Reducing waste in the workplace
When it comes to conserving resources, preventing pollution and saving
money, reducing waste trumps recycling. In this game, businesses and
organizations of all sizes can truly do well by doing the right thing.
Using
less office paper
Office
paper grants
Duplexing
Green
purchasing
Building
management
Reduce your use of office paper
Copy paper, like the kind used in photocopiers, computer printers
and plain-paper fax machines, is the most common type of office waste
paper.
The
average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year.
It
is estimated that paper and paperboard account for almost 40 % of
our garbage.
Office
paper is highly recyclable, but a lot gets wasted. Waste reduction
is more cost-effective than recycling because it reduces the amount
of material that needs to be collected, transported and processed.
Waste reduction can save money for businesses and institutions of
any size.
Benefits of using less
Storage and handling. Paper is bulky to store, in
boxes or in file cabinets. By using fewer sheets, you can put storage
space to more productive use.
Mailing costs. Fewer sheets mailed may mean reduced
postage.
Environmental benefits. By increasing double-sided
copying (duplexing), offices could reduce annual paper use by 20 %.
By using and discarding less paper, you are conserving resources,
reducing water and energy use, and preventing pollution.
Tips for reducing paper
use
Try
to use both sides of a sheet of paper for printing, copying, writing
and drawing.
Reuse
paper that's already printed on one side by manually feeding it into
copiers and printers. Use it for internal documents like drafts and
short-lived items such as meeting agendas or temporary signs.
Once-used
paper can also be reused in plain paper fax machines — they
only need one clean side.
E-mail
can be used to share documents and ideas. Be sure to only print the
e-mails you need to have a hard copy of. This advice goes for Internet
documents as well. Instead of printing a Web page, bookmark it or
save the page on your hard drive and pull it up when needed.
Desktop
fax, electronic references (CD-ROM databases), electronic data storage,
electronic purchasing and direct deposit are all ways to use electronic
media that reduce office paper waste.
Help
minimize misprints by posting a diagram on how to load special paper
like letterhead so it will be printed correctly.
Practice
efficient copying — use the size reduction feature offered on
many copiers. Two pages of a book or periodical can often be copied
onto one standard sheet.
Use
two-way or send-and-return envelopes. Your outgoing envelope gets
reused for its return trip.
Use
reusable inter- and intra-office envelopes.
Reuse
old paper for notepads. It can be cut to custom sizes and simply bound
with a staple.
Draft
documents can be reviewed, edited and shared on-screen.
Strategies for printing
greener:
Print
on both sides of the paper, and reduce the width of margins and font
sizes. These options reduce waste and save both resources and money.
Keep
your mailing list updated. Evaluate your data, delete duplicates,
remove those who have requested to be off, and target your mailings
to specific audiences. This can help save money on printing and mailing
costs, provide you with a more effective mailing, and reduce waste
throughout the printing process.
Request
paper with pulp that is brightened without the use of chlorine. Chlorine
bleaching creates a toxic, bio-accumulative waste by-product called
dioxin. By demanding alternatives to chlorine-bleached papers, you
help create new markets and encourage paper mills to move away from
polluting production practices.
Use
paper labeled totally chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free
(PCF). Both terms mean that the mill did not use chlorine compounds
to brighten the paper. Talk to your paper vendor or printer about
the price and availability of TCF and PCF papers. Both significantly
reduce the persistent, bio-accumulative compounds in the mill wastewater
that are associated with the traditional chlorine bleaching process.
Request
inks with non-petroleum bases, such as soybeans or linseed.
Request
inks that emit low amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOC's).
Non-petroleum-based inks are usually lower in VOC's.
Use
pre-press technologies that eliminate or reduce hazardous materials,
such as direct-to-plate printing.
Buy
paper that is produced by a company with a stated commitment to environmental
stewardship, and to minimizing ecological impacts and ensuring long-term
sustainable production.
Purchase
and specify post-consumer recycled content papers. This helps expand
the recycling market and assure recycling programs stay viable and
effective. It also closes the loop by diverting waste from landfills
and incinerators. As an added benefit, purchasing papers made from
recycled stock means using fewer trees to make the paper.
Buying green for your office
The National Recycling Coalition recently published Purchasing Strategies
to Prevent Waste and Save Money. This publication contains many useful
ideas on how to purchase products that create less waste.
Here are some purchasing ideas for offices to make the workplace
more environmentally friendly.
Refurbish
and buy refurbished office equipment.
Reuse
and refill toner cartridges and ribbons.
Purchase
non-toxic, biodegradable cleaners that contain low- or no-volatile
organic compounds.
Buy
concentrates.
Buy
in bulk.
Buy
products that are reusable, returnable or refillable.
Buy
recycled office products that contain post-consumer recycled material.
Use
flexible interior features, such as movable walls, to reduce waste
associated with renovation.
Choose
durable materials and furnishings to reduce the costs and waste associated
with replacement.
Building management tips
How a building is managed can affect environmental quality and employee
health. There are several steps that building managers can take to
reduce waste and protect the health of tenants and employees within
a building.
Use
reusable dishware in your company's cafeteria and kitchen instead
of disposables.
Use
cloth towel roll dispensers in your bathrooms and cloth napkins and
towels in your kitchens.
Where
available, separate your building's organic wastes from non-compostable
trash and send it to a composting facility. This includes food wastes,
waste from groundskeeping or gardening, and even soiled or unrecyclable
paper products like paper towels and napkins.
Use
paint and install carpeting that contains low levels of volatile organic
compounds (VOC's). VOC's from paint, carpet, building materials and
other office products can create unsafe indoor air quality in your
work environment and cause Sick Building Syndrome.
Work
with janitorial service or staff to find ways to use less toxic, non-toxic
and/or non-VOC cleaning products.
