Green to Save Green Tips 31 - 40

You don’t need to sacrifice profits to go green with your small business. In fact, going green might save your business some money! In this Green to Save Green series, I’m challenging readers to make 101 environmental changes over the next 1001 days.

Here are Tips 31 - 40 - all about recycling. For the rest of your challenge tips, head to this post. If you’re making any (or all!) of these changes with your small business, let me know by leaving a comment!

Tip #31: Recycle your ink and toner cartridges. There are actually companies out there (like Free Recycling) that will pay you to do so, and I believe that some of the major office supply stores offer discounts at the register for every cartridge you return. It’s like returning your glass soda/milk bottles!

Tip #32: Recycle company phones. If your company have cell phones, don’t throw them away when you upgrade. Donate them to a local woman’s shelter or check out this post about a program that pays you for your old phones.

Tip #33: Add recycling bins to every room. Let’s face it - garbage is expensive. You either pay per month for x number of bags or per bag (we do that - $1.75 per sticker). The more your recycle, the less trash you’ll have, and in most cities, recycling is free! You don’t have to purchase special trash bins or anything - just use old boxes you have lying around and write “aluminum” or “plastic” or whatever on the front.

Tip #34: Save and recycling packaging material. Those packaging peanuts are especially bad. When you receive a box filled with them, don’t throw them away - they’re filling up landfills alarmingly quickly. instead, save them to use when you need to mail a package. Don’t have any peanuts? Don’t buy more! Ship your package using crumbled up pieces of newspaper or scrap paper.

Tip #35: Once a year, have an office “yard sale.” If anyone has extra stuff that they don’t need or want, have them put it outside of their doors. Everyone else can walk around and pick up coat racks, desk lamps, pencils, etc. that they need. If you do this, everyone will “spring clean” - condense binders together, digs the pens out of their chair cushions, etc. You might want to ask everyone to have two boxes of items - office use only (things bought with company money that others can use in their offices) and personal item (things bought with the employees’ money that others can take home if they want OR use in their offices). It avoids having to throw things away AND you’ll save money when you order office supplies.

Tip #36: Set company goals. It doesn’t cost any money to have recycling goals for your office. As a team, set goals and then post these goals in the hallway or break room to remind everyone to recycle.

Tip #37: Reuse the birthday bag. Do you celebrate birthdays are your office? If so, instead of wrapping presents, purchase one large birthday bag that can be used for every employee. Anyone wanting to contribute a present can just put it in the bag. That way, you don’t have to purchase paper all of the time.

Tip #38: Create magazine holders from cereal boxes. There’s no need to purchase fancy office desk sets. Instead. use the cereal boxes you have at home to create magazine holders for your office. With a little paint, no one will even notice. Here are directions for this craft project.

Tip #39: Recycle old CDs. Like many offices, you probably have a pile of of CDs lying around. Every time you get a new computer, it comes with a billion of them, and some companies even send free disks in the mail for things you’ll never use. Don’t toss them. Recycle or reuse! If you or any of your employees are crafty, you can try this list of CD crafts, or you can simply recycle them here

Tip #40: Recycle old magazines. Chances are that someone in your office has kids. Before throwing out old magazines, see if anyone in the office could use them. (I used to baby-sit, and we were constantly doing collages and school projects using magazines.) You can also use them for packaging instead of newspaper (see tip #34).

Come back tomorrow for a continuation of this list, or head to this post to read more! Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’re implementing any of these changes in your own life!