Green Office Manual

HOW TO: GREEN UP YOUR BUINSESS
A Simple Manual to Help Save the Environment, and Money
Whether you run a home-based business or a large enterprise, there are simple things you can do to make your business environmentally friendly.
Improving your bottom line is the added benefit.

Is it really that important?
You bet it is! To put it in perspective, consider these facts on paper use and consumption:

• It is estimated that 95% of business information is still stored on paper.
• North American office workers produce almost 1 kg of paper / person / day.
• Every ton of paper that is recycled saves about 17 trees.
• Every tree provides enough oxygen for 3 people to breathe.
• Recycling one ton of paper saves 682.5 gallons of oil, 7,000 gallons of water,
  and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
• Paper and paper products account for more than 1/3 of all Canada's waste.
• Only 1/4 of Canada's waste paper and paperboard is recycled.
• Paper manufacturing is the 3rd largest user of fossil fuels worldwide.
• Recycling uses 60% less energy than manufacturing paper from virgin timber.
• Recycling half the world's paper would free 20 million acres of forestland.
• If North American offices, the largest per capita consumers of paper world-
  wide, increased the rate of two-sided photocopying from the 1991 amount
  of 20% to 60%, it would save the equivalent of about 15 million trees.

Use This Manual
This is a checklist that you and your team can use to make your workplace a sustainable and environmentally friendly operation. The simplest measures are at the top of the list. By the time you've worked your way to the last items, your business will be in far better shape, environmentally and financially.

• Get employees involved. Create a team to lead the company's eco-efforts and determine where you can have the biggest impact for the least amount of money. Enlist staff to initiate and follow through on policy changes related to this project.

The Paperless Office

• Go paperless. Encourage e-mailing. When paper is necessary, photocopy on both sides or use the back side of waste paper. Keep a recycling bin near the photocopier.
• Hire a recycling company to pick up waste paper and cardboard. In Dawson Creek and Pouce Coupe, try these resources for help:
  • Canadian Waste 782-6488 www.wmcanada.com
  • Ronny's Recycling 782-5527
  • DC Recycling & Bottle Depot 782-2020
• Choose re-manufactured laser printer toner cartridges and re-inked
  printer ribbons. They are less expensive and less harmful to the
  environment.
• Reduce fax-related paper. Use a fax-modem. Fax-modems send
  documents directly from computer to computer, without a printed hard
  copy.
• Stop throwing away money. Re-use packaging for shipping. Use the back of
  photocopy paper for in-house copies and scap paper.
  • 30 to 40% of trash is discarded packaging.
• Choose suppliers who take back packaging. If you are a supplier, find ways to take back spent products for recycling. Your customers will see this as value added.
• Buy green. Make the environment a factor when purchasing. Draft a letter that tells suppliers you're interested in sustainable products and send it. Set specific goals for buying recycled, refurbished, or used - instead of new office furniture, buy refurbished, switch to recycled photocopy paper, change your cleaning supplies to less toxic products.

Transportation

• $700 = Average monthly cost to operate an automobile
• $23 = Average monthly cost to operate a bike
• $12 = Average monthly cost to walk
• Consider the commute. Let workers telecommute if possible. Encourage carpooling. Provide bike racks and bus passes as an office perk.
• Reduce business travel. Teleconference when you can. For must-go trips, keep track of the miles driven and flown and buy "carbon offsets" from a nonprofit like Carbonfund.org to make up for the greenhouse gas emissions.
• Rethink transportation. Consider the petroleum it takes to ship and receive products. Look for ways to reduce shipping. Think local.
• Convert company vehicles to natural gas or propane fuel or buy hybrids.
• Right-size vehicles for the job. Is a �� ton pick up necessary or would a high mileage compact do the job?
• Shop local. The further your supplies or service providers have to travel,
  the more energy will be used to get them to you.

Meetings, Breaks and Lunch

• Use mugs. Make your workplace a disposable-drink-container-free site.
• Set up a compost bin outside the office for vegetable and fruit waste from
  lunches or have employees take compostables home in the containers
  they brought their lunch in.
• Encourage everyone to swear off drinks in disposable containers. Bring
  beverages in re-useable bottles.
• Swear off take-out. Go out to eat or bring your own containers from home.
• Purchase coffee and cream in bulk.
• Use cloth tea towels in the coffee room rather than paper towels.
• Collect returnable containers and return for the refund or donate to a local
  charity.

In General:

• Turn off lights and install motion sensors in washrooms and other rooms
  where lighting is needed only periodically.
• Turn off equipment when it's not used. This can reduce the energy used by
  25 percent: turning off computers at the end of day can save an additional
  50 percent.
• Repair dripping taps. And always close them tightly after use. (One drop
  per second wastes 10,000 litres per year.)
• Install displacement toilet dams in toilet reservoirs. Putting plastic
  containers filled with stones [do not use bricks] in the toilet tank will
  displace about 4 litres of water per flush - a huge reduction of water use
  over the course of a year.
• Lower the temperature of the hot water heater to 40 degrees C.
• Detox. Many offices have toxic substances, such as used batteries and copier toner, on hand. Talk to suppliers about alternatives to toxics, and make sure you properly dispose of the ones you can't avoid using.
• De-ice sidewalks with calcium magnesium acetate (instead of rock salt). It is less harmful to plants, water, and vehicles.
• Plant trees. Participate in a tree-planting programs to offset your carbon footprint. Your employees may want to participate as well.
• Green up your trade-show freebies. If your company gives away pens and other monogrammed freebies, consider putting your name and contact information on packets of seeds, cloth shopping bags or a consumable item such as gum or chocolate bars, etc.

Finally

• Get an energy audit. Most local utilities offer free on-site consultations on
  how to reduce usage and save money. Among the frequent suggestions:
  • Improve insulation,
  • Install timers to turn lights off automatically.
  • Have an energy audit conducted and follow through with improvements.
  • See Funding, Financing, Grants on this website.
• Tell the world. Inform customers and suppliers about your efforts. A growing
  number of your customers now make the environment their top priority in
  buying decisions, ahead of price. Let them know your business is one they can consider first.
• Keep track. Let the staff share in the success. Tell them how this program has benefited the company. And with the refunds on those returnables, throw a bar-b-que (with real plates and cloth napkins, of course).
  

SEE ALSO:
For more on this topic check out these websites:
Northern Environmental Action Team - www.prrrdy.com
www.green-office.org.uk/
www.sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/environmentbiz/a/envirfriend1.htm
www.sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/environmentbiz/a/sustaindevelop.htm
www.conservationeconomy.net/
www.greenbiz.com/
www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/english/index.cfm?attr=0
www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx