Painless Ways To Be A Greener Business
Going green doesn’t have to mean you give up technology. Find out simple ways to be a greener business.
Aliza Sherman
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Painless Ways To Be A Greener Business
Hi there, The Digital Marketer here, ready to help you put the power of the Internet and technology to work for your business.
If you’re like me, you find the whole concept of going green to be important but daunting. I turned to my fellow Quick and Dirty Tipster Make-It-Green Girl to talk about ways we can all get a little greener without chucking all the tools we use to be more efficient in our work.
I’ve heard a lot about how technology can be terrible for our planet, but no matter how much I want to do the right thing, I don’t want to get rid of all my tech tools.
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Reducing Your Devices
Lately, I’ve been looking for tech tools that can help me be just a little bit greener.
I’ve heard that printers can be a problem for the environment and learned from a spokesperson at Lexmark, a printer manufacturer, that there are many simple ways to reduce waste when printing:
- Make sure you use high-yield inkjet supplies and recycled paper.
- Go with an all-in-one device that prints, faxes, scans and copies to reduce the number of energy consuming equipment you have.
- Network and share your all-in-one device with the rest of the family or with staff to cut down on the need for more devices.
I have also found a local business called Cartridge World that takes all my empty inkjet cartridges and provides refilled inkjet cartridges at a very good price so I not only contribute saving the planet but, save a little cash as well.
So, Make-It-Green Girl, what other tips would you recommend for business owners to go green without having to go without all of their technology?
Make-It-Green Girl Says
Thanks, Digital Marketer. Technology can definitely help you go green. A great example is Google’s mobile phone interface for Google Maps, so you can use a mobile phone to get directions instead of printing out the page from Google Maps. Hewlett-Packard has also released software for PC users to clip wasted space, copy and paste multiple documents, webpages, and pictures into one print file, and check the number of pages and what’s on them before you print. That way you escape the wasted blank space at the end of the pages, and you can delete content you don’t really need printed, like webpage logos or ads.
Another quick and dirty tip is to simply change the default margins on your word processing program so more words fit on one page.
Perhaps the paperless society dream has all but died out, but you can still make use of technology to power your business without paper. Investigate online meeting systems and document storage sites to interface with clients and colleagues. You can stop sending paper copies back and forth and keep track of electronic copy better with a program that will track the reviewers name and revisions and the date they made them. Some even have calendar or scheduling software to let people know when meetings are or when critical items are due, so you can save time and the paper it takes to do these things without integrated technology solutions.
Saving the Planet Can Also Save Money
Paper can get pricey. A great way to save paper is to print less! OK, Green Girl, we know that, but how? One thing most smaller business and home businesses can’t afford is a double-sided printer or copier. So start yourself a one-side clean tray in your inbox or by the phone. Then, when you need to jot something down, print something on the other side for the road, or make paper-mache, that stack will be neat and organized where you need it.
Don’t forget that if you are running a full office, with computer, telephone fax machine, printer scanner copier, and shredder, you’ll need a lot of power to run all these techno solutions. When you’re not working, make sure you turn all of them completely off and up-plug them! Even turned off or in standby mode, your labor saving devices can be sucking power from you without doing anything useful. To learn more, check out Make it Green Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips number 2, Little Vampires to learn more.
Contact Me
That’s all we have time for today. Visit the show’s website at digitalmarketer.quickanddirtytips.com for links to all of the sites mentioned in the show. If you’d like to ask a question or request a topic for The Digital Marketer, email me at digitalmarketer@quickanddirtytips.com.
The Digital Marketer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Building Your Business With Web Tools is part of theQuick and Dirty Tips network at quickanddirtytips.com. Tune in for another business boost from The Digital Marketer, the host who’s not afraid to go under the Internet’s hood & get a little dirty!
Resources
Syncharger – syncharger
Lexmark – lexmark
Shoeboxed – shoeboxed
Printer image courtesy of Shutterstock