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Green office products: Tips for buying
Here are five areas where you can help make your office more green.
Tue, Jun 08 2010 at 5:09 PM
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Photo: chriscoyier/Flickr
Green office products are becoming more and more commonplace.
Once the province of a small number of environmental enthusiasts, green office products these days can be found in most of the large office supply chains.
Here are a few tips for making your office green:
Paper products
For paper products, the best advice is to look for products with the highest percentage of post-consumer content.
According to the Office Depot’s Guide to Buying Green, the acceptable range for cut sheet paper, forms and envelopes is 10 to 100 percent post-consumer recycled content and 20 to 100 percent total recycled content. The latter figure includes pre-consumer recycled content.
In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends using paper that was processed without using chlorine. Chlorine is often used in the paper manufacturing process to help remove lignin, a chemical compound that causes paper to yellow when exposed to sunlight. The process gives paper its white appearance but it also causes toxic chlorinated organic compounds to be released into the environment.
These days, consumers can purchase chlorine-free paper, often referred to as “totally chlorine-free.” The next best thing, according to TheGreenOffice.com, is to buy elemental chlorine-free paper. The elemental chlorine-free paper is considered less harmful to the environment but it still produces some chlorinated compounds during the bleaching process.
At TheGreenOffice.com, the choice of paper ranked the worst is virgin paper. But, the site notes that it is sometimes unavoidable and should be used sparingly.
Ink and toner cartridges
The best choice for ink and toner cartridges is to look for remanufactured cartridges. The Office Depot’s Guide to Buying Green says that remanufacturing one toner cartridge keeps an average of two and a half kilograms of plastic out of landfills. In addition, TheGreenOffice.com notes that recycled or remanufactured cartridges are typically 20 to 50 percent less expensive than virgin cartridges.
You could also buy a refill kit and replace the ink yourself. But, this can be a time-consuming process and, as many websites note, you can be exposed to unhealthy chemicals by trying to refill the cartridge yourself.
For ink, the EPA suggests using soy-based inks rather than ink made from petroleum products. Soy ink, however, is not suitable for all purposes. You can’t use it for ball point pens or personal printers so it’s only good for commercial printing. That said, studies posted on the EPA’s website have noted that soy-based inks contained 30 percent fewer volatile organic compounds, which are chemicals that can cause air pollution and damage human health.
Pens and pencils
The best green office product tip for these essentials is to look for pens and pencils made with recycled materials. The Office Depot’s site says writing instruments can be made from recycled wood, paper, metal and plastic. In some instances, TheGreenOffice.com notes, the casing for writing instruments can be made from old money, jeans and school lunch trays.
It is generally advised that in addition to buying pens made from recycled materials, you should also buy pens that can be refilled with ink when they run out. This helps prevent pens from being thrown away and collecting in landfills.
While we’re on the subject of pens, TheGreenOffice.com notes that using water-based correction fluid is best because the product is nontoxic and contains no volatile organic compounds.
Biodegradable void fill
Using Styrofoam for any purpose leads to a whole host of environmental issues. Thankfully, there are several products on the market that can be used instead of Styrofoam.
For shipping packages, consider using biodegradable void fill. According to the Office Depot’s site, packaging materials made from vegetable-based ingredients, such as cornstarch-based peanuts, are water-soluble and break down more easily in landfills.
In some cases, this material can also be composted at home.
Recycled content scissors and other plastic products
The Office Depot’s Guide to Buying Green recommends purchasing scissors and other desktop essentials that contain a percentage of recycled plastic material. The acceptable range for the recycled plastic percentage is 10 to 100 percent post-consumer recycled content and 20 to 100 percent total recycled content.
Of course, this list of tips for green office products is just the beginning of what’s available. Find more on TheGreenOffice.com or Office Depot’s Guide to Buying Green.
Thumbnail and MNN homepage photo: pagadesign/iStockphoto
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Going green at your work place is the best place to start living greener way and save environment. The biggest advantage of going green in office is that it spreads a word of caution amongst visitors and encourages them too, to care for the environment.
Going green tips for the office
By greening a workplace, less damage is done to the environment while employees become educated on ways to preserve our planet's resources and benefit from healthier living.
Sustainable office tips
Shopping for green office products is definitely the way to go. I usually do my green shopping online at http://www.shoplet.com/
Selecting products that are landfill biodegradable is also a plus. Most offices do not recycle (Bless them if they do!) so the answer is for the product to be made to break down in a landfill. Look for plastics that are ASTM 5511 and 5526 as those are the ones that are certified to break down. Do not be fooled by biobased or degradable plastics as they will not break down in landfills.
Purchasing office products with recycled content is a good start, but another good tip is to ensure that the recycled materials are certified by the FSI or SFI to ensure that the items come from responsible, legitimate sources.
ReBinder makes an entire line of zero waste manufactured office products (binders, folders, notebooks, etc.) from recycled materials and certified sources. Definitely worth checking out if you are going green in the office: http://www.rebinder.com