How to cut waste and inefficiency in your office

Creating a more environmentally-friendly business does not have to be a huge, expensive undertaking. OnTimeSupplies.com show you which areas to focus your efforts that don't cost much, and have a big impact.

Have you switched to environmentally-friendly light bulbs?

Incandescent light bulbs are one of the least environmentally-friendly items in the home and office. Incandescents exert four time the energy necessary to light a room. That's why they're being phased out of production. Luckily, there are a range of energy efficient light bulbs on the market that last up to ten times longer and burn 75% less energy than traditional bulbs.

Are you mindful of paper waste?

The average American office worker tosses out over two hundred pounds of paper a year. How many people work in your office? Ten? Fifteen? A hundred? Multiply that by the average and you see how much your company wastes in paper each and every year. Put aside the environmental effects of this kind of waste and just look at it from a bottom line perspective. How much money could you save by simply making better use of your paper? There are four measures every office can adopt to capture this huge savings:

Duplex Printing: duplex printers print on both sides of a sheet of paper, dramatically cutting paper costs.
DIY Scratch Paper: use paper that has only been printed on one side as scratch paper instead of getting a fresh sheet.
E-Mail: conduct as much business as through e-mail and electronically as possible to save money and trees.
Recycling: switch to recycled office paper, and encourage office recycling with strategically place recycling containers.

Have you implemented an environmentally-friendly energy strategy?

Almost 40% of our carbon footprint comes from our electricity use. Of course, no office can run without electricity, so what are you supposed to do about it? Well, there are a few environmentally-friendly steps you can take that cause little inconvenience but make a big difference.

Use Multifunction Machines.

Environmentally Friendly Multifunction Machines

Multifunction printers require much less energy to produce & operate. It's more environmentally-friendly to get one printer that copies and faxes than buying three separate machines. It's cheaper too.

Shut devices down at night.

Sleep Mode

Turn off computers and other devices when they are not in use. Many offices get in the habit of leaving these machines on when they leave at night, simply wasting electricity.

Use Energy Star office equipment.

Energy Star equipment is government-certified to be energy efficient.