Paperless? Heck yes!

As far as the greening trend goes I believe that a paperless workplace could be the most important, followed closely by energy savings. Less paper use would furthermore require less fuels for paper delivery, as well as resources for harvest and operations.

One step in enviro-friendliness is improvements in people’s personal habits, and the other is improvements in the workplace. Here are some things that should be happening to help in greening (oh god, starting to hate the word already), and the impacts associated:

1. Top of the list, paperless. The benefits to the environment in limiting paper use are practically endless, from the production methods to the production amounts. If there’s one thing that can slow down harvesting it is a fall in the market for the products. It takes time, years in fact, for that production to react to the market but it does eventually happen.

Apparently, for every 100 pounds of trash we throw away, 35 pounds is paper. Newspapers still take up about 14 percent of landfill space. Energy-wise, it takes 40 percent less energy to produce paper from recycling than from the normal pulp to paper process. And, to wrap it all up: Forty-two percent of the world’s industrial wood harvest goes to paper. Clearly that is too much in such a digital world.

As an example of continuing trends: This year I produced (part of), printed, and mailed a document and analysis that cost us $425 in paper in one month. Mistakes were made, things changed and I will be doing the print and mail-out all over again. Still, we are not ready to move completely to email and online distribution. This begs the question: are we stuck in the 80’s? At least some clients are.

There should be nothing wrong with reading and working all documentation on-screen, with only the occasional printout when required. Though I do admit that editing is easier on paper…

2. Shutting down of computers. The habit at my office, and I’m afraid it is a tradition, is to just logout of our computer when we leave at the end of the day. Surely, some folks running programming need theirs running at all times, and then there’s the server room etc. But it is common practice for everyone to just have it all running all the time. I would bet that some of these computers have been running for a year straight, all because of a habit. I think some overhead costs could even be cut down if a slew of (non-paper) memos were to be sent out in a new effort to save some power where possible.

3. E-waste…is what Cara from my class called the garbage that computers, and electronics like cellphones create. One hundred and nineteen million cellphones to landfills worldwide, every year. Amazing. I have contributed one cellphone in my lifetime to that number, how about you?

Now, how about those computer monitors that just aren’t standard anymore? The non-LCD ones? There must be some stat out there stating how many times you could circle the earth with those, or times to the sun and back. I love how they make that the standard imagery for waste. I guess it is shocking, circling the earth and all. I think the only way to cut down on this waste is to simply consume and waste less. Can you build an aquarium out of that old computer monitor? (go for it)

4. Less lighting, better lighting. Not only can lighting affect work comfort and office mood, but a well designed and energy conscious office can reduce energy consumption.

Overall I do believe that these changes will come naturally and be implemented over time, as there are cost savings involved, but not without a push from employees. It is our job as employees, bosses and lab rats to be the catalyst to this change. Remember, change at home is one thing, and change at the office is another; one which may in fact be more important in going easy on our land and resources.