Is Your Company Getting Greener? Tell the World!

Today businesses and consumers alike have to be careful about the energy we use and the environment we want to protect and clean up. There are so many ways a business can get greener, we know, we decided to go on the journey ourselves and believe me, there are a lot of tough habits to break!

As a company that works at sustainability we tend to attract the type of employee who cares about the environment. As a side benefit, employees who work in environmentally friendly organizations might even collectively learn what they can do outside of the workplace. Here at VerticalResponse we've got a long way to go but we'll share a few steps we've been working on. A lot of little things sure add up to a lot.

We don't have a tangible product that needs cardboard boxes to sit on a store shelf!
We send email marketing campaigns on behalf of businesses that are replacing direct mail with email.
We print our postcards on recycled materials.
We don’t use plastic utensils.
We supply our employees with water bottles made out of recycled plastic so they don't drink from plastic cups.
We recycle glass, cans, plastics and mixed paper.
We buy Fair trade coffee.
We print on recycled 20% post-consumer materials.
We often use eco-friendly supplies from green businesses.
We buy many supplies from The Green Office.
We use eco-friendly cleaning products like those from Seventh Generation.
We use reusable bags instead of paper bags.
We recycle used batteries and encourage employees to bring in old batteries.
We offer commuter benefits for people who take public transportation, it's a pre-tax benefit.
When we have to print on paper we print double-sided.
We keep our lights off during the day, it’s nice and bright in here anyway!
We turn our computers off at the end of the day. It saves more energy than sleep mode.
We buy local - saves transportation costs and supports the local economy.
We offset carbon emissions with Native Energy who is building a farmer-owned wind project.
We regularly participate in computer recycling drives.
We collaborate with each other by sending electronic documents through email or posting and sharing them using Zimbra and Google docs to avoid circulating paper.
Our office building is green, using recycled carpeting, and eco-friendly lighting.

You probably have something like this in your area, but if you want some ideas, SFEnvironment has a great checklist with ideas for greening up your business.

And if you've got some ideas for us let's hear them!

Comments

[Lynn Schmitz]

Although I cannot convince my company; working from home would be a great energy saver for the environment, employee & company.
Utilities, building maintenance, gasoline, office funiture & more.