Whether you own a business or are simply an employee, you may be passionate about positively contributing to the environment. Bearing in mind that everybody can play a role one way or another, there are a number of things you could on a daily basis to support the sustainability movement. Sustainability in the workplace is becoming increasingly popular for a number of reasons. For one, businesses are seeing how sustainability can be used to help them save resources and in some instances money. It is also their way of giving back to their community in some cases. In the instance that you want to be eco-friendlier in your workplace, this article will list three ways that you can go about it.

Go Paperless

In the US alone, it is said that at least 9,125,000,000 tons of paper is used on an annual basis. This is an extremely significant amount of paper that is being consumed for several reasons. What’s even more alarming is the number of trees that likely have to be cut down to produce this amount of paper to begin with.

You may have noticed in many of your local businesses that more paperless alternatives are cropping up such as digital receipts when you purchase things, sending more information via email as opposed to print, and even disseminating leaflets online instead of in print form. The same can be adapted in your office by choosing to print less and share more information digitally. If, for instance, you want to send out invites for an event, you could design your own custom flyer and send them out via email and social media instead of printing thousands which will likely be thrown on the ground anyway. You could also try and avoid printing meeting minutes, meeting agendas, or employee manuals and send them via email instead.

Recycle Office Supplies

Another key way of adopting eco-friendly habits in the workplace is to recycle as many office supplies as possible. If, for instance, you must print at all, consider recycling the paper you use and ensuring none goes to waste or printing on recycled paper in the first place. When trying to go green in the office, you should also look into buying reusable pens seeing as the U.S, is said to throw out over four million disposable pens daily. To avoid this sort of waste, buying reusable ones may be a better alternative. Some other items you can reuse or recycle include binders, file folders, paper clips, rubber bands, and papers. Restricting employees access to new supplies should also encourage them to use the ones they have efficiently.

Use Green Web Hosting

Just about every business has a website nowadays, so one way to make your office eco-friendlier is to use green web hosting. These are companies that take part in eco-friendly activities such as using renewable energy, planting trees, or buying renewable energy certificates as a way of mitigating the environmental cost of running their servers and infrastructure. This is a more environmentally friendly way of running a server than using fossil fuels.

There are endless benefits of choosing to be eco-friendly, and most of them are seen by the community and environment as a whole. It ensures that as a business, you give back to the environment that has many times given to you by practicing eco-friendly and safe habits. You may also find that in the process, you’re more resourceful and save a lot more in terms of both revenue and resources.