Entries from February 2008 ↓

Green Throughout The Office

Being labeled a green business is more than just being green while working. For instance, it is very simple to provide clearly labeled bins in the break room for recycling plastic bottles, cans, and other common lunch-time wastes. Drop them off yourself on the way home once a week or pay a high school student a little money to pick them up.

Most businesses must provide restroom and cleaning supplies for their employees. Many of the leading cleaning supply brands, like Clorox, have all natural, eco-friendly cleaners that cost the same as their chemical-based products. Why not buy 100% post-consumer recycled toilet paper. After all, it is only used for…well, you know.

Eco-Commute

To encourage greener transportation to and from work, provide closer parking, and other little perks, to employees who carpool. If your business is located in a major metropolitan area, offer public transportation passes to employees to encourage them to take the bus or subway. If it is possible, allow employees to telecommute a few days a week. Give those who ride their bike, discount coupons for local bike shops and stores.

Do Business With The Eco-Responsible

When seeking new business relationships, choose businesses that encourage eco-responsibility and let them know that it is part of the reason you are doing business with them. If you bill or invoice your clients, offer them discounts if they choose to receive invoices electronically instead of on paper.

Be Environmentally Proactive

Every once in a while poke your head up and see what other companies are doing to reduce global warming. For instance, did you know that many energy companies offer businesses free electricity audits on how to save money by reducing energy consumption. Fast Company’s November 2007 issue profiles 50 things that 50 companies did to clean up their business last year. This is a great source for ideas and reflection on your business.

Do Some Good, You’ll Feel Better

All businesses have one primary goal, to make money-and there is nothing wrong with that. It is simply a fact of life and survival of the fittest. However, there comes a point when companies need to look outward instead of internally and give back to the communities and organizations that they believe in. Organize a volunteer day for employees one Saturday every couple months. Cleanup the highway near your building or donate a percentage of the companies earnings to a deserving organization like the NRDC. There are plenty of opportunities in almost every area of this country to get involved. Giving back builds individual character, enforces company team building, and it just feels good.

Scream It From The Rooftops

Advertise the fact that your businesses strives for green practices on your website and in the form of press releases. Those little steps will translate into dollars in an growing, eco-aware world.

Photo by mshades

Lakeland, Florida — A company in Central Florida, Advoice Paper, has developed a new way to save businesses money while helping the environment. Advoice Paper distributes ad-sponsored, eco-friendly paper to companies for invoicing and other purposes. By using Advoice Paper, businesses will save up to 71% on paper costs, capitalize from effective advertising, and adopt new green business practices.

Advoice Paper features the highest quality post-consumer recycled paper and utilizes only the back side of the page for industry-tailored advertisements. “By printing relevant ads on the wasted space of a page,” says Eliot Dill, the company founder, “advertisers know their market demographic, businesses go green while saving money, and paper waste is minimized - everybody wins.”

The paper industry puts a tremendous strain on the environment. In fact, according to the Department of Energy, recycled paper production saves “7,000 gallons of water, 17 to 31 trees, 4,000 KWh of electricity, and 60 pounds of air pollutants” over non-recycled paper production.

Paper waste is responsible for the largest percentage of landfill waste in the world. Unfortunately quality recycled paper often costs double that of virgin white paper, making it difficult for many businesses to see the value in buying recycled. Chief Administrative Officer for Advoice Paper, Joshua Legacy, explains “Advoice Paper shines new light on the urgency for green business operations, and our cost saving products will help create the stepping stones for any type of business.” Although many businesses do currently recycle, according to New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services, “if you’re not buying recycled, you’re not recycling.”

Moreover, in a recent study, the Direct Marketing Association sited “lack of timeliness” and “irrelevant offers” as the top reasons that 49% of people did not respond to direct marketing. Invoices are usually kept for longer periods of time, therefore, printing relevant advertisements on the invoice itself, increases the chances for an effective ad campaign and reduces paper waste.

Advoice Paper is the first company to incorporate the environmental benefits into this method of advertising. “Right now our focus is on a few niche markets,” said Dill, “but soon we hope to have customers and advertisers from all of the major markets.” If proven successful, Advoice Paper will save companies money, reduce paper waste, and help global warming.

About the Company – Advoice Paper was founded in late 2007 and is the first company to produce and distribute eco-friendly paper with relevant advertisements printed on a single side. To find out how Advoice Paper can benefit your company, visit www.AdvoicePaper.com.

Plenty Magazine has a great article about the actions celebrity’s took to do their part to help sustain the earth in 2007.From the article:”Scanning ‘07, show biz efforts abounded from green rooms to green screens, with stars hawking eco-friendly causes daily: Brad Pitt’s New Orleans housing project with Global Green expanded into his Pink Project, Evan Almighty’s carbon-free plan included recycling and bicycling, Hollywood hosted its first “Going Green” conference, and even Comedy Central “addressed the mess.” …On July 7th, Al Gore outdid Live Aid and Woodstock with his Live Earth concert, which spread across seven continents with a mega line-up from Bon Jovi to The Police. The former Veep won an Oscar, Emmy, and Nobel Peace Prize, skipping the Presidential election hoopla for greener pastures.”

The Times Square New Year’s Eve ball turned 100 this year and, to help commemorate the occasion, went ‘green’ in the process. The ball now has more 9,500 LED lights and uses about the same amount of energy as 10 toasters. It will be interesting to see more public environmental-wise changes like this in the coming year.