The first of the eco-friendly three Rs is reduce, and being green in the office means looking for ways to reduce consumption throughout, from office supplies to the items in the staff lounge. Consider implementing the following suggestions to reduce the amount of waste produced in your workplace:
If you can’t go paperless, buy recycled paper from local businesses to cut down the energy used producing new paper, save trees, and save fuel in transportation.
Get the most out of paper by printing on both sides and using scrap paper instead of sticky notepads to make notes.
Print using the “fast” or “draft” setting to save ink.
Recycle used paper.
Set up a place in the office to store and exchange reusable office supplies, such as binders, envelopes (relabel them), and file folders (turn them inside out).
Set up a complete recycling system for bottles, cans, photocopier cartridges, batteries, printer ink cartridges, and plastic. Reuse anything that can be reused, such as rewritable CDs and DVDs, and recycle the rest.
When disposable items (such as cups) run out, replace them with reusable ones.
Research practical alternatives to having water delivered for water coolers, such as a reverse osmosis water filtration systems.