Five tips to reduce, reuse and recycle at work

All businesses generate waste and use a considerable amount of electricity for daily operations, with dire consequences for the environment. While eliminating your carbon footprint altogether is an impossible task, there are several simple changes that you can make at work to reduce your impact on the environment.

A recent McKinsey study shows that 43% of business executives are open to aligning sustainability with their strategic business objectives – up from 30% in 2012. Making sustainability part of a company’s core values makes it easier to implement its principles company-wide, and is a great first step towards a greener workplace.

Ahead of Clean-up and Recycle SA Week taking place from 12 to 17 September, Epson shares a few helpful tips to build more environmentally-conscious, productive and ecologically-responsible businesses.

1.  Avoid wasting paper – Encourage attendees at meetings to share a hand-out copy between two people, if it is not absolutely necessary that each person have their own. You can also invest in an interactive projector to complement printouts and turn ordinary meetings into productive, energetic and highly collaborative sessions. Many of the latest interactive projectors also have smart capabilities, allowing you to email and share information, data and notes to everyone in attendance once the meeting is done, to keep everyone on the same page.

2.  Scan rather than print – Sometimes only a printout will do, but there are times when a high-quality scan serves the purpose just as well, presenting a more cost-effective and efficient solution too. With a good, portable scanner, or even a mobile scanner app, you can easily capture and share documents wirelessly via email. With more recent models, you can also use a scanner to capture a document in very high quality, which then allows you to edit text and imagery with user-friendly software like Adobe Acrobat.

3.  Use eco-friendly office equipment and supplies – Many office supply companies are developing more environmentally-friendly and easily recyclable products for green-conscious offices – from recycled pens and pencils made from sustainably sourced materials, to manual paper shredders that eliminate the need for electricity. Epson’s innovative refillable ink tank systems printers are another useful addition to the office, allowing you to reduce the cost and constant disposal of consumables while using minimal energy and reducing the overall environmental impact of the printer.

4.  Check your printer settings – Saving the planet is as easy as reading a printer manual to proactively manage paper usage. Be sure to check that the settings on your printers, scanners, photo copiers and fax machines are programmed to return to a default single-print function after someone has used it. You can also save paper by choosing to print on both sides of the paper, invest in an inkjet printer instead of a laser printer, and by using the draft or ‘quick print’ mode where possible.

5.  Recycle and upcycle where possible – Play your part and protect the environment by ensuring all your business’s old electronics and office equipment are disposed of in the correct way. Purchase products that carry recycling labels on the packaging, or an indication that the company works with a recycling organisation. For instance, Epson has partnered with Partserve to run a recycling programme that not only salvages parts from older machines but also ensures Epson equipment is dealt with responsibly.

Taking steps to reduce your business’s carbon footprint is vital for the conservation of our environment as well as productivity in the workplace. Try these tips and help make this year’s Clean-up and Recycle Week a nationwide success.

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. With a line-up that ranges from inkjet printers and digital printing systems to 3LCD projectors, smart glasses, sensing systems and industrial robots, the company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises more than 67,000 employees in 90 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental impacts.

www.global.epson.com

About Epson sub-Saharan Africa

Epson’s operations in sub-Saharan Africa were established in 1997 with headquarters based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Since then, Epson has established a panel of distributors and resellers throughout sub-Saharan Africa who are dedicated to serving Epson’s end-consumers with the highest quality products and levels of support. Epson now manages sales and support in 21 sub-Saharan African countries including South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, Angola, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Eritrea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. www.epson.co.za 

Environmental Vision 2050  

http://eco.epson.com/