This is part II of our 5 part Guide to Green Office. This guide contains ways of measuring  your environmental impacts as well as a checklist for things one could do in terms of greening one’s product line.

A. Measuring the Environmental Impact of Switching to Green Products

(1) Recycled paper products.

• To determine the environmental impacts of various types of paper in terms of energy used, greenhouse gases and other air pollutants emitted, waste water volume and pollutants discharged, and solid waste generated, enter the appropriate data in the Environmental Defense Paper Calculator: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/papercalculator/. This website provides charts and graphs showing the impacts of different types of paper (freesheet, groundwood, corrugated, and paperboard, etc.) with different recycled contents.
• Comparisons:

•   A pallet of copier paper (20-lb. sheet weight or 20#) contains 40 cartons at 50 pounds each and weighs one ton (2000 lbs). Each ton of such virgin paper (no post-consumer content) uses 24 trees.
• One carton (10 reams) of virgin copier paper uses 0.6 trees.
• One tree makes 16 2/3 reams of copy paper, or 8333 sheets.
  Source: Conservatree http://www.conservatree.com/learn/EnviroIssues/TreeStats.shtml .

(2) Computer notebooks, desktops and monitors.

• See the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT): http://www.epeat.net/FastBenefits.aspx

B. Increasing Your Use of Green Products

Using green products in your own operations (Check all that currently apply or interest you).

• Paper and plastic products with significant quantities of post-consumer recycled content
• Re-manufactured products (e.g., ink and laser toner cartridges)
• Electrical products that are solar powered (e.g., calculators) or certified as energy efficient by Energy Star
• Compact fluorescent light bulbs and other energy efficient lighting
• Products that are reusable, rewritable, refillable, rechargeable, more durable or repairable
• Products that are recyclable
• Cleaners and solvents that are nontoxic; non-VOC (volatile organic compound); biodegradable; water-based; ammonia-, phosphate-, and chlorine free; and derived from renewable resources rather than petroleum
• Detergents, cleaners and other liquids in concentrate, which minimizes packaging
• Writing instruments with non-toxic inks or other marking fluids
• Furniture, carpets, and paints that do not emit harmful levels of VOCs from adhesives or finishes
• Products made from plant-based materials
• Compostable items, such as garbage and grocery bags
• Multi-purpose electronic equipment (e.g., combination printer-scanner-fax machine)
• Bins for collecting recyclable materials
• Power strips and other devices that enable you to manually or automatically cut power when not needed
• Products certified by reputable third parties as being environmentally superior in specific ways, such as those noted above (See the Green Glossary for a listing of some popular certifications.)

Given some unrestrained imagination,  spare time, and a few neglected items in the office supply closet, everyone can make their workspace more functional, and create some more fun tools for the home and office.  We are now going to take a look at some unexpected ways to use your daily office supplies readily available in your office. Get organized and save some money with these great low cost, easy to make office supply hacks you can do in less than 1 minute.

Binder Clips Hack

Everyone’s favorite office supply can be transformed into infinite other useful tools in the examples below.

D.I.Y. Notebook Stand

With 4 binder clips and 4 sheets of paper, you can create the most inexpensive notebook stand that will sure to save your computer from over heating as well as unnecessary expenditures.

Patterned Paper Clips

Make your own high-end fashionable and functional binder clips that will sure to add personality and accent to even the mundanest of office tasks.

Toothpaste Clip

Keep you half-used toothpaste accessible by rounding up the end and fastening the end with a binder clip.

Pictures and pencil holder

This brilliant device use 8 binder clips secured by rubber bands of your choice. The ensuing device will be sure to provide you with endless fun as you try to create intriguing tessellations with various pictures and your favorite pens.

Chips Clip

Keep your favorite snacks fresh and crispy with binder clips.

Hanging folders stopper

Keep your hanging files nicely stable and separated by placing binder clips where you see fit.

Cable catcher

Organize your unruly cables with binder clips.

Paper Clips Hack

The following hacks will take one of the smallest of office supplies into something extremely useful.

Paper Clip into Clothing Pin

When in need of a clothing pin, grab a paper clip off of the corner of your desk and bend it into its familiar relative, the clothing pin.

Turn Paper Clip into Lock Picks
Check this video out if you want to learn how to turn a little paper clip into the essential tool to pick locks!

Paper Clip into Zipper Pull

When your zipper goes missing, replace the end part with a paper clip, and you will be sure to attract attention where there wasn’t.

Tape Hack

The following hacks below allow you to do quite a lot with a flimsy piece of tape.

Relabel with tape

Next time you’re labeling, lay a strip of clear tape onto the folder tab before you apply your label. Next time you’re re-organizing, re-using the folder will be as simple as pulling the label off the tape. The tape protector works on just about anything you’d potentially re-use, so keep a roll of the clear stuff handy.

Tape Page Turner

One of my favorite office supply hacks because it is so effortless to make, but so useful, especially when I have to go through massive amount of papers.  Simply reverse tape your index finger. Make sure the sticky side face outside. Rub the sticky part on paper towel, or cloth material a bit, so it picks up some lint and looses some stickiness. Now you have the perfect page turner, with enough stickiness to help you glide through pages.

Rubber Bands Hack

This stretchy little office supply is so versatile and can be transformed into so many things!

A Pencil Eraser

Fold a rubber band in half a few times and use it to erase pencil markings.  It works surprisingly well.

A Wallet Replacement

Is you wallet showing wear and tear rather ungracefully? Get rid of it.  Instead, wrap your cash around your ID and credit card and then wrap a rubber band around the outside of the cash.

Elastic Hold-It-All

Completely original. This simple hack will turn your cubicle into the MOMA of office supplies. All you need is 2 push pins, with an elastic band of your choice in between. And viola, you now have an extremely versatile device that will hold almost anything from pictures, to notes, to pens, to decorative objects, to even my lunch!

Exacto Knife Hack

Turn  your used Exacto blades into an inspired ninja weapon.

Letter Tray Hack

Place all your unruly hardware on your desk and you will have the extra space you always craved for on your desk.

Clipboard Hack

With a little bit of time and effort. You could turn the ugliest particle clip-board lying around into the best looking photo frame of your choice! This should also be relatively inexpensive compared to any store bought photo frame.

Ruler Hack

This is a ruler turned post-its holder, that is probably more applicable to certain offices than others. This is for all the cubicles that have cloth material as dividers. Though this type of material may be good at muffling sounds, and pinning thumb tacks in, the material is really bad at holding anything with a sticky surface. Thus, thanks to my ingenious co-worker, he devised this ruler hanging by a thumb-tack to be a hold all for post-its! Ingenious!

For more examples of office hacks from our blog, click here!

Dear readers, if you like the content on our blog, please do partake in our goodness by subscribing to our blog either through rss or by email.

Lets face it, most of us work. Unfortunately, I am not the grand-daughter of William Hearst, or the wife of Jerry Yang (CEO OF YAHOO, IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAKE UP AND SMELL THE FORBES.COM, GOD!). Still, the workplace can be an interesting place to play with gender roles, sexuality, and class. The way you dress to work defines what you do, where you work, and how you work it. For i-bankers, the “suit” look is dissected maliciously; executives judge their future slaves by the color, design and brand of the garments. More specifically, I would like to now focus on the visual language of office uniform when it comes to “working girls”. I would rather focus on working girls because outfits and styles change more for women than for men.

LETS START WITH THE 50’s.

If you were a working girl during the 1950’s you were either on crack, a prostitute, or divorced. The definition of working girls in the 50’s really means you are working inside your home- cooking, cleaning. Lets take a look at their fashions, and see how it reflects their lifestyle: notice the obligatory aprons, waist clinching bodice, and the full circle skirt. Lovely, truly lovely.

THE 60’s WORKING GIRL.

The sixties working girl uniform changes slightly from what was known before, women are more encouraged to work, taking clerical, secretarial, or even sales associate jobs at various companies. Of course there are always the select few women who became doctors and executives, but since we are keeping things simple here lets not get carried away. The typical uniform consisted of a knee length skirt, a blouse, and a vest. She could have also worn a long sleeved shift dress with button details. The silhouette is straight, with a slight A-line twist. This was a dramatic change from the silhouette from the previous decade.

DISCO DISCO 70’s
The seventies saw a higher rise of working girls. As women’s rights progressed and birth control was available (still taboo of course), women saw more freedom and rights. By this point I’d say there was a strong divide between the housewife leech, and the independent working woman. The jobs were still limited, as most men took hold of capitalist America. Many women still took jobs only as a venue to meet men. Here are some pictures of the film 9-5 with Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda. One of the major additions to seventies working girl uniform was the BISHOP SLEEVE, which is slighty puffier at the wrist than at the top. Look at these sex kittens, don’t you just want to drool over the dorky glasses and flower prints? What about the heavy usage of colored eye shadow? And the permed hair which functions more like a bird’s nest? This kind of bouffant actually reminds me of the Marie Antoinette times.

I LOVE THE 80’s

Think Donna Karan body suits, full men’s pantsuits with broad shoulders, GLITZ, GLAMOUR, chunky gold jewels, and last but not least; heavy eyeliner and crazy red lip. YES we love the eighties. The epitome of the EIGHTIES power dressing movement captured on film would be WORKING GIRL with Melanie Griffith. This is one of my all time faves and the outfits of this movie captures this time so perfectly. I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND padded shoulders, but hey, who really understands the body suit? I don’t understand any of it, but it surely is great in all its cracked out goodness.

90’s OFFICE FASHION

Heather locklear in Melrose Place defines the work uniform pretty well, and you know she got a lot of bootay on that show, just from her hemlines. Look at the hot miniskirt suit in RED. You gotta love the nineties. Outfits like this were quite typical, and the 80’s suit still continued on, just not without the padded shoulders. Oh, lets not forget Sharon stone in Basic Instinct and her outfit in the smoky questioning scene. That kind of working girl hotness cant’ be beat.

Dear readers, if you like the content on our blog, please do partake in our goodness by subscribing to our blog either through rss or by email.

This amazing piece of office supplies art is made by Steven Nicholson is a 2yr student at Plymouth university in the United Kingdom studying Graphic communications with typography. And apparently he is a genius with a hole punch? Check out this self portrait using 10 different sized hole punches on 1 piece of paper that he just sent over. Can you imagine the patience?

Courtesy of NOTCOT.

How long do you think this piece of hole punch art takes?

Dear readers, in an initiative to address sustainable developments in an effort to prolong the mother earth’s longevity, to ensure a healthy and resourceful world for our future progeny, we here at Shoplet.com will be making more efforts both in terms of our parent site, as well as the blog, to provide more guides and tools to greening your environment, especially in regards to your work environment.

This following guide to green office is divided into 5 parts, which will be consecutively published in the following 5 week. Each part of this guide will provide checklists, tools, references, and other suggestions that can help a small to medium sized commercial business improve its environmental practices and image in a manner appropriate for the nature, size and location of the company. The Guide is arranged so the company can assess its current situation and opportunities, and then select those steps it wants to take to improve its programs.

By following this Guide, your company should not only be able to enhance its reputation as a responsible corporate citizen, but better meet the needs of customers, improve efficiency and productivity, and make the organization more attractive to talented new recruits.

Part I- Reducing carbon footprint

Ideas for Reducing Your Company’s Emissions of Greenhouse Gases and Energy Consumption. Review your operations against the following checklist of ideas to identify opportunities to reduce your greenhouse gas footprint.  Many of these suggestions will also enable you to reduce operating costs.

Check all that currently apply or interest you

(1)    Building/Process Energy Use

• Energy Star Equipment. Reduce energy use by purchasing personal computers and other electrical devices bearing the Energy Star certification label from the US Department of Energy, which is granted to energy-efficient items. See http://www.energystar.gov/ .
• Computers on Power Management, Power Strips. Activate the power management feature on computers.  (If all computers in the US used this feature, this would product a CO2 reduction equivalent to removing 1.5 million cars from the road.) Plug multiple computer devices into a power strip and shut off the strip at the end of the day.  Electric adapters for computers, printers and other devices use energy even when the device is off.  Switching off a power strip is one way to avoid this overnight drain of electricity.
• Energy-efficient Lighting.  Replace low output (60 to 100 watt) incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.  (CFLs last 10 times longer and use 50 to 80 percent less energy.) Replace high output (100 to 150 watt) incandescent bulbs with halogen bulbs.  Replace incandescent bulbs in exit signs with LED bulbs.  Replace T-12 fluorescent lamps and magnetic ballasts with T-8 lamps and electronic ballasts.
• Energy-efficient Systems. Use other energy-efficient lighting and heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems to the extent this can be decided or influenced by the organization.
• Upgrade Equipment.  Replace old inefficient boilers, water heaters, heating and air conditioning equipment with new highly efficient models.  Install solar systems or other alternative sources of energy where feasible.
• Fix Leaks. Seal air leaks around doors, windows, electrical outlets and other wall openings.
• Insulation.  Enhance insulation in ceilings, walls and floors as appropriate.  Install windows with better insulating properties.
• Natural Lighting. Use natural lighting in place of electrically powered light.  Paint walls in light colors to enhance the effect of natural light.
• Shading. To reduce electrical demands for air conditioning, control the heat from natural lighting by shades, awnings, or glass film.  Plant trees or vined trellises to provide natural shading during warm weather.
• Lights-out Policy. Adopt an internal policy that encourages employees to turn off lights, computers, and other equipment at the end of the workday and otherwise when not likely to be in use.  Apply “switch-me-off” stickers as reminders.  Install timers and motion sensor light switches where practicable.  Use task lighting to illuminate only those areas where light is required.
• Thermostat Settings.  Alter the settings on the thermostat to reduce the use of heating and air conditioning equipment.
•  Loading Areas.  Install air infiltration barriers in loading areas.
•  Energy Audit. Conduct and implement an energy-saving audit of the office, where cost effective.  Some electrical utility companies will do this for free or at a very modest cost for their customers.  Do a free self-assessment using the Business Energy Analyzer at http://www.energyguide.com/ .
•  Other Energy-saving Measures.  See the ABA-EPA Law Office Guide to Energy Efficiency at http://www.abanet.org/environ/climatechallenge/lawofficeguide.pdf for other practical measures that can be taken to cut energy use in an office setting.

(2)    Employee Travel

• Energy-efficient Commuting. Subsidize or otherwise encourage employee use of car pooling, energy-efficient vehicles, car-sharing programs (e.g., FlexCar, I-Go, Zipcar), mass transit, or bikes, or take other measures to reduce the energy consumed by employee commuting or other travel.
• Flexible Work Arrangements. Provide flexible work arrangements, such as early or late hours, compressed work week, telecommuting or other practices to eliminate or reduce employee commuting time.
• Teleconferencing. Adopt guidelines on the use of web, telephone and/or video-conferencing and other means to avoid unnecessary travel and associated carbon emissions.

(3)    Product Deliveries

• Reduced Deliveries.  Arrange with suppliers to reduce the frequency of deliveries to the extent practicable.
• Efficient Delivery Routing.  Use special routing software or other tools and load consolidation to improve the energy efficiency of product delivery to customers.
• Reduce, Reuse Packaging.  Reduce the amount of packaging used for product deliveries to the minimum needed to protect products from damage.  Use durable reusable shipping containers.  Shred or form used paper into shipping packing.

(4)    Paper Use

• PCW Paper. Increase the recycled post-consumer-waste (PCW) content of your office paper.
• Paper Recycling. Recycle discarded mixed office paper and corrugated materials.
• Double-sided Copying; Printer Defaults. Institute double-sided copying at least for internal documents. Use printers with an automatic duplex option, if possible. Narrow the margins on documents to conserve paper.
• Electronic Communications.  Route faxes electronically; maximize the use of e-communications in lieu of paper documents to the extent practicable.
•  Paper Re-Use. Re-use one-sided non-confidential paper documents for drafts or notepads.

(5)    Waste Generation

• Pollution prevention.  Reduce or prevent the generation of waste where practicable.  Most waste materials generate greenhouse gas emissions in their production, use and disposal.
• Waste Recycling.  Recycle paper, corrugated, aluminum cans, plastic, metals and other items that can reasonably be recycled in your community.  Local recycling often avoids much the generation of greenhouse gases that would occur if virgin materials were used.

(6)    Other Actions

• RECs, VECs, Offsets. Purchase greenhouse gas credits (voluntary emission-reduction credits, renewable energy certificates or greenhouse gas offsets) to make up for some of the greenhouse gases being emitted.  See footnote v of Appendix 1 for a listing of reputable offset retailers. Also, some airlines and discount travel services like Expedia allow you to buy an offset for your trip when you purchase your airline ticket. Bear in mind many firms are offering offsets and some are not reputable.
• Employee Ideas.  Create an incentive program which encourages employees to suggest ideas.