Wow! We can’t believe we’re already into the third and most important week of our favorite month. This week, which happens to contain the official Earth Day, our theme is material conservation and waste reduction. Now, before you think we’ve committed to buying everything from pens to toilet paper to socks and shoes out of recycled products, let us be the first to tell you that you won’t see us waltzing around the office in an outfit made of hemp and old soda cans any time soon. While we support all efforts to reduce waste, it really doesn’t have to be hard. And it’s not just for hippies. In fact, it’s really easy.

 

 Here’s a few easy ways you can reduce waste this week alone:

• Print double-sided. Or, examine any paper-heavy processes you perform at home or in the office and see if they can be made paperless.
• Buy items in larger, industrial size containers. Don’t buy individually wrapped food products. Yogurts, crackers, baby carrots and prunes are all healthy snack choices, but they do not need to be wrapped up in individual containers.
• Refill your hand soap dispensers instead of replacing. It’s a lot cheaper too!
• Do not use plastic water bottles. Seriously. Even the ones with small caps. It’s not that hard to get a real water bottle. Or just use a glass or cup if you’re not on-the-go
• If you do find a plastic water bottle in your hands, make an effort to reuse the same one for at least a day.
• Go bagless. It you have a large family to buy for it may be unrealistic at the grocery store, but you don’t need a bag, 27 napkins, plastic cutlery and a receipt every time you go to into a deli. Just grab your purchase and get out!
• Make sure your kids are using a re-usable lunchboxes.
• Reuse containers that your food comes in: takeout, hummus, cottage cheese, pickles, mayonnaise. It’s like getting your own Tupperware for free!
• Instead of using paper towels, use a rag. Cut up old t-shirts to make your own rags.
• Avoid using disposable household “wipe” items: Swiffers, face wash wipes, wet wipes and disinfectant wipes all produce extra materials and waste.

You don't need to makeover your entire life to reduce waste. Just try out one of our green tips, or a few but just for this week. If you already you're already a waste-reducing, materials-conserving model of Earth Month behavior, email us your tips for waste-free living at sustainability@viridian.com. And, if you have a dress made out of hemp and soda cans, send us a picture!

We started by looking around kitchen, which also serves as the Green Team meeting room. Our first order of kWh business was to turn off the lights in the kitchen where we receive plenty of natural sunlight.

Next we took a poll around the office to see if people would be willing to go without the vending machines for 2 or 3 days out of the week, and thankfully everyone was willing to sacrifice a Dr. Pepper or some Mike ‘n Ikes for at least a couple days out of the week so we have implemented a 2 days off, 3 days on policy.