My Organized Biz » recycling

Organizing for a “Green” 2010

Mary Emma Allen — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:00:42 +0000

Green image: sxc.hu

With so much emphasis on being “green” and environmentally conscious, you might want to consider how you can comply for 2010 without being excessively neurotic. Some people get carried to the extreme with being “green,” that they’re not practical at all.

However, there are some things you can do. Such as:

Separate trash in office and home, especially if your city or town has separated collection containers or bins.
Take separated materials to recycling areas. Some of these even give you money for what you’ve collected, particularly in states where you must pay deposits on cans and containers.
Reuse paper…for instance, we use the blank side of paper for making copies when we can.
Purchase recycled materials, if it’s practical. Sometimes recycled material isn’t as good for some projects.
See if you can find ways to use items so they won’t go to waste.
Take this as your slogan – Condense, conserve, and recirculate.

(Ask grandma or great grandma about reusing and conserving materials. They were good at this because there often wasn’t money for buying new. The older generations didn’t grow up in the “throw-away” society.)

What are your “green” plans for 2010?

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Organizing Your Packaging for “Green” Products

Mary Emma Allen — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:51:34 +0000

Recycling Image: sxc.hu

Selling “green” products? How you package them might make a statement, too. Consider how to organize so your packaging is as green as possible, too.

My niece tells about ordering pencils that were made from recycled materials. She wanted to see what they were like, perhaps use them for stocking stuffers, and do her bit in saving trees.

However, she wondered how much “greening” the seller believed in. Of course, for sending something in the mail or via another delivery service, there are limitations on packaging. However, within the mailer, the pencils were inside an attractive non-recyclable (not #1 or#2) plastic container. This was placed within plastic bag.

She may have saved some trees, she thought, but added to the amount of non-biodegradable plastic accumulated.

Consider whether your packaging is compatable with the product(s) you’re selling and the practices you’re promoting. Granted, some of the environmentally safe packaging costs more. Perhaps explain to your customers this difference in cost and let them have the option of paying more for this type of packaging or going with the traditional. Sometimes, too, you have little choice of packaging when it comes to shipping items.

How do you, or would you, solve this dilemma?

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Have You Organized a “Green” Office?

Mary Emma Allen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:00:00 +0000

With all the concern about environmental safety, greenhouse effect, overloading the earth with disposable stuff, more and more businesses are looking into being more “green.” Have you organized a green office?

Image: sxc.hu

What are procedures you can do to be ”green?”

Paint the office green, I guess, to remind yourself.

Use green stationery, sticky notes, pens, pencils and organizers.

Then… recycle, reuse, and refuse to be wasteful.

Separate out the recyclable items. We have a wastebasket for all the paper goods that we can dispose of in the paper waste at our recycling center.
We separate cardboard for that bin at the center.
Some of our paper goods are made from recycled materials.
We use the back side of waste paper for printing and photocopying when we don’t need a clean copy. We use these for taking notes, too.
Any plastic containers with the numbers 1 or 2 are separated out for the recycling center.
Metal, glass, colored bottles, aluminum cans…all are separated accordingly for the center. (This separating has become automatic, so isn’t a chore anymore.)
We use light bulbs that save electricity in office and home.

That is a starter…but they’re many of the practices we utilized in the home and on the farm when I was growing up. We called it being economical. Perhaps it also was a carryover from my parents having grown up during the Depression years.

What are you doing in your office that’s “green?” You don’t have to go to the extreme or become involved in anything expensive. Just institute simple, commonsense measures.

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A Succession of “Green” Office Supplies

Mary Emma Allen — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:57:55 +0000

As more people are becoming “green” conscious, not necessarily “green” extreme, you’ll find more office supplies and gadgets developed that help preserve and conserve our environment, as well as make life easier for us.

I’ll check out some of these over the next few posts at My Organized Biz to help you see about organizing your office and business in a “green” manner. I’ll also try to find some “green” web sites that assist with this.

If you’re using “green” and recycled supplies that you find especially handy, do let me know. Also, if some of the green supplies don’t hold up so well, we should know about this, too.

(Image: sxc.hu)

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Use Freecycle to Get Rid of “Stuff”

Mary Emma Allen — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:41:10 +0000

Part of organizing is getting rid of “stuff” you don’t need. You’re either hanging onto it for possible future use. Or you don’t know where to dump it. Often it’s perfectly good, or at least has usefulness to someone else when you no longer need it.

Image: sxc.hu

A yard sale is one possibility. But you may not have the time nor facilities for organizing one. You may be restricted by zoning where you live to hold a yard sale.

What do yo do? Explore the possibilities with Freecycle.

Here people give away, for free, items they no longer need. Those who join the Freecycle group in their area, all operated by e-mail, also can ask for items they’re looking for.

If you go to the main Freecycle web site, follow links to one in your area. There you can sign up on the Freecycle group.

I haven’t used it yet to get rid of household or office type items. But I did list three used tires my husband doesn’t need. (It costs $5 each to recycle them at our local town recycling facility.)

By using Freecycle, you’re doing your part in helping the environment by recycling, helping others who need items you no longer use, and clearing the clutter in your home, office, and garage.

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Shredding Paper for Efficiency & Security

Mary Emma Allen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:00:35 +0000

Jean Murray wrote a former post, Green Office: Recycle Your Shredded Office, and detailed ways to use this again as well as tossing the paper into a recycling bin.

A reader recently mentioned:

You may want to check with your recycling facility. Not all recycling companies accept shredded paper as some machines are clogged by such shreds.

Thanks for visiting My Organized Biz and leaving your comment. It is a good idea to check and see if your recycling facility accepts shredded paper and how they want it packaged.

At our recycling facility, which accepts shredded paper, they do want it bagged or boxed, not tossed loose into the paper collection or even the general trash, allowing it to fly all over the place. So since it can be recycled with the regular paper and non corrogated boxes, we package it in paper bags or cereal boxes. If you toss it in with the regular trash, at least tie it into a plastic bag.

So when you’re excited about recycling, make sure what you’re doing is helpful and follows the desired procedures. Otherwise it could all be for naught.

(Image: sxc.hu)

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Green Office: recycle your shredded paper

Becky Scott — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:27:23 +0000

I hate shredding files. It’s noisy. And boring. But with today’s climate of identity theft, it’s a must. And you still have to get rid of the paper shreds, right?

Make sure you recycle your paper shreds. At minimum, toss them in the recycle bin. (Please use a cross-cut shredder that makes tiny pieces of paper – for your confidentiality!) There are other creative ways to use those tiny bits of paper.

Packing
Just last week I need to ship a package. Forget styrofoam peanuts or other non-green items. Use your paper shreds! It was the perfect cushion, and it didn’t cost me anything extra.

Play
Have a small child who’s past putting things in his/her mouth? Let them play with a small amount of the paper. If they scatter it, it’s easily vacuumed. They can put it in containers and practice moving it from cup to cup. Or in a toy dumptruck – easier to clean than sand or dirt, right?

Nesting
Have any birds, hamsters, or bunnies? Could they use it to make a nest or line their cages? (I haven’t checked safety elements on this one – it’s just a quick idea.)

Storage
Need to store breakables for a bit? We’re rearranging things so I can move my desk. I took down a few nicknacks and will be storing them until we’re done. Just like when I shipped a package, it was perfect for cushioning.

I’m sure there are many other ways of using your shredded paper, too. Don’t just toss it into a landfill. Think about how you can reuse it a bit and make your small business a tiny bit greener.

Have you thought of ways you can recycle shredded paper?

Image: morgueFile

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How to use less stuff (and save money)

Jennifer Hofmann — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:05:30 +0000

(www.myorganizedbiz.com) - This video is incredible. Please, when you have 20 minutes, watch it. The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard.The way you look at business will change.

The main premise of the 20 minute video is that the economy can’t exist in its current paradigm forever because the planet’s resources are finite. Instead of gloom and doom, it’s a bracing wake-up call for change – including really clear and do-able steps.

Here’s an except from their Another Way website for an idea about how you can contribute to positive change:

Power down! A great deal of the resources we use and the waste we create is in the energy we consume. Look for opportunities in your life to significantly reduce energy use: drive less, fly less, turn off lights, buy local seasonal food (food takes energy to grow, package, store and transport), wear a sweater instead of turning up the heat, use a clothesline instead of a dryer, vacation closer to home, buy used or borrow things before buying new, recycle. All these things save energy and save you money. And, if you can switch to alternative energy by supporting a company that sells green energy to the grid or by installing solar panels on your home, bravo!

Just turning off your computer when it’s not in use makes a difference. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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