Easy steps to lower your expenses & preserve our planet

In the past, we’ve reported on several ways to help conserve energy – buying equipment with the Energy Star logo, shutting off equipment when not in use, and adjusting lights & thermostats accordingly in unused areas are all important and easy steps you can take to lower expenses. However, there are also broader programs you should consider.

Recycling Can Reduce Waste in Your Bottom Line
Did you know that there may be a market for your recyclables? It depends on your type of business and the kind of scrap materials or refuses your business produces. However, even if you can’t receive cash for your trash, it makes good sense to recycle. To create an effective program, try following these simple rules of thumb:

1. Develop a plan. This can include setting up a recycling team that can conduct an audit of your facility and evaluate the kind and amount of waste your company generates. Be sure to set goals and try offering rewards to encourage participation and maintain your program.
2. Take time to educate employees about the benefits, need, and convenience of the program. You may want to develop some educational materials and posters.
3. Consult with your waste hauler. Through recycling, you can actually negotiate lower waste management costs. Your hauler may also help you identify possible markets for your recyclables.
4. Implement your program. Start by placing recycling bins & receptacles in key locations of high traffic: near copiers, printers or other equipment. Develop a collection schedule, and kick off your program with an event to build excitement.
5. Monitor your progress. Your recycling team can evaluate progress and make adjustments.

Don’t forget – you can recycle a lot of different material and items! Check your local community listings that support recycling programs for hazardous materials, old computers and batteries, including old cell phone batteries. Additionally, be sure to recycle toner cartridges – ask your discount office supplier or sales rep for more information, as most leading cartridge manufacturers have made it easier than ever to recycle their products.


Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Reducing: Better Than Recycling

While recycling is an essential part of conservation, it is always better to reduce the amount of waste that you produce. There are many ways to achieve this goal:

I recommend:

• Use e-mail instead of printed correspondence
• Edit all documents on your computer before printing
• Copy documents on both sides of the paper – this can cut paper costs by up to 50% and reduce mailing costs
• Use recycled paper and reuse paper that has printing on one side for phone messages, scratch pads or printing drafts of documents
• Consider reusable glassware, dinnerware, and silverware in your kitchen or cafeteria

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

· Recommended Recycled Products: 1. Recycled Office Paper 2. Recycling bins and receptacles 3. Energy Star products 4. Reusable dining ware

With the ever-increasing awareness of the environment upon us, the benefits of recycling office paper are fairly obvious. To begin with, we usually use high-grade paper in our office environments, so it makes much more sense to (at the very least) recycle them instead of disposing them in the garbage. Statistically speaking, we can recycle up to 77% of these types of papers – an astonishing number, considering how much is typically thrown away. Another shocking number? The average business office employee can produce up to a pound and a half of paper waste a day. Even worse, finance offices generate waste paper from two to three pounds per employee daily!

So, what can your office do to reduce waste and do its part? First, take a look at what you’re consuming – use recycled paper or eco-friendly paper whenever possible, which will also save your company's budget (particularly when purchased in bulk).

When you do have to dispose of a document, shred it – paper shredders are a cost-effective way to recycle important documents, with the valuable benefit of reducing identity theft. There are several advantages of shredding paper for reuse. First, when used as alternative to Styrofoam peanuts, packaging costs are decreased (not to mention you’re using an eco-friendly packing media vs. a synthetic product such as Styrofoam, which doesn’t break down and is ecologically harmful). Additionally, shredded paper can also be composted (organically broken down) as opposed to being dumped in landfills, further benefiting our environment.

Additionally, removing office paper and cardboard from the garbage can reduce waste collection fees by 50% – besides incurring a penalty, by not recycling, you’re unnecessarily (and quickly) filling up our landfills! To break it down, one ton of recycled paper is equivalent to 6.7 cubic yards of saved landfill space – when you look at it from this perspective, it’s easy to realize how our actions can prolong the service of our present landfill sites. Whether your paper supplies are plain white paper, copier paper, office paper, inkjet paper, or letter paper, they are all easily recycled – if you require more details on how to recycle or how to instill the proper recycling methods in your place of business, visit your state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) or Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Go Green

Recycling can begin as soon as your employees are adequately informed and educated concerning proper recycling policies. Make sure that all employees know about the recycling program within your company. Recycling systems as basic as monitoring paper use and separating white paper from colored paper are widely-practiced routines in most offices.

I recommend: Placing clearly-labeled recycling receptacles throughout your office is a simple yet effective recycling method. Be sure, however, that the bins are placed in high-traffic accumulation areas such as the computer rooms, copier stations and records/billing sections. If you are creating a recycling station(s), be sure to install in an accessible and visible area so people will actually utilize them.

Discuss, Inform & Train

Although it is important to enforce company recycling policies across the board, you may want to consult in further detail with employees who will be primarily responsible for maintaining the recycling area. You may want to ask your employees the best location for positioning recycling bins or stations.

I recommend: Reiterate the value of shredding documents and separating white papers (such as bond paper, copier paper, paper supplies, office paper, inkjet paper, and letter paper) from other paper products such as cardboard and newspapers. This way, even if your office does not reuse the paper but sells it to recycling shops, it will fetch a higher price, since white paper costs more. It's also important to inform your maintenance crew – after all, you wouldn't want to undo your employees' recycling efforts by having an uninformed janitor haul your papers and dump them with food garbage. Therefore, it’s highly advisable to train your crew carefully with regard to your recycling program.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

· Recycle and Save: Know the value of your paper products - many times, recycled bond paper, copier paper, paper supplies, office paper, inkjet paper, and letter paper materials can bring you good money.

· Keep Records: Maintain an accurate log or record book - it's important to record the amount or weight of office paper that is produced and utilized by your company on an annual basis. This way, you can keep track of your paper wastes and evaluate if your recycling paper program is actually working at maximum capacity to reduce paper use and waste in your office. In addition, by keeping a record and receipts, you'll be sure to receive proper compensation by the recycling companies you're working with.

· Break It Down: Since old corrugated cardboard (OCC) is bulky and takes up a lot of space in dumpsters--especially if unflattened--businesses that generate large volumes of OCC may find it cost effective to bale or compact the material. And, depending upon the market, businesses make actually make a profit on the sale of collected OCC. At the very least, businesses may eliminate disposal fees by preparing it for hauler pickups or delivering it (drop off) to a recycling facility. OCC is a bulky, highly recyclable waste. Keeping this material out of the waste stream will mean saving landfill space in areas where disposed materials are land filled and reducing pollution through avoided incineration where waste is incinerated. By doing your part, you'll be saving money and our environment's future.

So, you’re thinking about converting your office or small business to an eco-friendly environment, but maybe you’re not sure where to begin. Well, for starters, there are many alternatives to traditional office supplies. Contrary to popular to belief, it’s much easier (and less costly) to switch over to earth-conscious products. While many people think that green items are more expensive, they are typically available at equal price with no less functionality. Simple changes – such as converting your regular light bulbs to the new low-energy fluorescent CFL bulbs – are green alternatives that make sense, both planet and dollar-wise: on average, one compact fluorescent light bulb saves an average of $35 in the energy costs over the life of the bulb, compared to a standard bulb.

As you can imagine, one of the first products people consider when going green is the type of paper products they’re using. Choose paper goods such as copier paper, files, binders, packing material, cleaning products and calendars made of recycled paper or environmentally-friendly content, which offer the following environmental benefits:

• Saves trees, energy, water, and landfill space compared to virgin paper
• Protects forests, watersheds, ecosystems
• Produces less pollution than virgin paper production
• Offers environmental savings many times over, since fibers can be recycled repeatedly
• Needs less bleaching than virgin papers; reduces use of toxic chemicals
• Concentrates inks, chemicals and other potential hazards for responsible management, instead of releasing them as do land filling and incineration
• Incorporates full-cycle production costs, unlike virgin paper which includes no responsibility for its eventual disposal costs

Buying and using other office products made of recycled and/or post-consumer content presents similar benefits; however, it’s only effective if you follow through. In other words, as you throw that used paper or that plastic bottle into the recycling bin, you need to be aware that it has to be turned into a new product and purchased by someone in order to really complete the cycle of recycling! It is estimated that over 100 million trees are cut each year just to supply fiber for copy paper in the U.S. Also, oil supplies around the world are being depleted partly so we can continue to produce all the plastic products we use every day. It's estimated to take up to 3 liters of oil to produce a single toner cartridge alone! When you regularly purchase and use recycled products in your office, it lessens the pressure put on natural resources and helps to keep functioning ecosystems intact. In addition, it saves energy and water, assists in the preservation of landfill space, supports recycling markets, and bolsters the economy. So not only do you need to recycle your items when you are done with them, but you need to buy the newly-made recycled content products to truly support the process and maintain your own green office space. Here’s a checklist of helpful information that can help you transform your office from wasteful to waste-friendly:



Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Go Green, Save Green

Although the concept of recycling is certainly nothing new, it's something we might not think about on a daily basis (beyond separating the aluminum take-out container from the paper bag it came in), especially when we're at work. However, many of us, if given the opportunity, would be more than happy to pitch in at the office if we knew it would help the environment. In addition, recycling can help your business save money. Haulers generally charge less for recycling than for normal garbage collection. By diverting waste from garbage bins into recycling bins, businesses can reduce their garbage bin size and frequency of collection. This could reduce garbage collection costs & associated fees on garbage. If you're in the position (office manager, company president, CEO, business owner, etc.) where you can actually make a difference in the way your company handles its recycling policies, there are many small steps you can implement that will make a big difference in the long run!

I recommend: Here are five easy things you can do to conserve your budget and the environment:

1. Make double-sided copies
2. Replace paper cups and plates in the kitchen with reusable ones
3. Reuse single-sided copies as scratch paper
4. Reuse other supplies such as envelopes and folders
5. Reuse packaging materials

Redecorate, Reuse, Recycle

Take a look around your office - are you in need of renovations or new furniture? If you have the funds to make an upgrade or if your company is revamping your office's appearance, why not consider eco-friendly alternatives to traditional fixtures and furniture? Furniture that hasn't been treated with synthetic materials (toxic dyes, wood laminates, chemical fabric treatments, etc.) is one less contaminant polluting the atmosphere we breathe, improving the air quality of your office, the environment and your company's health. Also, if you're in the market for redecorating on a budget, why not consider purchasing recycled or gently-used office furniture? You'll not only save money, but conserve the natural resources it takes to make a new piece of furniture - with such a wealth of sources to choose from, why not take advantage of what's already available? Research sites that offer recycled office furniture, including used, pre-owned, refurbished, and remanufactured merchandise.

I recommend:

• Look for computer furniture and workstations made from eco-friendly resources that sustain the environment – with so many options available, you’ll be converting your office to an eco-friendly environment in no time!
• You can also actively recycle furniture, computers, phones and even outmoded fixtures you want to get rid of – instead of throwing these items away, visit sites such as One Work Place whose in-house refurbishment and reuse program sells your unwanted items on the open, pre-owned furniture market, and recycles what can't be sold. Or, you might want to donate to charities such as the Salvation Army or a local school or shelter – this will not only benefit the landfills, but can amount to a sizeable refund come tax season!

Think Before You Print

Did you know that each employee uses an average of 50 sheets of paper per day? Keeping that in mind, try to encourage your employees and colleagues to print less by adding a message to your email signature, such as: "Think before you print to save energy and paper" or "Do you really need to print this email? If you do, please print it double-sided." By instilling simple messages such as these, you'll be taking small steps toward creating a more environmentally-aware workplace. Opting to send your interoffice memo as an e-mail versus a hard copy will save a substantial amount of paper on a daily basis; this is just one way you can effectively curb your office's paper consumption.

I recommend:

1. Always specify postconsumer recycled paper, to create markets for local community recycling collection systems.
2. Buy the highest postconsumer content you can, balanced against your budget and functional needs.
3. Choose the right grade of paper for your job.
4. Allow enough lead-time for a wider selection and better pricing.
5. Use recycled paper both for "public" paper uses such as stationery, direct mail and brochures, as well as for less visible uses such as copy paper.
6. Specify recycled paper use in all contracts.
7. Publicize the need to buy recycled paper - to employees, customers, vendors, citizens.
8. Label all printed materials, including letters, bills and publications, as printed on recycled paper so that others will see how acceptable and high quality it is.
9. Solve equipment and other complaints by investigating all possible causes of the problem. Don't quit buying recycled paper.
10. Deal with cost issues in ways that encourage continued recycled paper purchases. Reduce paper waste to reduce costs.

Educate Your Employees

At the very core of your efforts, you'll need to be on the same page - be an advocate for eco-friendly practices and policies by providing your employees with educational information, whether it's through meetings, orientations for new employees, or a monthly e-mail briefing your staff. You may even consider creating a monthly online interoffice 'green' letter with related links, company suggestions and so forth to keep your staff current regarding specific standards and procedures that may benefit your office and the environment as a whole.

I recommend: Live by example: nothing speaks louder than your own actions. Bring your coffee in a mug instead of a paper cup. Reuse your water bottle at the cooler. Practice proper recycling methods when disposing of office products. Set a precedent that your employees will not only follow but admire.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

· Create a 'Suggestion' box where employees can submit their eco-friendly suggestions - this will not only be a source for new 'green' tips, but also improve morale and create the community-minded cooperative approach needed for a true green office to really be successful.

· Go one step further and acknowledge good ideas or models of behavior by posting them on your company website; for example, "Green Tip of the Month: Spotlight on Employee Jane Doe". Reinforce your actions by occasionally treating your staff to lunch with the savings you've accrued through your new cost-effective recycling policies. Measures such as these will reward and further encourage and green 'leadership' actions within your office, which ultimately benefits your bottom line as well as the future of our environment.