A daily dairy of 7 days a week: How you can go green and contribute your bit to the environment for this earth day
Monday
Go Paperless or use less paper
- Let’sstart with a simple exercise of “Think before you Print”. Print only those documents which are utmost necessary.
- Make an online module to update policies such as upcoming birthdays or holiday schedules which are easier to update.
Tuesday
Let’s be Bright about Light
- Make it a habit to turn off the lights when you’re leaving any room and use natural light wherever possible.
- A policy must be made to buy Energy saverlight bulbs and fixtures.They use at least two-thirds less energy than regular lighting.
Wednesday
Do not print unnecessarily
- An average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year which is a lot.
- Make it a habit to print on both sides of the paper or try to minimize the use of print by going paperless. Only if there is need for a print do it.
- For rough work, use the other side of used old documents. Avoid colour printing and print in draft mode whenever feasible.
Thursday
Plan your travel carefully
- Make it a habit to take the Public Transport whenever feasible instead of a rental car when travelling on business.
- Invest in videoconferencing and other technological solutions that can reduce the amount of employee travel thus saving company costs and fuel.
Friday
Create a healthy office environment
- Brighten up your cubicle with plants, which reduce indoor air pollution. Make it a habit to use nontoxic cleaning products.
- Make it a policy to buy furniture, carpeting, and paint that are free of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and won’t off-gas toxic chemicals.
- Smoking should be allowed only outside office premises.
Saturday
Maximize computer efficiency
- Computers in the business sector unnecessarily waste $1 billion worth of electricity a year.
- Make it a habit to turn off your computer—and the power strip it’s plugged into—when you leave for the day. During the day, setting your computer to go to sleep automatically during short breaks can cut energy use by a whopping 70 percent.
- Make it a policy to invest in energy-saving computers, monitors, and printers and make sure that old equipment is properly recycled.
Sunday
Recycle and Reuse
- Recycle everything you possibly can.. Take advantage of curbside recycling if it is offered in your area. Keep recycling bins in a convenient location so that you won’t be tempted to toss recyclable items into the garbage.
- In addition to recycling services, you can recycle items by reusing them. If you forget your reusable grocery bags when you go food shopping and use plastic bags instead, save them for other tasks.
Let’s take one day at a time, change one habit a day. Let’s go green. Let’s go paperless.
