This is a checklist any office can use to conserve resources and save money from the Girardeau Goes Green Advisory Board.
Download: Green Office Sustainability Checklist
Waste Prevention Checklist
- Reuse packaging materials from incoming shipments (bubble wrap, boxes, etc.)
- Buy supplies in bulk when possible
- Avoid products with excess packaging
- Use rechargeable batteries
- Donate unwanted furniture, food, and magazines to charitable organizations
- Use cloth towels and sponges in kitchens rather than paper towels
- Provide washable utensils and dishes for employees
- Use reusable containers to pack home-prepared lunches
Paper Reduction Checklist
Purchasing
- Purchase office paper with a lower basis weight (example: 18-pound copier paper instead of 20-pound)
- Purchase post-consumer recycled-content paper office supplies (30%, 50%, or 100% recycled)
Accounting
- Request paperless billing from suppliers/clients, and send out electronic bills/invoices to customers/clients
- Review draft invoices electronically, even if the final version is sent as a hard copy to suppliers/clients
Reuse
- Reuse single-sided paper (for notepads, draft copies, etc.)
- Reuse paper office supplies (file folders, large mailing envelopes, cardboard boxes, etc.)
- Have internal notepads made from outdated letterhead
- Reduce unwanted mail, and remove your company’s name from direct mailing lists
- Periodically update mailing lists
- Use two-way envelopes
Fax
- E-faxing; modify/eliminate fax cover sheets
- Request vendors/advertisers to refrain from sending unwanted faxes
Publications
- Subscribe to online publications instead of hard copies
- Circulate hard copy publications around the office with interested staff
Packaging
- Use reusable containers instead of cardboard or other packaging for product deliveries
Printing
- Make double-sided printing the default setting for printer/copier devices
- Only print emails when necessary
- Use the “print preview” function to optimize print jobs
- Test multi-copy print jobs before printing the full run
- Alter your standard templates to maximize useable paper space (shrink margins, etc.)
- Use “multiple pages per sheet” printing function, especially for drafts
- Use “track changes” or other electronic editing tools to minimize hand-written editing on hard copies
- Print only pages that are necessary by selecting specific sections/pages
- Use scan-to-email function on printer/copier machines
Water Conservation Checklist
- Post signs that encourage water conservation in kitchens and bathrooms (e.g. turning off water while washing hands and brushing teeth)
- Inform service providers (laundry, landscaper, dishwasher) that water efficiency is a priority
- Fix leaks immediately
- Install high efficiency dishwashers and only run full dishwasher loads
- Explore whether your property manager is willing to upgrade to high efficiency toilets
- Use garbage disposals sparingly; compost instead
Energy Conservation Checklist
- Track energy costs to better understand all the ways your business consumes energy
- Install automatic thermostats that let you program different settings for different days/times of the week
- Install motion sensor lights that shut off when no one is in the room
- Use energy efficient T-8 or T-5 lamps with electronic ballasts
- Remove any unneeded lighting
Recycle Checklist
- Check out what can be recycled in Cape Girardeau
- Work with your property manager to implement a commercial compost collection service
- Take unwanted electronics to Recycling Center
- Purchase paper with a high post-consumer recycled-content (100% is ideal)
- Purchase supplies that contain recycled material
- Ensure that all employees and customers/clients have easy access to recycling containers
Toxins, Chemicals, and Oils
- Use Green Seal approved cleaners
- Use water-based cleaners
- Track and phase out use of plastics with Bisphenol-A (BPA), phthalates or other plasticizer additives
- Create policies to use paint that has a low volatile organic compound (VOC ) content or is VOC-free, to buy carpeting that meets the requirements of the CRI Green Label Testing Program, to buy flooring/composite panels/agrifiber products that contain no ureaformaldehyde resins, and to buy furniture that uses adhesives and sealants with a VOC content less than the current VOC content limits