Make your office equipment purchase last and last.  Durable and easy to repair equipment will make your investment last longer.  Check out maintenance agreements to extend the life of the new equipment and sell or donate old-but-usable equipment to others.

Disposable doesn’t always mean disposable…. Laser printer, copier and fax machine cartridges may be ‘recharged’ at half the cost of buying a new cartridge.  Most firms offer a guarantee on the quality and assure the recharged cartridge will not harm your equipment.  Also check out recyclable cartridges – the box your cartridge comes in sometimes has mail-back program instructions included.

Don’t recycle a piece of paper just because it’s used/printed on one side.  Put a faint line through the unusable side – then turn it over and recopy on the other side.  Also, duplex copying can save up to 50% of the paper used for copying.  Remember to tell your printer to print on both sides too.

Make paper last longer.  Reuse end cuts by binding them for use as notes-pads, telephone-message memos and writing pads.

Reuse interoffice envelopes, large manila envelopes, file folders and boxes.

Save paper.  Circulate the same memo with a request for employees to initial upon reading  then return to main filing….this saves making multiple copies.  Make announcements through: email; central bulletin boards; telephones; chalk boards and staff meetings.

Save more paper.  Evaluate quantities needed for reports and publications to avoid throwing away ‘the extras’.  Maintain and update mailing lists to reduce duplications and unnecessary mailing costs.

Order supplies in bulk to save on packaging and shipping costs.  You'll even save on the cost of the supplies.

Use your buying power to encourage vendors/suppliers to send products in less packaging or reusable packaging or packaging that can easily be recycled.