Your Home Office Eco-Friendly?
Most of us are pretty diligent about
recycling every week. For some of us, the kitchen scraps go to the
composter, and glass, plastic and cans are all separated. That's great for
the kitchen, but what about the rest of the house? What most don't realize
is the home office offers a huge opportunity for eco-friendly living, but
largely goes ignored.
Many don't think twice of using high quality non-recycled paper, or tossing
ink cartridges and old electronics in the garbage. Leaving a computer on
overnight seems innocent enough until you multiply that energy use by
millions of households.
The three main home office offenders are energy waste, paper consumption and
hazardous waste. Here are some tips to make your home office a little more
eco-friendly.
Put your electronics to bed at night. Connect your computer, speakers, fax,
printer, etc. to a power bar and turn them all off with the flick of a
switch at the end of the day. It's a common misconception that you should
leave a computer on all night. There is a peak in the power when you turn it
on, but nothing compared to what it uses over a 24 hour period.
Opt for a laptop. Not only do these have the benefit of being portable,
laptops consume one-eighth the power of a desktop computer. Imagine if
everyone in a household all had their own computers, they still wouldn't use
the energy of one bulky desktop.
Go for the flat screen. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or flat screen
monitor uses less than half the energy of the traditional CRT (Cathode Ray
Tube) monitors. Not to mention that they are easier to read, lighter and
cause less eye strain.
Reuse & recycle. I had a friend who used to save any of her junk mail that
was still in good condition and when doing simple printing jobs, she would
use the blank side of those pages. It was such a simple concept that made so
much sense, and worked great for those quick map or recipe print outs.
Save and reuse paper clips, elastics and push pins, and use rechargeable
batteries and refillable toner cartridges.
For your garbage paper, keep a recycling bin next to your desk for handy
use. Keep another bin nearby for expired rechargeable batteries, old inkjet
and toner cartridges, or electronics. Once you have a collection built up,
take them back to any Staples Business Depot for recycling.
Dead batteries should be saved and dropped off at your local waste depot for
safe disposal. That corrosive acid they contain will seep out into the
environment if left in a landfill site.
When buying paper, read the labels. What most people don't realize is that
much of the paper we use every day comes from old-growth forests. When you
read the labels on the packages, look for: 100% recycled ( your 1st choice);
or minimum FFC certification, which means the paper was made from trees
grown in a sustainably managed forest.
Switch to fluorescent bulbs. A fluorescent bulb uses 2/3 less energy than a
common incandescent bulb. When you add up all the bulbs in the house, that
energy savings translates into saved dollars!
