According to the EPA, the average office worker in the US uses 10,000 sheets of paper each year, which equates to about 2 pounds of paper and paperboard products every day from every worker.  That’s a total of 4 million tons of  paper used annually in America’s offices, and equates to the use of 465 trees per person over a lifetime.

Yet, of that amount, only about a third is recycled. Paper and cardboard still make up almost two-thirds of the waste found in landfills, and two-thirds of paper overall is composed from virgin wood material.

I can never understand why the 50% or 100% recycled printer paper costs MORE than the paper made from virgin pulp as, after all, you aren’t cutting down trees and processing them to get the raw material. But when you see numbers like this you have to think that a buck or two extra per ream for 100% recycled content makes sense… and that is why we only use that in our offices. Combine that with a paper reduction strategy and you are really on the right track to reducing that 465 trees per person number.

Recycling one ton of paper would:

• Save enough energy to power the average American home for six months.
• Save 7,000 gallons of water.
• Save 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one metric ton of carbon equivalent (MTCE).

Your local Eco-Consultant can work with your business on steps for paper reduction, and they can even help you in developing a sustainable paper procurement policy. Contact them today and start shedding some weight from your company’s paper usage.

I try to limit my use of disposables as much as possible. Reusing something is, after all, the greenest option. But it’s not always practical. For an office kitchen or corporate event, it may not make sense to have reusable plates that could be broken or lost.  At the same time, all those boxes of plastic plates won’t biodegrade any time soon. In fact, they’ll probably still be around for thousands of years. On top of it all, they’re made from oil, a nonrenewable resource that requires intensive processing. Some plastic plates can technically be recycled, but most recycling facilities will ultimately reject and trash plastics that are greasy or oily. That makes for some pretty dim prospects for recycling plates that have come in contact with any food. All and all, while it’s really convenient, disposable tableware is basically an eco-nightmare all around.

So, I was intrigued when I found some “eco-friendly” alternatives to disposable plastics. But at the same time, I was skeptical. Could something that’s disposable ever really be eco-friendly? After digging deep into this question, I think the answer is a clear yes. In fact, I feel so good about these products that Green Irene is now offering a line of disposable tableware.

Bagasse: a waste product created during sugarcane production now has a second life in Green Irene's disposable tableware.

So what is this magic material? In a word, sugar – the source of many wonderful things. Green Irene’s plates, bowls, and cups are made from bagasse, a byproduct created during sugarcane processing. Before it was used for tableware, bagasse was burned as waste. Turning this waste product into something useful is much greener than cutting down forests to make paper plates. These products can be torn up and put in your indoor or outdoor composter. They can also be sent to a municipal compost facility, or recycled along with your paper products. Green Irene’s bagasse items can handle hot and cold foods, and they’re even safe for microwave use.

For more information about Green Irene’s disposable tableware, check out Ask Green Irene entry #1204. If you are not a member (which you are when you get a  Green Home Makeover or Green Office Makeover), your local eco-consultant can help you select and order Green Irene’s recommended eco-friendly plates, bowls, cups and utensils.

Rosamaria Caballero
The Original Green Irene Eco-Consultant
rosamaria.caballero@greenirene.com

Your business may have a tradition of throwing away plenty of office materials that it doesn’t know can be reused or recycled. Every time we throw away potentially reusable or recyclable materials, we contribute to resource depletion and further fill up our already saturated landfills. In turn, this leads to a greater environmental footprint and can contaminate our local waters. Many of these materials, when thrown on a landfill, leach out toxic substances that are bad for our health and the health of our local environment.

Green Irene can help your business reduce its waste impact. You may not know that most office materials can be reused or recycled. Our comprehensive green knowledgebase, Ask Green Irene, can help you identify all the materials in your office that you can reuse or recycle. You will be surprised to find out how much can be recycled that you didn’t know. From the rarest items to the most common office supplies, you will learn where and how to recycle almost everything in your office. Apart from reducing your footprint, this can also help reduce your operational costs associated with waste.

Don’t wait any longer. You can learn how to make your business go green by asking a local Green Irene Eco-Consultant. He or she can also provide a Green Office Makeover to help you identify critical first steps to green your business. It is time to Green The World, One Office at a Time!