At one time, when you heard the words business and environment, opposites came to mind. But no more! Businesses both big and small are becoming more environmentally conscious while still being profitable.
There are lots of simple steps to follow to become more green at work:
- Bring your own mug or glass to save on paper and styrofoam cups
- Bring your own lunch in a reusable lunch box rather than buy take-out
- Cut down on printing, and when you do, use both sides of the paper
To compare companies and their commitment to global warming, check out this Climate Count Company Scorecard.
Tuesday, June 10th on The Green:
"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Business", 9:00pm e/p
Corporations have begun embracing green business practices as beneficial to their bottom lines, productivity, and image with consumers. This episode visits companies, large and small, in the eco-vanguard: businesses that are doing well by doing good for the earth.
Crude Impact- Directed by James Jandak Wood, 9:35pm e/p This award-winning film details the many ways that oil has shaped the world by enabling humankind to dominate virtually every other species living on the planet. The film spans over 150 years as it considers the past, present and future of human oil usage, exploring topics including the science of Peak Oil; the human and environmental toll exacted by oil dependency; and the role of oil in geopolitics. Incorporating with expert analysis by scientists, policymakers and activists, Crude Impact delivers a message of hope along with its wake-up call, mapping positive actions that individuals can take right now. Social Justice Award, 22nd Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Do you have a "Big Idea" for the environment? Join The Green group to learn more about the environment, share your thoughts on sustainable living, and to contribute to weekly discussion topics. To join, click here.
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Comments: 22
Are you ever plan on doing an article about how people who live in the city can help the envirment? I really like to see one on that.
Refillable cups and bottles are my norm, but if they are plastic, there is a maximum life. We have a number of local recyclers that will take plastics -- which was also great for disposible bags that had finally outlived their tensile strength (stores in my area still, occasionally, have someone inexperienced who puts their plastic bags into my cloth bags).
The one thing I wish we had more of was free electronics recycling days. These are rare, and it gets expensive to pay to recycle computer parts when they are beyond my use -- these are machines no longer reasonable to donate.
It's interesting how some folks would look at me funny. I've been called a snob to my face for eating on real dishes in a work environment; as if the only reason I brought my own stuff (that could be washed and reused) was because I considered myself "to good" for styrofoam and plastic ware. Sheeesh !!
Good article !!
Or a large trash can for empty drink cans?
Or rescuing used binders from the trash pile and
1) re-using them in the office
2) allowing employees to take them home for personal use
3) donate them to a church for use in Sunday school/vacation bible school (VBS), OR
4) if past all possibility of re-use--cutting the plastic to retrieve the cardboard for shredding & composting; and collecting the metal parts for carrying to a recycler.
The office newspaper gets passed around to multiple people (multiple people get use from the single object).
A large container is placed on the counter in Accounting for all the paperclips that they remove from documents that have been processed. Other departments come by for a handful of paperclips whenever they are needed; this cuts down on the frequency of new purchases.
Just takes some imagination and the willingness to believe that small steps add up.
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 for the back of our toilet so that we aren't using entirely fresh water to deposit our bodily wastes into, thus saving water.
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.
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 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.
Always thinking I will need it someday.
Does that make me green or gray?
I have also started paper recycling for the whole offce & offer batter drop-off, so we can recycle batteries instead of them ending up polluting our environment.
A couple of other links, demonstrating that environment and business are not opposites.
GreenBiz
Sustainable Business
HUGE canvas bins for paper products to be mass shredded.
Collection boxes at the printers (& individual desks if desired) to help ferry the paper TO the recycle bins.
Bins for aluminum cans & plastic water\juice bottles to be recycled (proceeds go to Special Olympics of Washington)
Bins to collect the alkaline batteries and then they are processed appropriately.
We switched to a recycled paper for our laser printers & a larger # of duplex capable printers & copiers. AND more devices that are both copiers, printers AND fax machines that hibernate quickly and warm up incredibly quickly!
And light & A/C timers in office areas.
Those are the easy ones to note here....