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Top > Guidelines > Personal finance > Office

Office



   Guidelines 1 to 16 of 16

  Install software for paperless faxing. 
Faxes normally transmit information from paper that is fed through them, which negates the beauty of a paper free email society. Installing paperless faxing saves paper, trees, and an additional trip to the fax machine.

  Print single-spaced for drafts. 
If printing a school paper or other long document, print the drafts single-spaced; print only the final copy double-spaced thereby reducing the amount of paper used.
  Proofread and spell check before printing. 
Proofread, spell check and use the Print Preview function before printing to ensure that you don’t have to waste paper reprinting.

  Provide re-usable mugs and glasses for visitors. 
Don’t buy disposable cups for when visitors are in the office. Have a supply of re-usable coffee mugs and water glasses on hand instead. They’re nicer to use and will reduce waste.

  Purchase office-provided items, such as sugar, in bulk. 
Purchase creamer, sugar, aspirin, etc. in bulk instead of in individually wrapped portions. This both minimizes waste and cuts costs.

  Recycle toner cartridges. 
Saving toner cartridges for refilling saves having to send the unrecyclable plastic to a landfill. They are filled with enough remaining toner residue to stain anything you've got.

  Reuse envelopes. 
Envelopes come to us free of charge almost everyday, if you take care in opening them they can be used again simply by putting a label over the preprinted address. This saves money and trees as well as reducing waste.


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  Reuse floppy diskettes 
Reuse Floppy diskettes; they're easy to reformat and can be used over and over.

  Route items around office instead of making copies for everybody 
A memo or other notice can be posted on a central bulletin board or routed around the office. There is no need to make a separate copy for each person. In the long run this tactic can significantly save paper.

  Turn printer off when not in use. 
Don’t turn on the printer until you are ready to print. Printers consume energy even while they are idling.

  Turn your computer off when not in use if it is not a server that is requires 24/7 access. 
Consider turning your computer off if it will be inactive for more than 16 minutes. After this time the energy needed to run the computer is greater than the start-up energy.

  Upgrade your existing computer instead of buying a new one. 
So your computer isn’t meeting your needs anymore? Try to upgrade your existing equipment instead of buying new equipment. Adding memory, replacing the hard drive, or some other improvement may be all you need.

  Use bleach-free paper 
Our obsession with "blemish-free" and "white" have resulted in substantial pollution at the paper production end.

  Use both sides of paper. 
Get all you can out of each piece of paper, use both sides when writing or copying. If everyone did this all the time we’d drastically reduce the amount of paper used.

  Use email to communicate with people instead of paper. 
Letters and notes on paper typically require the cutting down of trees and they produce trash. Using email allows others to read your message when they have time and it doesn't tax the environment.

  Use pens with replaceable ink cartridges 
Disposable pens don’t last long and aren’t biodegradable. Cut down on this type of waste by using pens with replaceable ink cartridges.
  

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