Here's a look at 10 ways Google tries to make its campuses around the world more sustainable (GOOG, GOOGL)

Beekeeping

Google campuses may be best known for their fun quirks — like having massive slides in a number of them.
But over the years, the company has made strides to make its offices not only fun to work in, but environmentally friendly as well.
From cutting down on food wastes to harvesting its own honey, below are ten ways Google offices around the world are working towards being more sustainable.
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Google campuses may be best known for their fun quirks — like having massive slides in a number of them. But over the years, the company has made strides to make its offices not only entertaining, but environmentally friendly as well.

With offices in over 160 cities housing over 98,000 employees, Google's carbon footprint — from an operational perspective — has the potential to be huge.

Knowing this, the company has come up with creative ways to cut down on things like food waste, car emissions, and even, how much honey it has to buy for its cafes.

Here are ten ways Google offices around the world are working towards being more sustainable:

1. Google offers its employees a colorful fleet of bikes — known as Gbikes — to help them get around its Mountain View campus.

The GBike program started in 2007 and today, has over 1,000 bikes in its fleet. According to a Wall Street Journal report, though, over 100 bikes go missing each week from Google's campus, showing up at local schools, neighbors lawns, and even, one time, on the roof of a local sports bar.

The scattered Gbikes throughout the city could be seen as an eyesore, but according to The Journal's report, many residents have embraced them and ride the bikes around town themselves. Even Mountain View's mayor said he once rode a Gbike to the local movie theater after a meeting at Google, according to the report.

The company says each Gbike is ridden for about 3 miles per day.

Other campuses offer eco-friendly modes of transport to employees as well, including standup paddleboards in Seattle, push scooters in New York City, and kayaks in Sydney.

2. Google makes it a priority to purchase "imperfect" fruits and vegetables.

The company says that some of this produce would ordinarily go to waste because it doesn't meet the aesthetic expectations of grocery stores even though it's "perfectly delicious and healthy on the inside."

In 2018, Google says it used over one million pounds of imperfect produce — including carrots, tomatoes, peppers, bananas, and more.