subject: The Green Office [print this page] Having a green home is ideal for many peopleHaving a green home is ideal for many people. What about your office? There are many reasons the office is the last to go green, a few of which being the misprinted paper, the many copies, and the faxes. There are a number of things that you can do to turn your office from tree killer into the model of efficiency.
Paper Wasting
Let's begin with the examples listed above. Take an inventory of all of the reports that you print every week. Could you make it more succinct? Instead, request that your reports all be delivered in an electronic format. There are several report types, such as excel, CSV, and TXT. You can easily pull CSV files into Excel where you can review, sort, and manipulate them. You can make it the framework for other assignments.
You Don't Have to Print Emails
Do you print out all of your emails in case of emergency? This could be overkill. Print messages only if you truly need them. The rest can be archived and saved to a disk for safe keeping. Printer ink will fade over time anyway. The ink may not be perfect when you need it I you print it too soon. A back up disk would be the best option.
Misprinted Paper Can Be Reused
Next we have the misprint! In any given office, on any day of the week, dozens of perfectly usable pieces of paper are thrown away. True, they may not be suitable for printing formal letters, but they are great for scraps. There are places that will bind old scraps into notebooks that you can use to jot down numbers and memos. This is affordable if you have a large sized company. You can bind these yourself with the right tools. If that's too much extra work, cut all sheets into 4 pieces. Place the cut sheets in a small container, preferably reclaimed, in an area where your team can reach them as needed.
It isn't impossible to go green in the office. It may just take thought and creativity. Make it a company-wide initiative and get everyone involved. You will find that coworkers are just as eager.
