10 Tips to Green Your Home-Based Business
Save the
Planet and Some Money, Too!
In honor of Earth Day, I'd like to share some tips on how we
can all reduce waste and be more eco-friendly in our home-based businesses.
Of course, respecting Mother Earth is a worthy goal in and of itself. But frankly (and perhaps a bit selfishly), I have additional motives. With two businesses, I'm sick of the sheer volume of paper that comes into the house. It's driving me nuts! And being a Bootstrap Babe, I'm always on the lookout to save money.
Here are 10 tips to help you green your home-based business:
Save more trees by reducing
paper waste.
1. Buy paper products made from recycled materials.
2. Eliminate junk mail. Contact the Direct Marketing
Association (DMA) and sign up for their Mail Preference Service (i.e. "do not mail" list). Reputable marketers who are DMA members will check
their list of names against this database before sending out a mailing.
Also, you can eliminate those pesky pre-screen pre-screened
credit and insurance offers -- and reduce your risk for identity theft -- by
signing up at www.optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688).
3. Reduce paper use by paying bills online, printing on both sides of your paper, re-using those orphan sheets of paper from web print-outs that only have one or two useless lines of text on them, and saving/sending more documents electronically. Be sure to use a good, automated backup system, of course. (I use Carbonite.)
4. Recycle your waste paper –- shred any sensitive documents first. And if you do a lot of online shopping, reuse the cardboard boxes your goods came in.
Be energy efficient.
5. Switch to energy-efficient compact florescent light bulbs. They may look a little different, but they last years and in addition to saving energy they’ll also help you save on your electric bill.
6. Turn off your computer and other devices when you're not using them.
7. Use rechargeable batteries in your iPod, camera, flashlight, and other home and office devices.
Experts say electronic devices, which often contain mercury and lead, make up a whopping 70 percent of the toxic waste in our landfills!
8. Donate or recycle your used electronics, equipment, and supplies. For local options, check out Earth911.org, Freecycle.org, and Craigslist.org. When donating computers, be sure to do a thorough "wipe" of your hard drive to remove all of your data and personal information.
9. Donate your old cell phone, and help survivors of domestic violence. The Wireless Foundation's Call to Protect program collects wireless phones which become lifelines for domestic violence survivors when faced with an emergency situation. Check their web site for local drop-off options or a free postage-paid envelope to use to send your phone in. Be sure to erase your personal data before donating your phone.
10. Recycle your used printer ink cartridges. Staples and some other office supplies will give you a store credit of up to $3 each for most brands of ink cartridges. (See "How to Get Free Office Supplies at Staples".)
What are your favorite tips to save energy, reduce waste and
be earth-friendly? Tell us below in our Comments section below!
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