Seven Ways to Save the World From Your Office Cubicle

SEVEN WAYS TO SAVE THE WORLD
FROM YOUR OFFICE CUBICLE:
A Guide to Greening Your Workplace

SSC Webinars

Steps to an Eco-Friendly Office

1. Paper Conservation and Recycling
2. Creating a Sustainable Lunch
3. Conserving Energy
4. Investing in Eco-Friendly Furniture
5. Computer Recycling
6. Practicing the Three R’s
7. Spread the Word

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Copyright © 2012, Strategic Sustainability Consulting. All rights reserved.

Step 1: Paper Conservation and Recycling

Quick Facts

 Approximately 749 lbs. of
paper are used annually.
 That’s per person in the US!

 We throw away enough
office and writing paper
annually to build a wall of
memos 12 feet high, from
LA to NYC.

Source: City of Springfield Waste Management


Quick Facts

 Americans receive almost
4 million tons of junk
mail a year.
 If 100,000 people stopped their
junk mail, we could save up to
150,000 trees annually.

 The good news is that the
amount of paper recycled
annually has increased
76% in the last ten years.
Source: Wellesley College


What You Can Do

Changes can be made to your daily habits
to conserve paper:
 Only print when you have to
 Print double sided
 Reuse paper as scratch paper
 Circulate memos and documents via email
 Reduce junk mail
 Visit ReduceWaste.org for help

 Pay bills online


What You Can Do

 Buy recycled office supplies at:
 The Green Office
 Green Line Paper Don’t forget to recycle your
ink at a local office supply
 Dolphin Blue store, you may even cash in
on free stuff in return!
 Buy Online Now


What You Can Do

Most importantly,
encourage those around
you to reduce paper
consumption as well.
This means not only
coworkers but vendors
and consumers as well.


Step 2: Creating a Sustainable Lunch

Quick Facts

 You can save almost $2,000 annually by
bringing your lunch instead of buying it!
 Many prepackaged meals are non
recyclable.
 Styrofoam for example is wasted at an astronomical rate.
 Enough cups are wasted every year to circle the earth 436
times!

Source: Bank Rate, City of Springfield Waste Management


What You Can Do

 Bring your lunch to
work
 Do not microwave plastics
3, 6, or 7 as they often
release harmful toxins
 Find environmentally
friendly lunch boxes and
plastic lunch containers
 Check out Reuse It

Source: Glamour


Long Term Effects

By bringing your own lunch you will cut down fast food waste,
save on gas by not driving to a restaurant, and save some
serious calories too.

You can use the time you would
have spent driving to take a walk.

Source: Mother Nature Network


Quick Facts

 10x as much energy is wasted when you run a computer
screen instead of using sleep mode.

 Office computers burn twice as
much power idling than they do
during the average workday.

 Commercial buildings account
for 18% of greenhouse gas
emissions.

Source: Time, Mother Nature Network


What You Can Do

Quick Fixes
 Set your computer to idle after 10
minutes
 When you leave the office, turn off
your computer
 Turn off the lights in unused
rooms
 Use natural light when possible

 Buy Energy Star products


Being an Energy Saver

In the long run these
simple steps will
reduce your electricity
bill by a landslide!


Step 4: Investing in Eco-Friendly Furniture

Quick Facts

In only the last 200 years, humanity has been directly
responsible for the disappearance of over half of our
tropical forests. What does this mean? That we are losing
the equivalent of 3,800 acres of tropical forest and 4
unique species

… every single hour.

Source: Aventura Magazine


What You Can Do

 Buy furniture made with
renewable and recycled
sources
 Check out stores such as Ikea,
Herman Miller, Steelcase, Baltix, or
Open Plan Systems

 Donate furniture when
you are done with it
 Try The FreeCycle Network


Quick Facts

 Ten million computers are
discarded every year.
 E-waste contains over 1,000
different substances.
 Many of which are toxic.

 70% of heavy metals found in
American landfills come from
discarded electronics.

Source: City of Springfield Waste Management, Best Stuff, The Basel Action Network


What You Can Do

 Buy energy efficient computers that are made from
less toxic materials
 Look for the Energy Star sticker!
 Check out EPEAT

 Donate old computers,
don’t throw them away!
 Visit EBay's recycling page or The
FreeCycle Network


Step 6: Practicing the Three R’s
(Recycle, Reuse, Reduce)

Facts About the Three R’s

 About 70% of the garbage
Americans produce is
compostable.
 Consider yard waste, food waste, wood,
and paper

 Americans recycle 46% of their
plastic bottles, and 30% of milk
containers and water jugs, but
this is only 5% of plastics.
 Over 40% of plastics are used
for packaging.
Source: City of Springfield Waste Management


What You Can Do

 Sort your recycling to
make it count.
 Use eco-friendly
packaging.
 Check out what materials
can be recycled through
Earth911.


The Bottom Line

The most important way that you
can save the environment from your
office is by communicating green
ideas. Tell co-workers and your
boss about different ways to save
energy, trees, paper, and the world.
You can even make your own “green
team” to green up your office.


Further Resources

Because we love to share our knowledge,
here are some further sites which may
interest you!
 GreenBiz

 Ideal Bite

 Green Pages

 Green Meetings Guide

 The Mother Nature Network


For more help on greening up your office space visit
our website!

What are your thoughts? Join the
conversation on twitter @jenniferwoofter!

Seven Ways to Save the World From Your Office Cubicle

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