THE GREEN WORKPLACE

SOMETHING SMELLS! 

Negros Daily Bulletin

By Tina M. Monfort

As I always say, small things add up.   If 50 people do 50 small things it starts to make a big difference. Encourage coworkers to get into the game, start reducing energy consumption in the workplace and see how much fun it can be.

Our environment is in a crisis.   So what do we do?  Year 2009 is the time to stop sitting on our hands. With a little help and education, we can turn not only our homes, but also our workplaces eco-friendly.  Let’s start with these:

Be Paper Smart.  To create a paper smart / paperless office, start with changing  how you think about paper.  Before printing anything, ask yourself if it is absolutely necessary.  Preview all documents before printing.   Going paperless uses less storage space for files, saves cost for printing, mailing and shipping and needless to say, use fewer trees to produce paper.  Require everyone to use both sides of the paper.  Yes, REQUIRE!  This will definitely reduce your paper consumption by half.  Use misprints as notepads – misprints are not cute and attractive unlike the notepads but what would you rather be?  Cute or an earth-monster?

 Reuse Boxes.  Perfect for storing files and office supplies.  Why not request an artistic co-worker to fancy it up with old or unused poster paints, accessories, decorative papers just lying around your house? This will definitely add a little color to your cubicle.  Reuse everything else you can still use.  Reuse and recycle.  I’m sure there are 101 trays and cute little containers at home waiting to be used.  Bring them over.  This should make up for the not-so-cute misprint notepads.  That’s hitting two birds (or even more since the eco- list is endless) with one stone, don’t you think?  Isn’t recycling so much fun?

Go Draft. Ink used in printers is toxic and using lots is certainly not being eco-friendly. Use as little ink as possible by printing in ‘draft’ or by using black and white and remember to have the cartridge refilled. 

Don’t Fake It.  Bring real plants into the office. ‘Fakes’ might be low on maintenance, but the real thing is beautiful and enhances the oxygen level around.  Don’t forget to water them! 

Change Your Filters (or clean it).   Make sure your air condition unit is well serviced to maximize its efficiency.

Let The Sunshine In. Open up all the blinds. Natural light is free and brightens the mood of workers. With the sunshine come the flowers and the trees, the birds and the bees…back to work now.  Hungry yet?

Lunch Is Served.  Bring your own meals to work in reusable containers. Definitely healthier than take-out options. Less packaging too. Go easy on the bottled water.  Bring your own bottle container. A water intake of 2  to 3 liters daily is highly recommended.  

Go CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs or Lamps).  Use energy saving light bulbs.  Practically all hardware stores carry these spiral bulbs.  May cost a wee bit more off the shelf but it will surely outlive several traditional bulbs in the long run.  Do the math! 

Back To Basics. Turn off your lights when you don’t need them, unplug office equipments (fax machines, printers, copiers, computers) when not in use, take public transportation, carpool with friends, combine your errands, etc., etc.  Need I say more? 

Telecommute.  Whenever you can, use your computer and your telephone to do the work for you.  You produce no carbon output from driving.  Stop your idle engine if you are parked for more than 30 seconds, it will be more fuel efficient.  This also reduces fuel emissions into the air and into the parking lot – cough, cough!  And while we’re at this, always maintain your car. Under inflated tires and neglecting your regular tune-ups can cause your car’s gas mileage to plummet. 

Paper, Glass and Plastic.  Suggest to your Manager to put recycle bins in the office.  Make a list of items which are used often and therefore, thrown often.

And the winner is… lastly, acknowledge and reward workers who work hard in making a difference in our environment.  Maybe this will inspire more workers to be eco-friendly. 

Trivia: Did you know that laptops only consume one-eighth the power of a traditional desktop computer?