Green to Save Green Tips 26 – 30
June 13, 2008 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Business
You don’t need to sacrifice profits to go green with your small business. In fact, going green might save your business some money! In this Green to Save Green series, I’m challenging readers to make 101 environmental changes over the next 1001 days.
Here are Tips 26 – 30 – all about paper and printing. For the rest of your challenge tips, head to this post. If you’re making any (or all!) of these changes with your small business, let me know by leaving a comment!
Tip #26: Add a green message to your email. I like something like “Save a tree – don’t print this email unless you need to!” Encourage your employees to do the same. It’s a free message to everyone you email on a daily basis!
Tip #27: Keep a “scrap paper” bin by the printer in your office. In this bin, you can throw anything that can still be printed on if the document isn’t important. Avoid anything is confidential information, but you can include things like emails you don’t need anymore, printing mistakes, and so forth. If there’s a blank side, it can be used again!
Tip #28: Keep the network printer turned off. You’ll be surprised how many fewer documents people will print if they have to get up from their desks to switch on the printer!
Tip #29: Purchase recycled paper. You can find recycled paper that is just as cheap as packs of regular paper. I looked it up, since I don’t personally purchase a ton of paper. On Amazon, typical printer paper was around $5 for a ream of 500 sheets. Recycled printer paper was $6 – $7. That’s like paying 1.4 cents for a sheet instead of 1 cent for a sheet – negligible really unless you use tons of paper every day.
Tip #30: Unplug your printer every night. Remember, plugged in electronics suck energy, even when they are asleep or completely turned off. Unplug that beast!
Come back tomorrow for a continuation of this list, or head to this post to read more! Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re implementing any of these changes in your own life!
The only problem with #26 is that a lot of people don’t like being told what to do. If they don’t like having the “green” ideas pushed upon them, they may get irritated and may even print the emails just to be a jerk. (And since most people don’t print emails unless they need them anyway, they may not respond well to this type of message. ) While I believe in being environmentally conscious and responsible, and I think that these ideas can be well recieved by most people, if the ideas are presented in the proper way, I also believe that you are at a risk of offending people and seeming a little overbearing with this type of message. (Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to clarify my comment.)
Hmm, I don’t know Jerry – I disagree. I get quite a few emails that say this in the person’s signature, and I’ve never found it offending or off-putting. Once or twice, I went to print an email, saw the message, and even though better of it, deciding instead to just jot a note on my dry-erase board.
I’m interested to see what others thing, though – I’m going to do a post about it!