I run my business from our rental home. We have a water leak in our kitchen faucet, so we put a glass bottle under the faucet to catch the water, which we then pour into our water jugs in the fridge for drinking water.
We also recycle nearly everything at least once, and have a small composting bucket in which we toss the things that our red worms won't eat (citrus, onions, garlic), that we take over to our local community garden and dump in their compost heap once a week.
Newspaper gets recycled into plant starter pots, bedding for the worms, weed barrier in the community garden, and crafts. When the crafts wear out, we then drop them off at the local paper recycling center.
We're even installing a hand-washing sink connected to our toilet so that we aren't using entirely fresh water to deposit our bodily wastes into, thus saving water and encouraging handwashing.
When it rains, we put out buckets to collect the water so that we may use it to water our decorative (and edible) container plants. You know, the ones we've brought inside so they'll continue to produce food all year long?
Our current projects include building a pedal-powered, under-desk generator so that my employees can generate power and get exercise while they're sitting at their desks for storage in batteries for use with small appliances in the office, all employees will soon use notebook computers to save on power consumption and space, and we're looking into getting or putting together some small solar panels out of salvaged or broken panels in order to add to the energy generated by our employees.
Now don't get me wrong, we're a small company of only two full-time employees at this time, but we all have to do everything we can in order to help reduce our impact on the planet and our natural resources, no matter how small a company we are.
Many small people, doing many small things, can and DO change the world.
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Comments: 12
If a older house you may want to test the reused drinking water. Make sure no rust or other contaminants?
How big is your indoor garden? MY Guy built mine connected to the house, then took these tubes like from the dryer, hooked them up to the fans and it pumps in the warm air. It works so well we got rid of our oil tank outside. Might be a idea for you to? The plants keep warm and so do we :0) Even having to open windows and doors even when snow on the ground outside!!
The toilet thing is a good idea! Might have to copy that! The water in the bathroom we use is bothering me!
I so agree with you!!
It doesn't take any extra work or effort really, just a small change in habits. For example, instead of throwing out the food wastes, we lift a lid of a different container (depending on what the waste is), and toss it in. It is no different than tossing it into the trash in time and effort.
As for the under-desk generators, we're still working on those, as in they're still in the planning stages; getting the pedal generators hooked up, figuring out how to sequence both the generators and batteries so that we can just use a single battery bank and save room, and the like are all considerations for a project like this, which is planned to grow quickly.
They are under the desks because that is a convenient spot, allowing access to them from where we spend our time when we are working, keeping them out of the regular walkways, and allowing us to be active, even when seated and participating in what would usually be exceedingly stationary pursuits. The added bonus is that it gives the employees exercise, and improves health. *smile*