There are some businesses that obviously lend themselves to going green. For instance if you work with a lot of recyclable materials, then there are obvious ways you can go green. Likewise for companies that work in construction, or that work with radioactive and other hazardous materials there are some clear ways of doing business in a more green manner.
However what’s less obvious is that any business can be more green – and that includes those companies that are mainly confined to offices. In fact there are hundreds of ways that an office company can be more or less eco-friendly. Following are just some suggestions as to how an office based organization can begin going green.
Use Recyclable Materials:A business may not produce any products that require the use of materials, but that does not mean that there are no materials used by a company at all. For instance you will use materials internally within the company – such as papers for memos and even disposable cups for your office canteen and if you opt to choose recyclable goods here then you’ll be reducing your carbon footprint and going green in the office.
Go Paperless: Better than using recyclable paper for your internal memos and letters is to avoid using paper at all. Never print out an e-mail that can just be forwarded to someone, and try to keep databases where you would once have had filing cabinets. It also makes your data more easily organizable and searchable as well as helping with going green.
Consider Waste: So what waste does an office produce? Well at the very minimal a business will create electronic waste which comes from things like computers and printers which can’;t just be disposed – consider how you are going to get rid of products and materials that could otherwise damage the environment.
Reduce Energy: Make sure that any appliances that you use in the office are as efficient as possible. Avoid over-using your air conditioning and heating, use energy saving light bulbs and lighting control and ensure that devices are not left on longer than necessary.
Improve Transport: Even office based companies involve transport whether this is attending trade shows, going to business meetings, or shipping materials. This then means there are a wealth of ways they can improve going green. Reduce fuel use by minimizing journeys (eliminate those that are unnecessary and you’ll save the business time and money too), using company cars that are fuel efficient, and combing shipments and business trips into single journeys.
Use Video Conferencing: Just as digital data bases allow us to do away with stacks of paper, so has technology eliminated waste in other ways. Video conferencing is perfect for going green as it allows you to have conferences and meetings with partners across the globe without having to travel there. That then saves on fuel costs, and also saves your company a great deal of time and money.
Choose Who You Support: Most businesses tend to rely on other businesses in order to do… business. Going green for a company then is also about being discriminate in who you associate yourself with and making sure that their views are aligned with yours. If you are outsourcing accounting and it comes down to two accounting firms, then look at which has the best green policy.
I don’t think there are many offices which are going green. Or, they are going green but they don’t even know. The easiest way, for a company, of going green is probably the video conferencing. I guess every company is doing this. Not for saving the environment, but for saving their time.
Hmm, going green for offices, interesting article. Everybody who owns a company should think of going green. They are using much more materials and energy than a single person. Every company’s owner should be pointed to be green. It is not so hard fallowing your advices.
Video conferencing is probably the easiest way for a company to go green. The technology advanced these days so video conferencing is very used by every office. But going green doesn’t mean only this. A company should definitely think to reduce energy and paper. I know many companies which are wasting them.
The advice of reducing the paper should be followed by every company. In my opinion companies are wasting very much paper. So every office which has the intention of going green should think at going paperless. Try using the paper only when it’s necessary. This way an office should start going green.
Your going green for offices advices are very good. If every company fallows these advices it would be much better. I think it is very easy for a company to go green. Using recyclable materials or reducing the energy and paper is not so hard. All they have to do is to want going green.
Many of the places I am members of are going paperless. Such as my credit card company. I have the choice of going paperless for a few of my bills as well. And my bank went paperless a long time ago, not only better for the environment but it also saves me money each month.
Every office should thing of going green. Every owner of a company should consider of making something to protect the environment. Think how much good they would make.
And there are many possibilities of going green for offices. You’ve enumerated only a few of them.
Using energy saving lightbulbs is the most simple way for going green for offices. I don’t think it is so hard to buy these bulbs instead of regular ones.
Think how much energy would be reduced if a company replaces the regular bulbs with these ones. It would be a major difference. And if that company starts going green they will also save some important money,don’t forget that.
I contacted all my bills and asked if I could go paperless. Most of them let me. Now they just send me email reminders and then I pay the bill. Makes it so much easier for me anyway to do it like this.
I had a friend complain not that long ago about one of her bills going green. She wanted the actual paper bill. I asked her what she did with them after the bill was paid. Her response was throw it away. Hello you are wasting paper there!!!!!
I do some paperless billing on a few of my bills. I never looked at it as being green. But I guess that it would be. There you go I am taking small steps all the time.
Going green for offices is one big step. Let’s say the energy you save with a green office cannot be compared with the one you save with a green home. Another method of going green for offices is letting people work from home. It saves the company a lot of money. And the employees would enjoy the change.
The way we can make going green for offices easier is in the price of paper. We should make the prices go up. This way, you will see how much use will be made of a paper sheet. Going green for offices is not difficult at all. But all we need is will.