Now, I consider myself fairly environmentally aware...I recycle things like cans and turn off my lights and things at home all the time. I just feel better about leaving a smaller footprint on the planet for my kids to try and clean up.
But, I have noticed a disappointing lack of the same things at my office. I never recycle anything at my office...and I took a good look around my office -- NO ONE DOES! I was floored...And, according to a recent survey I found, as much as 40% of workers in America are irritated by the lack of 'green' efforts at thier office.
So, I made a quick list of things that you can do to help your office become more environmentally conscious.
Here are 10 things that YOU can change to make your environmental impact less within your own office:
- Turn your computer off when you go home. Not powering down for 16 hours uses a ton of energy and your boss (or your electric bill) will thank you!
- Use fewer cover sheets when printing or faxing. One is good. In fact, if you get cover-sheet Post-It notes, you dont need a cover sheet at all.
- Recycle! Recycle paper, cans, plastic, etc.
- Turn your air conditioning up a few degrees. By the same token, turn your heat down a bit. You will barely recognize the change and the effect on your bottom line will be significant.
- Turn your lights off when you leave the office. This includes desk lamps, etc. The less energy you use, the better.
- Dont print stuff just to have stuff. Chances are, you have a computer. Make notes, reminders, etc...on your desktop for quick reference.
- Bring in recycle bins. You will be amazed how many people start using them! Also, set up regular recycling runs for the office. People will start bringing in stuff from home just to take advantage of them.
- Dont use a ton of paper products like paper plates and cups. Plastic plates and cups can be recycled after you use them.
- Print double-sided, if possible.
- Dont print paper copies of electronic files. If you have all of the info you need on your laptop, you dont need to print it for a folder. This is very wasteful and creates tons of trash that can easily be avoided.
We only have one planet. We need to do as much as possible to make sure that it remains intact for our children and thier children. If not us....then whom??
If you would like to know more about www.recr.com or how we can help you get more closings, please contact Clint at 800-977-7058.
Clint-My green man! Here's another butt burner for me-Compress the seller disclosures onto fewer pages. Sometimes the disclosure statement is repeated on 3 different forms! Let's get our association's to help save paper. Welcome to My "It's a sort of fern green" World!
Diana -- I agree entirely!! In a world of doing forms in quadruplicate, why not make the forms digital and send electronic files to all parties that need them?? My wife is a paralegal for a huge law firm here in town...and they do exactly this...It works and works well.
Clint...
Ths is so weird ... I just went to the office manage this morning and told here we needed a recycling bin for aluminum cans. And I always print double-sided! Thanks for the tips.
Richard -- We just used an extra garbage can and wrote on it with a Sharpie...Its the same effect. What amazed me is that it was full in 2 days. (We drink a lot of pop...lol)
Good ideas...we also use old printouts for scratch paper. I also so use them for some of the games we play if we have extra
William -- Always a good idea. We do a ton of games in our office. So, instead of using paper for them, we bought white boards...my office is covered in them.
Clint...
This is the year we have gone green. I finally talked Blog Boy (Broker Bryant) into losing the fax machine and switching over to e-fax. You gotta know just how much paper we no longer have to buy and toss. We are now loading our RE files on discs. Now if I can just figure out what to do with 10 years worth of RE files I'll be good to go :)
Can I make a joke now? Thanks...It goes like this...For every can you recycle you're stealing .0000000001 Cent from the Aluminum Man :)
Chill out folks...It's just a politically incorrect joke :)
TLW...ROAR!
TLW -- Blog boy?? LOL! E-Fax....awesome idea! We use efax here all day long! Love it. Once you get your files loaded up, contact a local shredding company or recycler and see if they will come get your old files. Here in Missoula, we have a company called TEAR IT UP...they are a mobile commercial shredding operation. Commercial shredder mounted in a giant truck drives up to your door and removes the waste paper all in one shot. Thanks for the comment!!!
Nice job Clint. On a topic close to my heart!
Tamara -- Thanks! Im glad you appreciated the suggestions and took the time to post. Much appreciated.
You are welcome. If you want to check out my green thing, visit my page--well, actually, my web page as I haven't gotten too much into this blogging thing yet!
Tamara -- No problem. I will do that. Thanks for the invite. And keep blogging! The rewards will come!
this is a great post for us all to be aware of... i think because they think that they are not paying for it that it is okay to waste paper and energy...however you are so right...let us all start with ourselves and make a difference!
Naoma -- Thank you. That was the reason no one in here would do it...its not thier money. But, it is...saving money everywhere makes your business more profitable...and allows for more money to be distributed to employees. It's a win-win! Thanks for the comments!