Tips for a Zero-Waste Office
- Get reusable cups/plates/utensils for the common room and take these when you want your lunch to go.
Have them in the same place (or more convenient) than the disposables, and take them out when there’s an event. If they are readily available it will encourage people to use these instead of disposables.
Take a reusable mug/glass/plate/lunchbox when you buy food to go. If you get disposables, avoid the lids. Be aware that disposable cups in the Rockefeller Cafeterias are compostable, so they should not be placed in the Blue Bin for plastic recycling.
- Say no to bottled water.
Drink water from the tap or install a filtered water fountain or dispenser (which can dispense both cold and hot water) .
- Avoid plastic whenever posible, both in the items and in the packaging.
Use pencils instead of pens, paper tape instead of plastic one, purchase supplies with plastic-free or no packaging.
- Reduce the amount of paper you use.
Print only if absolutely necessary, and if posible 2-sided, use scrap paper for printing/taking notes, cancel all unwated mailings (you can use the help of sites like catalogchoice.org), subscribe to receive paperless invoices and documents by email, and buy recycled paper and/or from sustainable sources.
- Make trashing difficult.
Have very few trash cans in somewhat inconvenient places, put a lid in the trash (you can even add some message such as “Are you sure you can’t reuse or recycle that?” or a picture of the impact of plastic in the environment), place a big recycling bin next to a very small trash can… anything that will make people think twice before throwing something away.
- Make recycling easy.
It’s always better to reduce or reuse, but if you can’t avoid it, recycling is better tan throwing away. Have recycling bins next to the places where the waste is usually being made, for axample a paper recycling bin next to the printer.
- Avoid buying new stuff.
You can share, repair or buy second-hand. And if you need to buy new, buy something that is durable and repairable.
- Spread the word.
Get people on board to create an office as Green as possible.
And, as always, be in touch if you want to share any suggestions or ideas, or if you want to participate in other Green initiatives on campus.
