Being Green Can Help you in a Recessionary Economy

Being Green While Making Green

We are jumping on the “green bandwagon”, explaining a few very simple ideas for office employees to turn their office into a more eco friendly place. Any HR department can try and implement these ten tips!

I picked my favorite ten tips that I think are the easiest and that people can start today.

Recycle-offices produce a lot of waste including paper, soda cans, and cardboard shipping boxes. Set up a simple recycling program in your office so it is easy for your employees to do the right thing. Also use recycled products such as printing paper on a regular basis. In addition, recycle batteries and ink cartridges. Staples will even pay you for them!
Turn off lights-whenever you leave for lunch, the day, or even a meeting next door, turn off your light when you don’t need it. It will save a lot of energy.
Coffee and Water- If your office doesn’t already have a water cooler or make its own coffee everyday try and encourage it. In addition, bring your own coffee cup and water bottle in so you are not wasting Styrofoam or plastic.
Screensavers-Many people don’t know but leaving a screensaver on will waste energy, it is better to not have one or better yet turn your computer completely off when your not using it.
Real Plants- Even though fake plants always look nice and are less maintenance, real plants produce more oxygen for all of us and the environment.
The Thermostat- I know where we are in Arizona it’s almost impossible for us to turn up our thermostat to a warmer temperature, but try doing it a few degrees. It will make a big difference. In addition, definitely turn the air conditioning off at night when no one is in the office.
Telecommuting- some businesses find a lot of challenges with this system, but instead of converting to it completely find certain times where you can do it, for particular employees. This will cut down on usage of gas for your employees.
“Go virtual” with meetings-If you can save money on a plane ticket to an out of state meeting then do it. If you don’t have to drive across town for a meeting then try not to. There is a lot of new technologies out there that make there no need to commute.
Do you really need to print that? If you can just as easily read something on your computer and save it in a digital folder then you don’t need to print it. Doing this will save a lot of paper over the course of a year.
Use staple-less staples. – The “staple-less” staple seems to be a new trend emerging today, as it can save a lot of steel. They are available online and at most office supply stores. According to gogreenintown.com “we would save 120 tons of steel if every office worker used one less staple a day for a year (that’s about the equivalent of 25 SUV’s!”