Earth Day: Simple Ways to Green Your Business

Each year, we celebrate Earth Day on April 22 to highlight the importance of maintaining a healthy, sustainable planet. How can you help? By taking steps to green your business practices. It's not only the right thing to do, but you can also save money, reduce waste and enhance your public image.

Reducing waste

Although every business is unique, the following strategies have been used successfully to reduce waste and lower operating costs:

• Start a recycling program with bins for paper, plastic and other materials employees use on a daily basis; encourage company-wide participation.
• Use email or a company intranet site to distribute company documents. If you must use paper, circulate a single copy rather than making multiple copies.
• Establish a double-sided copying policy for printing; purchase only copiers with double-sided capability.
• Reuse supplier containers and pallets for shipping your products.
• Recharge printer cartridges or return them to the supplier for re-manufacture.

Buying green

One of the best ways to make your business more environmentally friendly is to practice green purchasing. This involves sourcing goods and materials that are produced locally (if possible) and in a sustainable fashion. How? Make sure the things you buy are:

• Manufactured in a sustainable fashion
• Free of toxic materials or ozone-depleting substances
• Recycled or produced from recycled materials
• Packaged using biodegradable and/or sustainable materials
• Designed to be reusable

Conserving energy

Using energy costs you money, so by conserving, you're not only reducing your environmental impact, but boosting your bottom line as well. Start with these simple savings tips:

• Turn off lights when not in use or when natural daylight is sufficient.
• Activate sleep settings on computers and office equipment so they automatically enter low-power mode when inactive.
• Adjust building temperatures to save energy at night or when the building is unoccupied. Recalibrate thermostats for seasonal changes.
• Regularly check and maintain all energy-using equipment to ensure efficient operation. Hire a qualified professional to inspect heating and cooling systems once per year.
• Consolidate office equipment, such as printers and copiers. You'll save energy and likely reduce paper costs as well.

By following these guidelines, you can reduce your environment footprint and do business more sustainably this Earth Day and every day.