"What Color is Your Office? Ideas for Greening Your Office"

By Darrel R.
Green Office Store.com's Associate Content Editor
September 1, 2007

Gone are the days when selecting a color for your office walls meant going to the hardware store and selecting a neutral beige or sterile white. If your office is not some shade of green, then you are not working in a 21st century environment. The slogan “Go Green” has become a bandwagon onto which everyone is willingly jumping.

There are several ways to reduce the negative environmental impact of an office, and the most basic place to start is with the most commonly used commodity: PAPER. In fact, paper represents more than 70 per cent of the waste produced by offices. While recycling paper is a noble effort, waste reduction is more cost effective than recycling because it reduces the amount of material that needs to be collected, transported and processed. The key is to change your habits.

• Reuse paper that is already printed on one side for internal documents, in plain paper fax machines, for notepads and printing e-mails;
• Only print emails of which you absolutely need a hard copy; instead create folders and file others online;
• Print and copy on both sides of the paper; most industrial size copy machines can be set to duplex;
• File documents within your computer and make electronic backups instead of printing and filing paper copies;
• Use e-mail instead of paper notes to send memos;
• Subscribe to electronic versions of newsletters;
• Request that vendors send you electronic invoices, rather than paper copies;
• Get printing estimates accurate and avoid over-ordering printed materials;
• Proof read and spell check on screen, rather than printing hard copies to edit

Another way to make your office more environmentally friendly is to buy recycled and remanufactured products, such as recycled content toilet tissue, office paper and stationery. One can also purchase greener cleaning products and energy efficient light bulbs and office appliances. Purchasing remanufactured ink and toner cartridges and recycling them after use diverts them from already overfilled landfills.

Invest in plastic mugs that coffee shops will refill, rather than using disposable styrofoam. Most upscale coffee shops now sell large travel mugs that can be filled for a nominal fee. Consider bringing in your own non-disposable cup for use at the water cooler.

In addition, do not be fooled by gimmicks. Computer screensavers do not save energy; they just protect your screen. Try using a screen sleep system, instead. The monitor or display panel will go dark and other components, such as the hard disk and main processor, will reduce the amount of power they're using by about two-thirds.