Newly Corporate

There is a lot of waste in today’s office environment.  How many times do you walk by your printer and find dozens of unclaimed pages that have been around for days?  How many times do you print out unnecessary pages?  How often are print outs brought to meetings when every one already has a digital copy?  How many times have you not used the “print preview” button when printing out a webpage to print only the vital pages?

While we live in a digital world, it is not paperless (but it can be!).  Help reduce your carbon footprint and organize an office waste reduction campaign.  Not only is it good for the environment, you can help drive cost savings in your organization (which can translate into quantifiable figures for your resume).  You will also be seen as a leader who cares about the environment. (It’s win-win!)

As a person who is trying to implement a Green campaign, it’s not easy to get people to conserve.  Many office workers are creatures of habit and find changes like this disruptive to their routines.  If you are an example to others, and help teach them why it’s easy to be conservative, you can drive change even when the entire organization may not be ready for it.

Office Waste Reduction Tip #1

Duplex Printing- Change your computer’s default settings to duplex print.  Duplex printing is another term for Double Sided Printing.  Double sided printing can reduce your office paper waste up to 50%.  By making this the default setting, you save every time you print with out thinking about it.  This can translate into major cost savings if many people start to print on both sides.  Learn More

Changing your computer’s settings to duplex print should not cause paper jams.  If you print a lot of excel spreadsheets and you duplex print, you may need to change the settings to flip on the long edge.

Check back next week for more ways to reduce office waste.  In the mean time, please tell us what you have done to make your office more green.