Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...
Whether you run an entire office or are just the king of your cubicle, there are some pretty easy things that you can do to help make your work space a more environmentally place.
Since it looks like being green is here to stay, it’s probably about time that you jumped on the bandwagon and took advantage of some simple ways to help reduce your office’s carbon footprint:
I know it sounds pretty cliche, but if each of us would do just a couple of small things to reduce our impact, we could probably do a lot to help stave off the global environmental crisis.
Since it looks like being green is here to stay, it’s probably about time that you jumped on the bandwagon and took advantage of some simple ways to help reduce your office’s carbon footprint:
I know it sounds pretty cliche, but if each of us would do just a couple of small things to reduce our impact, we could probably do a lot to help stave off the global environmental crisis.
Recycle
Recycle paper, plastic,
glass, and metal cans in a more eco-friendly manner. Offices go through
copious amounts of paper each year--and what better way to dispose of it
than recycling it, so that it can be used again.
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Light bulbs
Not only do energy efficient light bulbs cut electricity costs for
corporations, but they also last longer than regular bulbs, providing
extended use and reducing the number of times light bulbs need to be
purchased each year.
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Reusable Cups and Mugs
Most office workers can't get their days properly started without their
morning cup of coffee or tea. Disposable cups create extra waste and can
easily be replaced with reusable mugs or cups.
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Turn off your Computer
Unless you’re planning on coming back in the middle of the night and you
absolutely have to have your computer already up and running, go ahead
and power down for the night.
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Tree friendly printing
If you have to use paper, buy
recycled. Think about how you are laying out your documents and
spreadsheets. Try to compact the data to as few printed pages as
possible. For instance, in powerpoint, print “handouts/3 slides per
page”, instead of one sheet for each slide. Not only does this save
paper, but it offers an area for note taking.Print double sided if that function is available on your printer.
Why is conserving paper so important? According to Conservatree, it takes a whopping 24 trees to fill up just one pallet of copier paper (source). Therefore, just one ream of paper (500 sheets of paper) takes 6% of a tree and, as Conservatree points out, those add up very, very quickly!
Why is conserving paper so important? According to Conservatree, it takes a whopping 24 trees to fill up just one pallet of copier paper (source). Therefore, just one ream of paper (500 sheets of paper) takes 6% of a tree and, as Conservatree points out, those add up very, very quickly!
Monitor Paper Usage
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, each employee in a
typical business office generates 1.5 pounds of waste paper per day.
There are several ways to cut down on how much paper you use, including:
A single-sided 10-page letter costs $0.55 to mail; that same letter, copied onto both sides of the paper, uses only five sheets and $0.34 in postage.
- Make hard copies only when necessary.
- View documents on your computer instead of printing them out.
- Use a stick-on label on the first page of a fax instead of a full cover sheet.
- Reuse paper that only has printed material on one side.
- Make sure all printers and copiers are set up to print on both sides of paper.
A single-sided 10-page letter costs $0.55 to mail; that same letter, copied onto both sides of the paper, uses only five sheets and $0.34 in postage.
- A ton of 100 percent recycled paper saves the equivalent of 4,100 kWh of energy, 7,000 gallons of water, 60 pounds of air emissions, and three cubic yards of landfill space.
- In the U.S., over 40 percent of municipal solid waste is paper—about 71.8 million tons each year.