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August 5, 2010 By Jen 5 Comments

Earth Talk: Greening the office

EarthTalk®
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: What are some simple things I could do to green the office I work in?
— James Raskin, Framingham, MA

No matter how green your office may be already, there is surely room for improvement somewhere. Here are 10 suggestions to help get you and your co-workers further along on the path to office sustainability:

  1. Take your Office’s Green Footprint: The website TheGreenOffice.com, an online retailer specializing in green office products, makes available a free Office Footprint Calculator to gauge what kind of effect you and your co-workers are having on the environment and identify how to make improvements.
  2. Save Trees: The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year. Refrain from printing when you can, use both sides of a sheet, and recycle so that the recycling industry will have raw material.
  3. Power Down: Artificial lighting accounts for almost half of all office electricity use. Turn off lights that are not being used. Better yet, install motion sensors that do it automatically when no one is in the room. Also, shut down computers overnight, and set them to go into sleep mode when sitting idle.
  4. Minimize E-Waste: Upgrade or repair the office computers instead of junking them. So-called “e-waste”—toxin-leaching computers and electronics—is a huge problem all over the world now.
  5. Telecommute: Encourage workers to work at home when possible to save car trips. For those who must come to the office, encourage bicycling if it is safe. Also some firms now subsidize employee public transit costs to discourage driving. And online video tools like Skype can help cut down on business trips.
  6. Green Screen Your Suppliers: Ask your vendors how they are greening their operations. Just posing the question can start them thinking, the precursor to action. Demand recycled paper and soy-based inks from your printers, and buy only green office supplies—which are now widely available.
  7. Clean Greener: Make sure your cleaning service uses non-toxic, green friendly products—if they don’t, offer to supply them—so that you can breathe easy when you’re trying to get your own work done.
  8. Eco-Renovate: If you need to renovate or upgrade anything, greenest options abound, including non-toxic paints, natural fiber carpeting, energy efficient windows and Energy Star-rated office equipment.
  9. Drink Tap Water: Having big jugs of water lugged in and out every week by the bottle water company is not only unnecessary but a big waste of energy. Most tap water is safe to drink; if yours isn’t or you’re not sure, put filters on the kitchen spouts or buy filtered water pitchers and keep them in the office fridge.
  10. Put Your Heads Together: Form a committee to organize and monitor your office’s green practices, to ensure that your office’s green goals don’t fall away if one or two committed employees move on, and to reinforce the importance of doing the right thing across the organization.

CONTACTS: TheGreenOffice.com, www.thegreenoffice.com.
SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk®, c/o E – The Environmental
Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. E is a nonprofit publication.
Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe; Request a Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Related

Filed Under: Green Tips, Green Your Business Tagged With: business, Clean, E-Waste, environment, environmental magazine, Green, green office, lighting, Recycled, thegreenoffice.com, waste

About Jen

Jennifer Smith provides Green Virtual Assistant Services to grow small businesses paperless and sustainable providing various e-services. Her passion is customizing StudioPress Themes for WordPress for her awesome clients. View her portfolio here.

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Comments

  1. James Swan says

    November 6, 2011 at 9:51 am

    That’s will really help  those people who want to work in a natural environment. All those tips are great to follow and use for make green office environment.

  2. virtual assistant says

    December 4, 2010 at 11:46 am

    That’s really is a very Eco friendly post.In theory I’d like to write like this too – taking time and real effort to make a good article.

  3. Sean says

    August 17, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    Thinking green in the order of the day in the light of all the global warming and dwindling of natural resources. Saving earth is of parmount importance and this information is priceless considering that fact. Working in healthy environment is yet another prerogative.

    Sean Abraham
    personalassistants

  4. Search Office Space says

    August 14, 2010 at 7:49 pm

    Thank you for the great tips. We should consider them as it is very important to work in a nice environment of green and stay healthy 🙂

    ________________________
    Office Rent

  5. Alisa Rose says

    August 6, 2010 at 8:14 pm

    Great article!

    May I add something to your terrific list?
    When making an ECO -i.e. Healthy- energy efficient office, be sure to include healthy, living plants, which will provide extra oxygen, absorb certain toxins from the air, and help create a more Beautiful, productivity enhancing setting.
    There are quite a few easy care indoor plants which require little light in which to grow.

    Thank for letting me add my 2 cents,
    Have a Joy-filled Day,

    Alisa Rose
    Certified Green Buidling Professional
    Eco Landscape Designer
    http://www.greenfengshuimakeover.com
    http://www.lovinggardensdesigns.com

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🌮🌽🌮🌽 YUM! 🌮🌽🌮🌽 YUM!
May your basket be filled with all your favorites! May your basket be filled with all your favorites! Happy Easter 🐣
One down. One to go! #covidvacccine #cvs One down. One to go! #covidvacccine #cvs
18 years, whaaaat?! How did this happen?? Happy Bi 18 years, whaaaat?! How did this happen?? Happy Birthday Love! 💜
Happy 16th birthday 🎂 to my sweet baby girl! 🎈❤️
Time for some #truecrime with #thebabysitterbook b Time for some #truecrime with #thebabysitterbook by @lizarodman
Anniversary dinner. Cheers 🍹🌴🍹 Anniversary dinner. Cheers 🍹🌴🍹
This picture feels like a lifetime ago! We've know This picture feels like a lifetime ago! We've known each other 30 years, been married for 18 of them. There's been ups and downs, good and bad, thick and thin (he's obviously the thin one 😂). 

We've been through a lot, but I like to think that's what makes us stronger. Besides, I don't have time in my life to start training a new one.  Kidding! 😉🥰

Here's to many more years of looking forward to what awaits us beyond the horizon. 

Happy 18th anniversary Troy. ❤️
Checking out #robotloveart Checking out #robotloveart
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