Ways To Make Your Business More Green

Every person and business has a responsibility to reduce their environmental impact. That doesn’t mean you have to run or own a totally green business (though it’s awesome if you do!). It just means you need to do what you can to take less and give more.

Here are eight simple ways you can reduce your impact on the earth—and save a few bucks too. Some are easier or more obvious than others. All are worth doing.

1) See the Light

Yeah, I know you’ve heard it before, but if you haven’t already it’s time to switch to eco-friendly “Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs,” or CFLs. They cost a bit more, but they last much longer. Plus, they produce more light and less heat—making them especially nice in retail stores and hot climates. Stores have reported up to a 75% savings on their electric bill after making the switch!

**IMPORTANT: CFL bulbs contain mercury! Do not throw them in the garbage!! **

Instead, take them to a CFL recycling center like IKEA.

If you break a bulb, open the windows right away and leave the room for 15 minutes. Then pick up the shards with a wet paper towel, place them in a baggie and take them to a waste disposal site.

2) Print Green

Use recycled paper with the most post-consumer content possible. These days you can even get nice, heavy weight paper with 100% recycled content at any office supply store.

Print double-sided to save paper. And, when possible, reuse single-sided paper by printing on the back side. You’ll save money while saving trees.

Buy a printer that uses refillable cartridges. Otherwise, recycle cartridges for money back at Staples or other office supply stores. Or get a printer with long-life cartridges.

Most businesses can skip printing fancy brochures now. Instead, send prospects to your Website. There you can also offer a variety of white papers, books, ebooks and more via download rather than printing and mailing them.

3) Work Virtually

Do you really need to drive to that coffee meeting? Does everything really need to be done in-house by employees? Unless you’re in retail the answer is, “no”.

Cars burn gas and oil, create CO2 and other pollutants, and require us to build roads—using more petroleum. Plus, there’s no doubt driving in traffic sucks away time and adds stress.

Really, most client work can be done via phone, email and fax. It just takes some time to get over the habit of meeting in person. And chances are you can get more accomplished working with a Virtual Assistant than you ever do when you have someone in your office. I certainly do.

4) Step Away from the Car

Every entrepreneur needs to get away from the office and get some exercise. What better way than by walking or riding a bike to run errands?

Even riding the bus typically involves some walking, and it gets you out of stressful traffic.

My husband and I have been a one-car family for over a year and it works out fine. Some days he rides the bus or bike commutes. And if I’m going downtown, I ride the bus. That takes less time and costs less than trying to find a place to park.

I also regularly walk or bike the 1-1.5 miles each way to the bank, post office and office supply store. That’s good for my pocketbook, my waistline and my dog. And some of my best business ideas come when I’m out of the office.

5) Turn it Off

Thanks to the outdated advice that you could wear out your computer by turning it on and off, my folks still leave their computer on all the time (no matter what I tell them). I’ve learned firsthand that you’ll burn out the fan and overheat the processor long before you’ll wear out the start button.

So turn computers off at night, and your monitor and printer too. Those “vampire devices” still suck energy even when they’re on stand-by. Plug all your vampires into one power strip so you can turn them off with one switch.

6) Think Inside the Box

Reuse packing boxes and manila envelopes whenever possible. Then pack with newspaper. This keeps packaging costs way down. If you do a lot of shipping, consider purchasing biodegradable corn starch “peanuts”.

You can also reduce the size of product packaging and the number of inserts to save money and cut down on waste.

7) Recycle Your Electronics

Go beyond paper, glass, plastics and aluminum. Radio Shack takes used household batteries and cell phones. Most used computer shops will recycle your monitor and your pc.

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