Two weeks ago we did a blog post on how to green up your home and today I'm going to give you some tips on how to green up your personal office. A lot of the household green tips can transfer over to greening up your office as well.
One step at a time is always the best approach when changing what you typically purchase to something more environmentally friendly.
Usually purchasing greener products like 'Energy Star' products are a great way to save money and energy but if you're not able to purchase new electronics, keeping your old ones is okay too. All you have to do is change some small habits, like if you leave your computer on at night in your office then shut it down.
1.) Power Strips
If possible buy a power strip, connect all your electronics in your office to the power strip and just switch it off when you are heading out for the day and switch it back on in the morning.
2.) Recycle
Buy a small recycling bin, if you don't already have one, for your personal office and recycle everything that can be recycled!
3.) Paperless
In certain jobs I's simply impossible to go completely paperless, especially if your job requires you to constantly print things out. What you can do is switch out what you typically purchase and buy post-consumer recycled paper, its way better for the environment!
Also opt for printing on both the front and back or using the non-printed side for notes, etc.
4.) Remanufactured Ink and Toner Cartridges
If you are in charge of purchasing office supplies, consider buying remanufactured ink and toner cartridges. All newly manufactured toner and ink cartridges require about 1 pint of oil for production, estimated that 900 million ink cartridges and 500 million toner cartridges are made each year, that's a lot of oil!
Don't forget to recycle your ink and toner cartridges! Dolphin Blue offers free pre-paid shipping labels for empty Inkjet & Toner Cartridges. We do not accept toner tubes or toner bottles.
5.) Plants!
Literally green up your office by putting plants on your desk or some place near you where you can see it. They can improve your air quality and increase your work productivity.
Check out this list of great indoor plants, although majority of them are rather big, you can probably find a smaller version of the plant at your local nursery.