Feel good in your greener office

By: YALMAZ SIDDIQUI, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot

The environment has become such a hot topic in recent months that it is impossible to pick up a newspaper or magazine without an article that mentions “going green.”

While many of these features discuss how to go green at home, very few offer practical advice on how to go green at the office. This column is intended to walk businesses of all sizes through the simple steps that can help them achieve a Greener Office – one that is more efficient, less wasteful, less expensive and healthier.

Today’s professionals are not only making business decisions, they are also making everyday purchasing decisions in the office. These decisions often become habits that drive both the culture of your organization, and its environmental impact. This is true for all organizations, but especially for service-oriented ones like banks, insurance companies, government agencies, consultancies or law firms. For these organizations where little is “manufactured,” the main environmental impacts are related to supplies, furniture and technology used everyday in the office.

So how do you turn your office greener? Following are a few steps to help you get started in achieving your Greener Office:

Step One: Ask Why Green in the Office?

Think about what your organization cares about.

• Do you care about specific environmental issues like overflowing landfills, global warming or toxic chemicals in everyday products?
• Do you care about saving money and becoming more efficient and resourceful?
• Do you care about helping staff find more meaning in their everyday work and increasing employee satisfaction?
• Or do you want to reach out into the community to help your organization get recognized as a green leader in your sector?

The answer you choose can help prioritize which ideas to focus on as you start your greener office program.

Step Two: Buy Green

People often think that buying green means spending more. Yet over a “basket of goods” it can often be cheaper to go green at the office.

Don’t believe it? Think about how much money you spend on new ink and toner cartridges. By switching to remanufactured cartridges you can save over 10 percent of what may be a large sum. Remanufacturing helps keep waste out of landfill and removes the need for oil to create new cartridge shells. If you think the quality of remanufactured cartridges is not good, you have not tried these cartridges recently – today’s remanufacturing processes result in high quality, guaranteed cartridges that work very effectively in everyday printers and copiers.

The second major category of greener office supplies is recycled paper. Just like the quality of remanufactured cartridges has improved dramatically, so has the quality of recycled paper. In fact, nowadays it is almost impossible to tell the difference between recycled and virgin paper. Paper with 10 percent, 35 percent, even 50 percent Post Consumer Recycled Content cannot be distinguished from virgin (non-recycled) paper, and it runs just as well, even during high-speed printing.

But what difference does recycled paper make? An enormous difference! Nearly 40 percent of landfill is comprised of used paper. By increasing the market for recycled content, paper is diverted from landfill into new products. Also, a little known fact is that as of 2005, nearly 95 percent of the printing and office paper sold in the United States contained 0 percent recycled content.

Buying paper with even a small amount of recycled content helps reduce pressure on forests, diverts paper from landfill, and helps reduce greenhouse gases – the primary cause of climate change. The higher the PCR content in the paper you buy, the bigger the environmental benefit.

In addition to recycled products, there is a range of other green benefits to look for in office products. Refillable pens and pencils are greener than disposable; rewritable CDs and DVDs greener than recordable; and biodegradable packaging and dishware greener than Styrofoam. All of these choices help reduce the demand for resources and result in less waste.

Another category of products to consider in your quest for a greener office is technology. Climate change is one of the most significant environmental issues of the day. One main solution to climate change is to use less energy. Every time you make a choice to use a more energy efficient product, you lower utility costs, carbon emissions and your contribution to climate change. Energy Star qualified office technology is readily available and is often in the same price range as non Energy Star technology.

Finally, switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs is one of the best things you can do to reduce energy costs and your carbon footprint. These bulbs last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs and fit all types of light fixtures.

Step Three: Be Green

Buying green means using your organizations dollars to encourage greener products in the supply chain. But you can “be green” without spending a penny. To be green in the office start reducing waste, with four simple tips:

Drop the disposables: If you buy three cups of coffee and three bottles of water a day — it doesn’t seem like a lot. But by the end of the year you will have trashed over 600 cups and 600 bottles! Using a reusable mug for coffee and bottle for water can help you reduce waste and resource use, and your organization will save money.

Think before you print: How many times have you printed something and just filed it. Keeping documents electronically not only saves paper but simplifies searching.

Print double sided: By printing double-sided you can save up to 50% on paper costs. And if think you don’t like the look of double sided printouts, consider how you’d feel if your magazine or book had one blank side on every page. It’s simply a matter of what you are used to — once you’ve printed double sided a few times, you won’t even remember.

Recycle everything you can: Recycling programs can be set up for almost every end-of-life material. Work with your facilities manager or local waste authorities and recycle whatever you can.

Step 4: Sell Green

The “new green” thinking is all about encouraging small steps in a greener direction without requiring sacrifice. By helping people see they can personally benefit from your greener office program, they are more likely to join your efforts than resist them. To “sell green” it is also important to debunk some myths. Run pilots on greener products and develop simple financial models to show how going green can save money in the office — saving money is something even the most ardent nay-sayers can support.

Conclusion

Your Greener Office will be more efficient, less wasteful and healthier. You’ll be surprised at what you learn on your journey to creating a Greener Office. And if you have some success – don’t forget to celebrate. For more information, please visit www.officedepot.com/buygreen.

 

Yalmaz Siddiqui is Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot.  Siddiqui is responsible for guiding Office Depot’s global environmental vision to “increasingly buy green, be green and sell green.” Siddiqui came to Office Depot in April of 2006 from IBM Business Consulting Services in Canada where he was a Senior Consultant in Customer Relationship Management, and author of the first global study on environmental procurement of wood and paper products.  Prior to joining IBM, Siddiqui was a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he focused on the forest, paper and packaging industries. Siddiqui holds a Master’s Degree in Environment & Development from Cambridge University in England, and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing & International Business from McGill University in Canada.