Making a Green Office a Reality
In the business world, green practices and sustainability are becoming more important with each passing day. Reducing waste, incorporating paper initiatives from sustainable sources, and making environmentally-conscious choices concerning transportation, waste, and food is becoming the hallmark of an environmentally and socially conscious business. Here are a few ways you can work towards creating a greener and more environmentally-conscious workplace.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
These three “R’s” are the slogan of the sustainability and green energy community. Instead of just throwing away used paper, why not reuse it as scratch paper later, and then make an effort to recycle it? Why use dozens of paper or Styrofoam cups every day when you can ask your staff to bring cups or mugs from home that they can use over and over? Try to think about ways you can reduce waste, reuse materials, and recycle spent items.
Use SFI and Other Green Certified Products
SFI stands for “Sustainable Forest Initiative.” It is a standard of certification that ensures a company that produces paper- or plant-based products is using best practices for sustaining forests and reducing wastes. Custom envelopes produced by Letter Jacket are SFI certified and can help you be more green.
There are also many green products you can use – recycled paper, pens produced from corn instead of plastic, and the like. These products, on average, are not that much more expensive than their less green alternatives.
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Choose cleaning products that use ecologically-friendly ingredients such as orange, lemon, and vinegar instead of those that use chlorine and ammonia. If your cleaning company refuses to use eco-friendly cleaning products, look at alternative companies that will. You may be surprised that you can even save money this way.
Casual Dress Code
It may be odd to think of casual dress as a means to be greener, but allowing your staff to dress down, especially in summer months, can reduce your HVAC costs as casual dress is cooler and more comfortable than business attire. Casual dress also carries an added benefit of higher employee morale, as comfortable employees tend to be happier employees.
Transportation Options
If many of your staff drive to work, think about ways to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Perhaps work with the local public transit company to find a way to provide free or reduced-cost bus or subway passes to your staff. Offer incentives to those staff members who carpool to work. You can even allow for telecommuting, which will eliminate travel costs and fuel consumption altogether, and could allow your employees a home office tax write-off to boot!
These five tips are just a few of the ways you can create a greener, more ecologically-friendly workspace. Doing so will not only result in happier and healthier staff, higher morale, and a more socially conscious environment, but can also greatly improve the reputation of your business and allow you to be seen as a leader in next-gen business practices. Letter Jacket Envelopes can help you be more green by finding out what your needs are ensuring that you receive the correct number of envelopes for your business. Call us today 877-280-5083 or order now!
