by Laura Sherman

Created on: July 02, 2009

To Reduce, Reuse or Recycle, that is the question!

We have all been told that recycling is the best thing for saving our planet. But is there another option that is even better? Yes! Never use the resource in the first place. It is by far more effective to reduce consumption than it is to recycle. Besides it saves you money!

When you don't use something you save all the resources that went into making that item. Take paper production. Did you know that for every pound of paper produced from virgin timber, 98 pounds of resources are used? Paper manufacturing is extremely complex and energy intensive. Paper and pulp production uses up 11% of our water resources and is one of the highest sources of carbon monoxide emissions in the US, not to mention the toxic byproducts it produces.

And of course using paper means cutting down trees and depleting the forests. Get the idea? That little ream of paper you just saved cut out a lot of needless waste and pollution!

Now it is time to do something about it! Take a tour of your office. Assess what resources you use and what you throw away. Make a giant list of everything that comes into your office and leaves as well. Include office supplies, paper, food, water, people and sunlight.

How can you cut down the use of each?

Let's take paper as an example and explore that more fully. What can you do to save a ream of paper this week?

- Reduce the use of interoffice memos. Instead use emails or community bulletin boards to get the message out.

- Use Emails, Flash Drives, CDs or DVDs to pass reports back and forth.

- Promote a new "green" paperless billing method to your customers. Many will prefer to pay online and will like saving our forests.

- Send out e-newsletters instead of paper ones. It is easier to track response and will save reams of paper.

- File documents electronically whenever possible.

- Use two-sided copies and save 30-45% on paper. If your copier doesn't have this feature, invest in one that does (or lease it). Find an energy efficient one like "Energy Star". In the end it will be well worth the money. An average mid-sized company will use 200 reams of paper a year, so their savings would be about $5000 a year!

Now that you have cut down your paper usage and saved thousands of dollars a year, you can see how easy it can be to reduce what you use. How else can you do this in your office? What other resources can you cut back on?

Of course recycling has its place, but always look to cut back on usage rather than simply reusing.

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