| ews is filled with doom and gloom about the | | | | remanufacturers. |
| environment and the damage humans are doing to it. | | | | 5. Leave the car at home |
| As a small business owner there are lots of things that | | | | Cars are the biggest single contributor to CO2 levels in |
| can be done to lessen your company’s impact | | | | the UK. Transport in general accounts for 23% of UK |
| on the environment and as an added benefit you may | | | | CO2 emissions. By using a different means of getting |
| even be able to save a few quid in the process. | | | | to work just once a week you could not only reduce |
| The list of ‘Green’ ideas below is by no | | | | your CO2 levels but also save money on fuel. |
| means exhaustive but it should hopefully give you | | | | 6. Buy energy efficient office machines |
| some practical ideas of changes you can make. | | | | Save energy and fight global warming with Energy |
| 1. Turn things off | | | | Star qualified products. They use less energy, save |
| Ok, so this is an obvious one to start with but simply | | | | money, and help protect the environment. To learn |
| switching the lights and office equipment, such as | | | | more about Energy Star products visit the website. |
| printers, faxes, monitors and photocopiers off at night | | | | 7. Change your Bulbs |
| will not only help the environment by reducing CO2 but | | | | Light exit signs with lower energy bulbs like compact |
| also save your business money. | | | | fluorescent lamps (CFLs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), |
| Green Fact - The average computer and flat screen | | | | neon lighting or electroluminescent lighting technology. |
| monitor costs £20 per year if not switched off | | | | Replace old fluorescent lighting fixtures using T-12 |
| overnight, that’s £2,000 and 9 tonnes of | | | | lamps with T-8 fluorescent lamps for better colour, less |
| CO2 for every 100 workstations. | | | | flickering and 20 percent less energy use. |
| Green Fact - Leaving a photocopier on standby | | | | Green Fact - During its life span, a fluorescent tube will |
| overnight and at weekends instead of switching it off | | | | save 640 kWh of electricity compared with the |
| costs £33 per year and emits around 144kg of | | | | equivalent 100-watt standard bulb. This reduces the |
| CO2. | | | | production of carbon dioxide by half a ton and sulphur |
| 2. Turn back the thermostat during unoccupied times | | | | dioxide, which causes acid rain, by 3 kg. |
| This is a simple fix that will save tremendously in | | | | Green Fact - Lights account for about 30% of the |
| heating and cooling bills. Once you see the money that | | | | running costs of most businesses. |
| you've pocketed, use it to buy a programmable | | | | 8. Buy Green |
| thermostat. | | | | When you purchase goods and services put your |
| 3. Switch to Duplex printing | | | | environmental hat on and consider how items were |
| Set up your office printers so that you can print on | | | | produced, what they are made from and even how |
| both sides of the page. In theory this could half your | | | | far they were shipped before they reached you. In |
| paper costs. | | | | terms of Office Supplies there is a huge range of |
| Green Fact - Two trees can be saved for every | | | | ‘Green’ products available including |
| ream of paper that is saved through double sided | | | | Paper, Printer Supplies and Desk Accessories. Office |
| printing. | | | | Allsorts supply over 2,400 ‘Green’ |
| Green Fact – Each person in the UK uses | | | | products at hugely discounted prices, to view our |
| 250kg of paper .Recycling 1 tonne of paper can save | | | | product range Click Here. |
| approximately six mature trees, 3.3 cubic yard of | | | | Green Fact - According to the environmental charity |
| rapidly diminishing landfill space, 380 gallons of oil and | | | | Waste Watch, for every tonne (about 2 pallets) of |
| 4,000 kilowatts of energy. | | | | 100% post-consumer recycled paper purchased |
| 4. RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE!! | | | | instead of virgin fibre paper, we save: |
| Yes I’ve mentioned it three times as this one is | | | | * At least 30,000 litres of water. |
| pretty important. Paper, card and plastics can account | | | | * 3000 - 4000 KWh electricity - enough power for an |
| for up to 80% of small and medium sized businesses | | | | average 3 bedroom house for one year. |
| waste. By recycling them locally you can reduce costs | | | | * 40% of the world's industrial logging goes into making |
| paid to outside waste contractors, reduce landfill and | | | | paper and this is expected to reach 50% in the near |
| support other local environmental activities. | | | | future. |
| You can also recycle you ink and toner cartridges and | | | | * Worldwide, the pulp and paper industry is the 5th |
| get paid for doing so by sending them to one of the | | | | largest industrial consumer of energy. Producing |
| many compatible cartridge remanufacturers in the UK. | | | | recycled paper uses up to 70% less energy than virgin |
| Alternatively many charities will accept your empty | | | | paper*, as well as using far less water. |
| toners as they can then sell them to the | | | | |