Are you an office supply junkie? An office supply hoarder? Do you only have what you actually need on a daily basis in that top drawer? Screen your office for green- here are a few ways to make it easy!

REDUCE- use only what you need.  How many post- its are required for the job?

Use refillable pens and pencils! Doesn’t it make sense? Why throw out the entire pen just because it needs more ink?

Use recycled paper! There are notebooks, copier paper, you name it. Check out Staples online and put “recycled” in the search box – you’ll be amazed by what’s offered. By using recycled paper, 95% less air pollution is generated than what is generated for virgin paper.

You want to make it all easy? Try Greenline Paper Company and order everything you need for the home and office online!

Many little things can be turned off to make a big difference.

Turn off your computer when you leave for the day. It’s just that simple.

How many times have you left the computer on because it makes “start up time” much faster in the morning? It’s not worth it. The average desktop can use between 65-200 watts of electricity per hour, and this does NOT include the monitor. And did you know that using a “screen saver” does NOT save any energy? None… enable the sleep mode.

Want to take it a step further? Enable “sleep mode” on your computer so it “sleeps” when you aren’t using it! Enabling sleep mode can save up to 70% of energy consumption!

Do you reuse your baggies from your lunch? It is a great way to save money and plastic from the landfills. Did you know that it takes between 10-20 years for a plastic bag to decompose? And that is if there is oxygen! Our landfills are getting so full that often things are packed so tightly they can’t decompose. Even vegetable food products. Well, if you are getting tired of having the kitchen faucet be the “baggie hanger” check this out. It is a specially designed dryer for bags and bottles. Although this may not appear to be true to the “reduction” philosophy, if you are too lazy to find something else to do the trick, you would reuse bags and bottles if there was an easy way to dry them, this will work in reducing trash.

Did you know that according to the EPA in 2006, homes, business and institutions produced 251 million tons of solid waste?  This translates to approximately 4.6 pounds waste per person,  per day. Work is the place where people recycle the least. It is easy to let your efforts slip at work, because commonly the structures aren’t set up, and there are more people involved. So how can you at least do your part?

scrap paper: Can’t print on both sides? Save the paper and use it for notes. If you are more of a creative type – cut them down, and replace your post-its!

printing: Do you think before you print? Try to cut down on what you print. And have a conversation with your office manager and make sure your copier paper has recycled content!

coffee cups: Do you buy your coffee from Starbucks or another local? Bring a reuseable cup! Just imagine, if you would save over 200 paper cups!

computer: Make sure you turn it off at night!

lights: In many big offices, people leave the lights on, assuming that they’ll just be turned off by the cleaning crew. Well, they are capable people…they can turn them back on! You turn off your lights at home when you leave the room, why not at work?