Thinking Green: Business Practices

Thinking Green: Business Practices

Being environmentally friendly is something most companies are trying to attain. Becoming green is becoming easier and cheaper. There are whole websites dedicated to environmental supplies. You have two options when it comes to making your business environmentally friendly. You can re-vamp the entire office head to toe, or start small (it isn’t the cheapest investment, but it is worth it).

If you’re looking to re-vamp the whole office, look into solar power, and solar panels for the roof. They make green flooring now, that looks great and helps contain heat, can be recycled so you aren’t paying to dump old flooring, and it outlasts typical flooring by quite a few years. You can also install new insulation, industrial green lighting, then work your way through the building with paper, and office supplies.

If you think you want to start off slow it’s easy. Replace all light bulbs with energy efficient ones (they typically live 20 years!), get recycled paper, binders, and notebooks. They also sell recycled chairs, shelving, desks, hand dryers, and mats.

A great way regardless of how large or small-scale you want to go is emailing. I know most people and companies already do, but email and scan in the 25 page report for your boss. This saves tons of trees and allows you to send it to as many people as you want. Electronics are a powerful thing, and the more paperless you go, the more trees you can save, and the more organized things are. Just imagine your desk without three weeks of clutter! (Just don’t forget to back everything up!)

How far you decide to go is up to you, there are tons of places to by eco-supplies. Not only will this be cheaper in the long run, but you will feel better, and be able to boast and advertise as an environmentally friendly company.

Written by: Sarah Thibaudeau. Assistant to Operations Manager