Green Up Your Holidays!

from Friendly Earth (our new Electronics Recycling company!)

The holidays are a time for friends and family, gift giving and feasting. We would like to propose a few tips on how to remain eco-friendly when planning your holiday fun. 

Save and reuse gift wrap. A lot of gift wrap is durable enough to  use for another holiday season or can be used as scrap wrap for decorating gifts and other fun holiday projects. Just be careful when unwrapping to get the most out of your recycled paper.

  

Lights, lights, lights! Most people forget that all types of lights, even Christmas lights contain toxic materials that are hazardous to the environment and in need of proper disposal. First, try recycling your lights to a neighbor in need. If that is not an option, there are plenty of retailers in the area that will happily recycle your used or broken lights free of charge. Whole Foods and Northgate Mall are just some of the places accepting Christmas lights for disposal. Visit the Seattle Public Utilities web site for a complete listing of places located in or around your area. 

Conserve energy. With the winter chill and displays of lights, the holiday season can become a time of high energy consumption. Try these tips around your home and see the difference in energy you can save.

• Try adding timers to your Christmas lights. They can act as a way to manage the amount of energy your lights are consuming through out the day.
• Install door and window insulation systems throughout out your place of residence. This can save about $20 a month on utility bills as well as reduce the amount of energy consumption used to heat your house. If this is not an option, try staying warm by snuggling up to loved ones or sipping hot chocolate in front of a blazing fire!
• Utility Bill Busters is a good site to check out for even more ideas to conserve heat and energy.

Cheers!

Quick Tips to Go Green at Work (Paper and Printing)

As promised yesterday...here is the follow up for Paper and Printing green tips! If youre interested in helping out with any of these initiatives please contact Kym Taylor.

Paper and Printing

1. Reduce paper waste by using the blank backs of waste paper for drafts, scratch paper, internal memos, etc. DONE!

2. Include a "Please Consider the Environment" footer in all your email signatures. DONE!

3. Purchase recycled or remanufactured toner cartridges to realize significant cost savings. (technically all of our toner is new, however, all the cartridges are recycled by Pitney Bowes, whom we lease our printers from)

4. Purchase copy paper, folders, and other office paper products made from 35-100% post-consumer recycled materials. DONE! all our paper is 80% post consumer recycled paper!

5. Begin using EcoFont® for internal documents and save up to 20% on ink costs. Possible initiative for FY12.

6. Establish a paper recycling program for newspapers, office paper, direct mail, white and colored paper, cardboard, envelopes, magazines, and catalogs.

7. Send and receive faxes directly to your computer. If that’s not possible, eliminate fax cover sheets by using Post-Its® on the first page. Possible initiative for FY11.

8. Purchase or lease copiers and printers that have a two-sided copying and printing function. DONE! All of the main copy machines are capable of this function.

9. Choose pre-used, recycled, or Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified boxes and bags for retail use or shipping.

10. Establish a paperless billing program for your customers and encourage use by creating incentives.

11. Sign up to pay your bills online and receive invoices and receipts electronically.

Quick Tips to Go Green at Work (Bathroom and Breakroom)

We mentioned at the meeting on Friday that we are looking to get officially certified this year as Green Business and the good news--Playnetwork is already VERY green! :) We are getting emails every few days from the GBB with ideas to go green, check these out:

Break Room and Bathroom

1. Reduce water waste by installing aerators to control water flow-rates on faucets. (on our agenda for this year w/ the Utility Reduction Committee! contact Kym if you're interested in signing up!)

2. Install motion sensor controls that turn off faucets automatically.

3. Eliminate paper, Styrofoam, or plastic cups, plates and utensils in the kitchen area. Use mugs, dishes, and silverware instead.(on our agenda for this year w/ the Utility Reduction Committee! contact Kym if you're interested in signing up!)

4. Use environmentally friendly, non-toxic cleaning products.

5. Switch from bottled water to filtered water, or install a water cooler, to save money and reduce waste. DONE! :)

6. Choose re-usable cleaning supplies like sponges over paper

tomorrow..paper and printing reductions! :)

Save Paper, Toner & Money!

When printing a document the rule is generally to print single sided. But how many of the pages that you print really need to be single sided? I know many of you probably already print many things double sided, but it is very easy to set your printer defaults to print double sided. Just as easy is setting your toner settings to “EconoMode”. This mode uses less toner and actually still looks great!

The steps are below and once you’ve done this please email me back and I’ll add your name to the Quarterly Drawing at the next Employee Meeting.

Also, watch for a post coming soon about more ways to save paper, help the environment and save money for the company!

• From your “Start” menu, select “Printers & Faxes”
• Right click and select “Printing Preferences”.
• Under the “Paper/Quality” tab, check the box marked “EconoMode”
• Under the "Finishing" tab, check the box marked "Print on both sides"

ALL DONE!!! Now quick...email me (sjames@playnetwork.com) and have your name entered into the drawing!