Work Place Tips...go GREENER one step at a time!

Individuals and businesses these days are asking themselves what they can do to conserve resources and preserve our environment. They want to make smart decisions; choices that save energy and money. We are looking for informative comments that focus on what you can do at your place of business to promote a greener lifestyle.

Add your advice on how to live greener. It is our hope that this guide will inspire and motivate you with useful information about the ways that everyday people can make a difference. How green can you go?

Did you know?

• Small things can make a big difference. Use your own coffee mug at work instead of paper cups. The U.S. disposes of more than 1.9 million tons of paper and plastic cups and plates each year.
• Recycled paper uses up to 90 percent less water and half the energy required to make paper from virgin timber, yet less than 10 percent of the over 12 million tons of printing and writing paper used in the U.S. each year is recycled content.
• Disposable type ink pens add up to about 770 tons of unnecessary plastic waste in landfills each year. Make a better impression in your written work by using long-life refillable pens made from recycled plastic, paper, timber, or from fully biodegradable bioplastic.
• If everyone properly inflated their tires, it could save the country around 2 billion gallons of gas each year.
• Request automatic deposits for your paycheck. More than 7 billion checks are written annually that could be replaced by automatic deposits. If everyone who was eligible for an automatic deposit opted for it, it would save about $65 billion in fuel costs and lost time expenses.
• Online Banking...Receive your bills, make payments and check your account balances online to save your business time, postage costs and paper.
• The idea that leaving a machine on is more efficient than turning if off has become something of an urban, and deeply uneconomic, myth. Left on all day, everyday, as happens in some offices, a computer will over a year use nearly 1,000 kilowatts of electricity, resulting in more than a ton of carbon emissions and an unnecessarily high electric bill. By switching off your computer before you go home you'll cut its electricity use to less than 250 kilowatts, with comparable carbon and cost savings. Think about turning it off even when you're going to a meeting or lunch. Do the same with other office equipment.