Reusing Office Supplies

Keep reuse in mind when it comes to office supplies. Refillable pens and pencils reduce waste. Paper clips, folders and binders can be saved and reused. Stay organized and keep used supplies for recycling

Look for eco-friendly places to work. Two websites that can help in the search are Simply Hired's Eco-Friendly Companies search engine and Sustainable Business's Green Dream Jobs section.

"Virtual" Meetings

Hold "virtual" meetings with conference calls instead of travel. Send the agenda by e-mail. Everyone can look at it on their phones instead of printing hard copies. Remind attendees to bring their own beverages. Don't offer bottled waters. Use reuseable nametags, biodegradable cups, and compostible, unbleached napkins made from recycled materials.

Live Online

Subscribe to online newspapers. Cancel your paper subscriptions and get your news online. Each year, 10 million tons of newspapers are tossed into landfills and aren't recycled. If just half of these were recycled, it would save 75 million trees.

Buy tickets online. Airline, movie and event tickets can be purchased online or by telephone and printed at home. You'll save time and paper waste. Print-at-home tickets use plain copy paper, which is easier to recycle than paperboard used for printed tickets.

Music and Movies Can Be Green, Too

Download music instead of purchasing it. Each month, more than 45 tons of CDs become obsolete, outdated, unwanted, unloved and left in landfills. The average price of a music CD is $15, whereas you can download an album for $9.99 from most services.

Rent, don't buy, movies. Are you really going to watch them over and over? Children sometimes do, but ask yourself how many of your purchased movies on the shelf you have watch repeatedly? One hundred thousand DVDs and CDs are thrown away each month, not to mention VHS tapes! They have almost no resale value. Don't contribute to the trash pile. There are streaming video services with large catalogs you can access to watch movies.

Invest in Green

Research mutual funds and stocks that support green initiatives.

Patronize companies that are making efforts to become more environmentally sustainable. From consumer products to services, your dollar can make a difference.

Go Recycled

Purchase recycled-content products, both pre- and post-consumer. Purchase locally-manufactured products or those that ship or are sold from a shorter distance away.

Fax Green

Fax smart. Sending faxes directly from the computer avoids using paper completely. If a traditional fax is the only option, avoid using a cover letter or create a reusable cover by laminating the page and using an erasable marker to update. Turn off the automatic activity report feature on fax machines to save another page.

But if you do create unnecessary paper, reuse that paper in your printer for printing routine, disposable reference materials.