Tips for Going Green in the Workplace
“Going green” has become more than just a fad or trend, establishing itself as a persistent and necessary change. Being environmentally conscious means much more than recycling your cans and setting your thermostat at 78-degrees in the summer time; it’s a choice that affects all aspects of your lifestyle. This is the first of a three part series where Studio 602 will be looking at how you can go green at home, at the office and in the classroom. Check back each Wednesday for more ways you can do your part to reduce your environmental footprint.
Tips for Going Green in the Workplace
As you leave your driveway each morning and head to work, it can be easy to leave all of your at-home green routines behind. Yet, going green in the office may be more important than going green at home could ever be. After all, office buildings are one of the world’s leading contributors of paper and energy waste, using roughly 1200kWh of energy per day and four million tons of paper annually. While some green office practices may seem obvious, like replacing every light bulb with LED or CFL bulbs, turning off electronics when they aren’t in use or using FSC-certified pencils, there are other ways to go green in the workplace that may not be as readily apparent.
Think Digital
Limit yourself to printing only when it is absolutely necessary. Edit documents using your word processor’s built-in editing feature. Share forms digitally and securely using applications like Google Docs, Dropbox and HomePipe. If you need to send out a correspondence, do so via email. If something can be done on a piece of paper, chances are it can be done digitally as well. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year, so limiting your day-to-day paper usage shouldn’t be difficult to do.
Think Recyclable and Reusable
And we’re talking everything. Obviously, the big names like paper, plastic glass and aluminum should always be recycled, but there are also a number of office-specific items that require recycling. Printer cartridges can be recycled (and sometimes refilled). Cellphones, batteries and computers can also be recycled or reused. If you simply must print something out and it doesn’t have to be sent somewhere important, save the paper and print on the other side later. Bring in reusable cups, plates and food containers instead of using paper, plastic or Styrofoam at lunchtime. Bring a refillable water bottle for your trips to the water cooler. Almost every piece of waste that comes out of an office can either be recycled or eliminated by using reusable products, so recycle, reduce and reuse!
Think Natural Lighting
Using LEDs and CFLs helps reduce energy consumption, but using no form of electrical light reduces energy consumption even more. Open the blinds during the day to let in the natural light. Paint the walls and ceiling light colors using paints that reflect light rather than absorb it. Install a light shelf to reflect the sunlight onto the ceiling and disperse it around the room. Any time when you can cut back on energy use by using natural sunlight, seize the opportunity. Just make sure that, when you are using natural sunlight, you remember to turn off the regular lights!
Encourage Others to Think the Same Way
Whenever you send an email to your colleagues, add a line to your email signature that requests that they only print the email if absolutely necessary. Send out a memo (digitally of course!) that explains the different ways your colleagues can go green in the workplace. Lead by example by following all of the tips outlined in this article. If you make the effort to build an environmentally friendly work environment, others will follow suit. Remember, reducing our impact on the environment is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the cool thing to do, so use that to your advantage.
What are some of the green practices you bring with you to the workplace? We would love to hear about them in the comments section below!
In addition to conserving resources I think that we need to be mindful of what the products we buy contain. Do we really need pencils with Microban? Listed on Pencils.com’s green products are Smencils, They are made with recycled material but I am guessing that they are infused with an artificial fragrance. Fragrances can be hormone disruptive so do we really want our kids sniffing these all day in addition to their heavily fragranced laundry. My way of helping the environment, is to not purchase items with unnecessary chemicals, fragrances and additives. I do not want them to produce them, I do not want to live with them, and I do not want to dispose of them into the soil,water and air.
Ruth,
Thank you for your comment and your concern.
We have checked with the Duke University toxicologist that runs the third party certification program for the Pencil Makers Association (i.e the PMA Seal). Historically, Microban has been used as a preservative in some lacquer material formulations within the pencil industry. Under the PMA certification program Microban is a permitted substance within certain restrictions and that it’s practical use in pencils is well below such restriction levels and as such represents extremely limited exposure risk to the end consumer in any normal pencil. For more information on the PMA certification program here is the link:
http://www.wima.org/SafetyInformation/tabid/81/Default.aspx
Currently, the producers of the Smencils scented product you mention does not participate in the PMA Certification program. However, this does not mean the pencils do not conform to permissible limits of Microban or other potentially toxic substances. Nor is it certain Microban is utilized in these pencils at all. We are now checking with the manufacturer of this product to determine if there indeed is Microban utilized and if so at what levels so that we can re-evaluate any potential risks associated with this product.
We appreciate and respect your personal preference to avoid products with fragrances that may contain Microban. While we agree that it is nice when a manufacturer can avoid using any level of a substance that might present even the very smallest chance of toxicological exposure or environmental risk, this may not always be practical. While governmental standards are an important guideline it is also important for both consumers and industry participants to remain vigilant on this topic in general. Thanks again for bringing your concern to our attention.
For more information on product safety issues related to pencils see our link here.
http://www.Pencils.com/product-safety
With respect to the toxicologist whose (old, outdated) certifications for lines like the Ticonderoga, etc, first, PMA isn’t really up to date NOR do I consider it especially unbiased given that companies PAY to be members the same way lobbyists pay to get their agendas pushed and corporations fund campaigns in mutual back scratching… nothing about triclosan/other Microban components is biodegradable NOR is it safe, natural, or healthy.
Simple fact is that it isn’t added to keep bacteria from spreading child to child (it is not in strong enough quantity to do that acute cleaning type action)… it is there and conveniently began being added just before Dixon moved their production out of the USA and into Mexican and Chinese plants that do not regulate humidity/temperature the way USA ones do… the announcement had already been made and the research was not to protect humans but to take care of the poor conditions of manufacturing (which as a side note have made the pencils’ quality go down–the wood simply isn’t tight as it once was–it is splintered and doesn’t hold the graphite well anymore). Mixing the Microban in was simply to keep the COLOR and to a lesser extent the ODOR from changing so much that people wouldn’t buy them at all… they still smell awful compared to the nice neutral cedar scent they had–now they smell chemical-laden and “funky.” The concerns with Microban, beyond our resistance to antibiotics thanks to it being everywhere, are with immune function, skin cell renewal, and nerve damage, specifically interference with pain receptors.
In developing children, the last thing we want harmed apart from vital organs is hands, skin in particular. Microban exposure on a regular basis causes toughening of skin not found when pencils are free of such pesticides–some paints also contain chemicals that leech into skin. Absorbing it all day while writing or simply holding a pencil listening interferes with the hand’s skin renewal and causes, for lack of better layman word, a kink in nerve receptors and in immune function… when the body becomes tolerant by virtue of long term light exposure, which class time certainly counts as, you’re putting their immune response at risk, plain and simple, and triclosan is NOT safe to ingest (kids DO chew on pencils!) and should NOT be toyed with–“GENERALLY REGARDED AS SAFE” does NOT mean safe… it means short term data doesn’t show short term illness, which is the ONLY thing the PROFIT-CENTERED, PRODUCT-DEVELOPMENT-INTENDING research shows… Need I point to things like yaz, depo-provera, the “ring” and other birth controls? How about celebrex? How about aspartame? Boy was it a surprise when certain people hit the ER because of a fake sweetener! That isn’t to say natural means good–corn syrup, agave even worse… they bring death to the entire metabolic cycle and leptin and ghrelin responses go kaboom from it (same with consuming juice, which causes everything vodka brings except the buzz; long term, I’d call the vodka a bit healthier only because your body gives warning thanks to alcohol’s presence, whereas the juice is a silent killer).
Here’s a pretty recent article in the NY Times… in 75% of urine samples from folks 5 and over… and they are NOT eating the stuff. This doesn’t worry you at all?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/business/triclosan-an-antibacterial-chemical-in-consumer-products-raises-safety-issues.html?pagewanted=all
Anyway, let me leave with the basics:
It DOES get absorbed quite well by the skin.
It causes skin to harden, scale, be dry, itch initially.
It interferes with skin cell repletion–this is our biggest organ and protector of all others.
It causes the immune system to do one of two things–either consider it normal and NOT regulate it/dump it when in the bloodstream (bad) or it can be properly considered foreign (good) and trigger an autoimmune reaction, whether it is an allergy-like response (bad) or a condition like lupus, arthritis, eczema, psoriasis, the list goes on (horrible).
The reason the itching and pain goes away is my worst fear for kids literally bathing in the junk: It causes an interference in NERVE SIGNALS… specifically the signal of PAIN… so the fingers/hands holding these pens become less and less able to detect pain, which for microban seems perfect as poison–don’t feel the poison where it is. It’s like lyme disease… most don’t feel the tick, many never see the mark because ticks love hair, and then when the symptoms show up, they often are confused with other illnesses. Same goes for toxic exposure to good ol’ triclosan… but it directly causes all the lovely nerves in our hands, of which there are obviously incredible numbers, to literally have their pain signal interfered with by the chemical absorbing into the hands. You have no idea how many kids I’ve seen (even though neurology is my forte, I see many with autoimmune and other conditions) whose “allergies” or headaches or even dizzy spells, seizures, and often skin breakouts… how many we DO find toxic chemicals in. Thing is, the skin issues should be a massive warning flag. Kids should have, for 99.9% of them, beautiful luster in their skin… elasticity from abundant collagen, all things we wish we had. Take out the SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate), the triclosan, etc and bam… your kid feels better. That’s tough, but Burt’s Bees is one line I can recommend without hesitation. That is the ONLY toothpaste that is reliably SLS free (a couple sensitive varieties, yes, but even Tom’s etc use SLS, a lab skin irritant, what labs use to see if salves actually work is what we use to make suds, ick!). In general, I simply use GLYCERIN at home–washing hands, etc… and even at work, I can’t handle the toxic foam every 15 minutes so I wash my hands in the room. Worth the wait, absolutely, and it makes me know I haven’t touched a germy door just before shaking their hands and touching their faces!
I don’t use ANY throwaway products… levenger refills for my pens (irony is that the ones I love most are from drug companies–they’re bright and I know they’re mine! My one single perk, I guess!) and lead for my pencils is fine… metal tubing makes a lovely vessel for the latter and there’s nothing funky about the smell, I can wash them with ease, and even my niece managed to keep, as a 7 year old, the same pen and pencil (#2 lead) I gave her (had her name on it, so it helped) all through middle school and retired them only in high school because they were a bit banged up after six straight years in and out of her backpack and writing for hours every day. Our disposable consumer culture is a nightmare… go to Africa; the schools World Vision etc put there show that if you teach gratitude and the word “enough” and show how we have EXCESS, kids WILL care for things… you just have to calmly approach them and give a little perspective! With the web, it’s not at all hard to say “this is why we don’t buy all this stuff” or “this is why we don’t buy anything that says made in china” etc.
I would figure out your blog the dreamland! While Santa scrapes from our door soon after each year, you blog is open up the entire 12 months C wow!