Going Green in the Office

Week 1: Reduce Your Use – Paper

1. Use Less

a. Use both sides of a sheet of paper. Most fax machines and printers can perform two-sided printing. Set the default configuration to two-sided, or duplex, printing. Defaulting to that setting means you won’t have to think about changing the setting every time you want to print something, and you’ll only have to take an extra step when you want one-sided printing.

b. Double-check your work before you print. Not only is printing a hundred copies of a letter only to realize you’ve committed a grammatical gaff a pain in the butt, it’s also awfully wasteful. Have another pair of eyes go over the letter before it hits the presses. Hint: SAT, ACT, and GMAT teachers are fantastic proofreaders.

c. Print what you need. For instance, if you need to print an email, chances are there’s way more text than you actually need. Copy and paste what you want into a Word document before printing.

2. Go Paperless
a. Instead of printing out a document for your colleagues to review, activate “Track Changes” (under the “Tools” menu or hit Ctrl + Shift + E) and email it out. That way, people can read, make suggestions on, edit your work, and send it right back. Best of all, you can just hit “Accept Changes” to incorporate their feedback. Less work for everyone!

b. Don’t print out a spreadsheet because multiple people need to use or edit it. Save it on a network folder, and share the worksheet by going to “Tools → Share Workbook”. That way, more than one person can have the document open concurrently and everyone can make changes and update.

c. Doing a presentation? Ask yourself whether all attendees need a printout of your PowerPoint. Is it something they’re going to toss after the meeting, or does it have valuable reference information? If your office has a laptop and projector, think about using them for the presentation instead of distributing printouts.

d. Configure your fax machine to send you an email with a scan of the fax instead automatically printing out every fax. Not one of the “hot stock tips” we’ve received has paid off this year…

e. Rethink student kits. Many offices distribute an auto-run CD-ROM with student materials instead of multiple printouts. They’re easy to create and ensure students are getting the appropriate information. If you’d like a sample, contact Princeton Tutoring at Josh.

Next Time: How to Use Less Energy in the Office