4 Ways Your Business Can Go Green

For years, many people have been finding ways to go green while at home, but going green isn't solely for the home anymore. There are plenty of ways that businesses can also do their part to go green, and they're jumping on the bandwagon.


Going green can actually save your business money, and many businesses are trying to reduce their expenditure in order to increase profits or keep themselves afloat during tough economic times. If your business is interested in going green, you need to implement the following tactics.


 

1. Shut down or unplug.

Many employees will not turn their computers off when they leave the office at night. But if computers are being left on when not in use, they use a great deal of energy. Try to enforce your employees to turn off their computers when they leave at night. When the computer is off, it doesn't use as much energy.
But even when a computer is shut down, it is still using energy if it's plugged in. The same goes for phone and tablet chargers. Before your employees leave for the night, make sure they unplug everything. This will really help cut down on the energy being used overnight.


2. Print less.

If your company does a lot of printing, you are wasting a lot of paper. Try to get your employees to cut down on the amount of items that are printed. This will save energy and save paper.
You should also try to reuse paper throughout the office. Set up recycle bins, and reuse the back-side of the paper to print things that will remain internal. Save your fancy paper for those items that will be seen by clients. 


3. Send documents electronically.

Instead of mailing letters or invoices to clients, which forces you to use a ton of paper, opt for an electronic version. Send your invoices, contracts and any other documents via email instead. Certain software platforms, such as Adobe Acrobat, will allow you to accept email signatures if necessary. This will save your client from having to print, sign, scan and resend.
Instead of printing all documents and saving hard copies in filing cabinets, create electronic files and save them to an external hard drive. This will help your company go green, and it will help clear up space in your storage room.


4. Recycle.

Don't limit your recycling to paper only. Set up recycle cans throughout your office and encourage your employees to recycle anything possible, such as cans or glass. 


You can also try to get creative and recycle other items. Rather than throw out the old shelf, try and find somewhere else in the office to use it. If something is broken, see if you can find a cheap way to fix it instead of throwing it into a landfill. Or you can post it on the Internet to see if anybody else out there has a use for it. 


Don't just assume that going green only benefits your family and your home. If you employ green tactics at your office, you will be doing your part to save the environment, and you'll also see a significant savings on your office supplies and your energy bills.




Luis Figueroa is an Environmental Philosophy major at the University of North Texas who loves to share his passions with others. To ensure all his writing and homework is clear, professional, and free of grammatical errors he proofs it with a grammar checker. He can't always remember all the grammar rules so he edits his work with software that does.