more ecological? Start with the supply chain and expand into all sectors of the firm?” The woman at the far end broke the cycle, wheels veering off the track.  

Heads spun slowly to face her. Six green pins blinked at the woman.  

“Our environmental efforts have been commended by several notable business magazines.” Helen said.  

“Magazines that have also awarded us with prestigious sustainability awards.” John followed on, pointing at two frames on the wall without looking. ‘Sustainable business of the year 2035’. ‘Winner of the Most Environmentally Responsible Award.’ 

“Awards the firm deserved from our ecological framework and strategies.” The cycle began again, ideas looping over each other like fibres in a net, creating a secure basket of phrases and ideas too tight to unravel. 

“The strategies are clearly displayed in this year’s sustainability report. It is all online, obviously, since the office went paperless.” Said the man in the middle.

“Remember when DMB went paperless and thought they were the most sustainable firm?” the woman beside him said. Static laughter filled the room again.

“So, Katie, does that answer your concerns?” Helen turned to the woman at the far end of the table.  

“Yes,” Katie swallowed, “Maybe we could ban single-use plastic from the office?”. The employees all smiled at her, eyes glassy and untouched. 

Five years later…

A pyramid of cups is stacked on a shelf, each meticulously turned so the firm’s logo is visible. Above them framed awards hung proudly like decorative wallpaper. A mural of trees is visible beneath the awake interactive whiteboard. Tote bags, wooden cutlery and straws all displayed throughout the room under the fluorescent lights. Fans whir in every corner, rotating their cool breeze to soothe the empty room.  

Fifty years later…

Large cracks climbed the meeting room walls. Scorching temperatures were too much pressure for the room, the air trying to escape through the walls. Frames lay discarded and smashed on the floor, proud certificates curled in on themselves. Mould had crept in with the waves of the flood. Its mosaic patterns were slowly taking over the wall space, climbing inside the cracks. The interactive whiteboard clung to the wall by one corner. Outside the window, the other offices were just kindling, fuel for the fires invading the city with the heatwaves. No one saw the temperatures rise with the water level until it swept them under with fiery tendrils and a tidal force.  

On the table sat a single green reusable cup, unaffected.