Going green is no longer something that random environmentalists do – it is now mainstream business practice. Practically every company in the world recognizes that unless they behave responsibly, the planet will suffer, and their markets will dry up. It is in their interest, therefore, to slash pollution and reduce their ecological burden.

The next logical question, therefore, is for firms to ask what they can do, exactly, to reduce office waste. It turns out that the answer is “a lot.”

Here are some ideas.

Print on Both Sides

Many offices today are trying to go completely paperless and having some success. There are some firms, though, that will always need to do a little physical printing for one reason or another. The best way to save on waste here is to print on both sides of the paper. Most office printers have this function.

Take Action to Reduce the Likelihood of Unsolicited Mail

From time to time, your business will, unfortunately, receive unsolicited mail. You can’t prevent this type of correspondence altogether, but you can ask whoever is sending it to stop.

Use Single Space Text

While double-spaced text might look nice and be easy to read, it also takes up a lot of space. Where possible, switch to single, unless there is some compelling reason not to.

Look for Duplicates on Your Mailing List

Sometimes, advertisers can inadvertently send you unsolicited mail. You can also do the same if you’re not careful. Duplicates on your mailing list could mean that you’re sending particular contacts the same information twice.

Encourage People in Your Office to Edit Their Work Before Sending It to the Printer

Printing something out, only to discover a typo is something that happens to all of us. Ideally, though, you want to avoid this type of thing. Just send a memo around your employees, reminding them to double-check their work before hitting the print button. Remember, companies spend a staggering one to three percent of their revenues on printers and printer cartridges, so reducing waste is absolutely vital from a financial standpoint.

Use Electronic Forms of Communication Whenever Possible

Some companies have no choice but to send out mail in the post, but the majority do not. Most can get away with communicating electronically or by voicemail. Remember, you can now get VoIP phone services that allow you to email voicemail attachments to the relevant colleague.

Store Your Office Files Digitally

Ten years ago, archiving companies made a fortune collecting printed paper documents from firms and storing them in massive vaults, just in case the taxman decided to take a peek. Now though, that’ll all changed, and most firms back up all their files digitally.

If you haven’t started this process yet, you should: it’ll make a massive difference to your overall resource usage.

The bottom line, therefore, is this: reducing your office waste is pretty easy in 2020. And if you do produce a lot of waste paper, shred it and then take it to a recycling center.