Tips For Creating A Green Office: From Paper Reduction To Recycling Bins

Green initiatives are sweeping through offices and businesses throughout the world. So many companies are going green because it offers a wide range of benefits. By reducing waste, offices can reduce costs at the same time. Having a positive impact on the environment empowers employees to get involved, builds team work, and instills a sense of company pride and culture. With these proven benefits, here are a number of ways to make your office greener.

Reducing Waste With Paper Reduction Programs

Paper reduction programs are one of the best ways to make a big impact right away. Ever single piece of paper saved is one less piece of waste in a landfill and one less tree that has to be cut down, saving the energy of processing it into paper. This helps the bottom line as well through cutting costs with little capital investment. Paper reduction methods include:

• Switch to light weight paper stock in order to reduce the environmental impact of using paper.
• Use two-sided printing whenever possible. This is a quick change that will cut your paper usage by 50% overnight. If you do not have the equipment to print on two sides, buy the right equipment when you upgrade or replace old printers and copiers.
• When you can avoid using paper, instead rely on voicemails, emails, and other paperless forms of communication.
• Forgo the use of cover sheets on faxes. If you need to inform the recipient of an incoming fax, send an email or call them ahead of time.
• Circulate internal memorandums with minor hand written changes when needed instead of printing out each new revision.
• If you utilize direct mailers, switch to designs that do not use envelopes and instead fold or staple your mailers.
• In addition, go through your mailing list and remove duplicate and out of date entries.

Capturing Waste With Recycling Bins - Where To Place Recycling Containers

The paperless office is not arrived yet, so our offices and business will still continue to generate paper waster. It is vital to capture paper into recycling bins rather than letting them enter landfills. Today's designs on recycling bins allow them to fit any space and any decor.

To get the most use out of receptacles, place them where paper waste is generated. This means putting recycling bins at every printer and copier in the office. For small personal printers, you can utilize clip-on or small rider bins that attach to regular waste baskets. Community areas and conference rooms should also have recycling containers. Finally, a large, multi-component receptacle can be used to consolidate waste for pickup.

Solutions For Small Offices

Any size business or office can go green no matter how strapped for cash they may be. Look into combining your green efforts with neighboring offices and businesses. Share recyclable waste containers and pick-ups. Internally, utilize paper reduction method that require no capital investment; every little but counts.

In the end, every company both big and small has numerous opportunities to go green.

Author writes about a variety of topics. If you would like to learn more about recycling bins, visit http://www.wastewiseproducts.com/.