Offices are notoriously lax in practicing the concept of saving energy and recycling. Here are quite a few easy ways for every office to green the planet:

• BYOB - “Bring Your Own Bottle”, that is.  Instead of relying on paper cups in the office, encourage employees to bring their own water bottles, coffee mugs, etc.  
• Ditch the earth-unfriendly plastic bottles of bought water – use glass bottles and install a water filter.
• Reduce paper usage.  The more you do online, the less you need paper.  But, when you have to print, remember to print smartly, print on both sides when appropriate, and use scrap paper for faxes.
• Implement an office recycling program.
• Turn the thermostat up a few degrees in the summer and down a notch in the winter.
• Use “green” materials.  Buy recycled paper, envelopes, pens and markers and buy in bulk to reduce delivery and packaging waste.
• Use good quality pens and clutch pencils.
• Offer an incentive to employees who bring their lunches to work in reusable containers.
• Make sure to turn computers, printers, fax machines, etc. OFF when you leave the office; standby settings still drain power even though it may seem that the machine is off.
• Reuse supplies such as folders, paper clips, binders, flip files etc.
• Negotiate to work from home on certain days
• Use a flash disc to transfer files instead of printing/burning CD’s.
• Favour technology - for every 3 meetings held by video conference instead of flying cross-country, it would be like taking a car completely off the road for an entire year.