It’s often easier to be green at home (where you’re the boss), than at the office, where you might not be.
But even if you work for a company with little awareness about office sustainability measures, there are still plenty of opportunities for you to bring eco-friendly actions to the job.
On my “Keep It Green” blog for HalogenTV, I talk about the reasons for going green at work:
Most of us spend the majority of our time working, but we don’t always take our green habits into the office. That’s a major missed opportunity, because businesses are usually much bigger contributors to waste, pollution and global warming than individuals or families.
For example, according to Californians Against Waste, while California as a whole diverts over 54% of its waste from landfills, large office buildings divert only 7% of their waste.
If you’re not ready to lead a sustainability overhaul at the office – or if you don’t think your co-workers are open to it – I offer five simple tips for your green actions, e.g.:
Tip #1 – Save paper
- My friend Mike, who works for an auto company in Detroit, has his printer set to print double-sided by default. This simple measure can cut your paper costs in half! I do another version of this — I reuse paper already printed on one-side as my printer paper or note paper.
- At my friend Sarah’s law firm, they’ve gone paperless. She told me, “It’s an accomplishment I thought would be impossible! When I transitioned from a large to a very small law firm, I thought there was no way I could work in a paperless office — I used to go through reams of paper at my old law firm. But finances dictated the change, and I find it very easy now!”
- And, of course, once you’re done reducing and reusing, you’ll want to recycle paper and cardboard.
Read more tips over at the Halogen Blog: Take Your Green Habits to Work.
