10 Easy Ways to Make Your Business Sustainable

1. Turning off equipment when it's not being used. This can reduce the energy used by 25 percent; turning off the computers at the end of the day can save an additional 50 percent.

2. Encouraging communications by email, and reading email messages onscreen to determine whether it's necessary to print them. If it's not, don't!

3. Reducing fax-related paper waste by using a fax-modem and by using a fax cover sheet only when necessary. Fax-modems allow documents to be sent directly from a computer, without requiring a printed hard copy.

4. Producing double-sided documents whenever possible.

5. Not leaving taps dripping; always close them tightly after use. (One drop wasted per second wastes 10,000 litres per year.)

6. Installing displacement toilet dams in toilet reservoirs. Placing one or two plastic containers filled with stones (not bricks) in the toilet's reservoir will displace about 4 litres of water per flush - a huge reduction of water use over the course of a year.

7. Finding a supply of paper with maximum available recycled content.

8. Choosing suppliers who take back packaging for reuse.

9. Instigating an ongoing search for "greener" products and services in the local community. The further your supplies or service providers have to travel, the more energy will be used to get them to you.

10. Before deciding whether you need to purchase new office furniture, see if your existing office furniture can be refurbished. It's less expensive than buying new and better for the environment.

Source: The Green Office Guide and Sustainable Development for Small Business.