Sustainable Practices at Tobin Lehman
Being a small office gives us some great advantages over many businesses, but one thing that we continually look to improve is our sustainability practices. Sustainability is simply how well we manage the life cycle of our products we create as well as the products we buy and use. Being in a controlled environment like [...]
By Tobin Lehman November 2009del.icio.us | Digg it | ma.gnolia | Newsvine | reddit | Shadows | Spurl | StumbleUpon |
Being a small office gives us some great advantages over many businesses, but one thing that we continually look to improve is our sustainability practices. Sustainability is simply how well we manage the life cycle of our products we create as well as the products we buy and use. Being in a controlled environment like an office it’s easy to audit the resources we use everyday and having a low head-count makes it even easier to hold everyone accountable. So, here are a list of things we do on a daily basis to drive sustainability.
- Use both sides of printed paper, recycling when full
- Recycle Everything. (Cans, paper, electronics, ink cartridges)
- Drink tap water instead of bottled
- Buy 100% or more post-consumer content in paper goods and office supplies.
- Use skylights to light the office during the day
- Shut down the computers and printers at night (after back-ups of course)
- Set computers to sleep after a short period of away time
- Go paperless for documentation (PDFs)
- Use soap and water to clean desks, chairs instead of chemical cleaners
- Walk to work and meetings when able.
- Use real utensils and dishes, not plastic and paper
- Offer sustainable hosting options to our clients
All of these are simple steps that I am taking but I’m sure there is more that could be done. If you have ideas or suggestions, please post back and let me know.
Tags: green, office, practice, sustainability, year one