When preparing your yard for grass, select the optimum type of grass for your area. Most popular grass seeds require more maintenance. Choose one that doesn’t. Clover is an example of a type that’s usually low maintenance and requires very little water to remain green.

 Keep the Grass Long              

We like golf course looking short grass but this type produces a lot of humidity and therefore requires more watering to ensure it doesn’t dry out. By keeping your grass longer, moisture is retained and unwanted weed seeds can't grow as easily because the environment is too dark.

 Perforated Hose     

If your lawn and plants require watering and you have employees perform this task, have them use a perforated water hose. With a perforated hose, water is better absorbed by the plants instead of the ground becoming flooded.

Use Native Plants   

If you live in the northern hemisphere and one of your workplace's external walls faces east, west or south, that wall is  probably very hot when the sun shines on it in during the summer. This heat accumulates throughout the day and will often be hot to the touch several hours after sunset. This contributes to global warming. To offset this, plant shrubs and trees close by if space allows. When space is limited—especially in urban areas—you can plant vines that climb and stick to the wall. These vines take up almost no room on the ground, need no maintenance, offer good shade for birds, and absorb the heat, making the inside of the building cooler.

Composting

Doing your own compost at work can provide several advantages. The first advantage is the actual use of the compost. As a landowner, you can use it yourself, but it can also be used by employees who contribute. Second, composting requires very limited space for most organizations, while the space required for an entire city’s organic garbage is quite considerable and is becoming quite rare. City garbage dumps are generally overused and these sites are more remote than they used to be. Third, you cut down on garbage disposal costs and its effects on the environment. As you know, having less garbage on each property  means fewer garbage trucks are needed (less gas), requires fewer tractors to manage the dump, and so on. An added bonus is a leaner municipal tax bill. Some cities have a compost program where they pick up organic waste from houses and industries, and tax payers can then go get compost once it’s ready. This is a good solution, especially when people don't have room for or can't compost for some reason, but the second and third benefits of composting listed above are not achieved that way.

There are tricks to effective composting and one of the most important is maintaining the ratio of dry ingredients (66%) to wet (33%). Good examples of dry ingredients are hay, dried lawn clippings, and dried leaves. On the other hand, leftover table vegetables and garden vegetables are good examples of wet ingredients. Be sure not to put meat or any animal products in your compost, as these will attract unwanted visitors to your compost pile. If you have any doubts about what can and can’t be put in a compost pile, check out: www.gardenorganic.org. At work, find a volunteer to be in charge of the compost pile, or set up a rotation amongst contributors. If your organization has a cafeteria, include the cafeteria in this project. You’ll be surprised to see how much organic waste material is produced by a cafeteria on any given day.

Mulch All You Can  

Leaving leaves on your lawn not only saves you the time you would’ve spent picking them up, but also keeps the lawn healthy. Cut leaves that are composted turn into nutrients for you soil, which then saves time and money because you avoid the use of commercial fertilisers and compost. Using a lawnmower that turns leaves into mulch increases the speed at which this material is incorporated in the soil.

Cover flower beds and trees with 3" of organic material (mulch). This conserves water, adds humus and nutrients, and discourages weeds. It also gives your beds a nice, finished appearance.

Trees and Shrubs on the Property  

Making sure your workplace has plenty of trees surrounding the building helps keep the air surrounding the walls cooler by providing shade. This also contributes to keeping the air clean, something which is very important in urban areas.

 Proper Tree Positioning      

If you live in a northern country, plant evergreens on the north side of your organization to provide protection from winds. Plant trees with leaves on the southern side for shade in the summer and to let in additional sun during the winter.

Many companies have automatic sprinkler systems or have their lawns watered. If this is true in the case of your organization, make sure watering is done early in the morning. When you water in the morning, the water has time to be absorbed before it gets too hot. Evening watering is better than midday, but although absorption is good, the ground stays humid for longer, a condition in which fungus thrives!

Leftover Water

You have employees that have their own water bottles. When they come home from work with a little bit of water left in their water bottle, encourage them to use that water for watering indoor or outdoor plants rather than wasting the water down the drain. Plants aren’t picky about their water source!

Infrastructure: Water and Power    

As the population grows and becomes more concentrated in and around cities, the need to have bigger water treatment plants and power systems usually arises. By reducing your organization's consumption of power and water, you help postpone and maybe avoid this increased need. Alternatives to building new water treatment facilities are now beginning to surface, such as using non-treated water from lakes, rain or rivers, and directly using this water for watering lawns, flushing toilets, and so on.

Water Conserving Toilets          

About one-fourth of the average home’s water consumption goes out the toilet if water efficient toilets aren’t installed. In the workplace, water consumption related to toilets is not as important but is still significant. New water conserving toilet models use less than half the water of traditional toilets (1.5 vs. 3.6 gallons), on average. Installing water-friendly toilets saves water system capacity upstream and downstream. Even if you’re not ready to buy a two-flush toilet, you can still improve your water consumption by installing a newer model.

Showerheads, faucets, urinals, and toilets sold in the U.S. must now achieve a maximum flow rate in terms of water used.  Select ones that exceed federal standards to ensure you promote higher standards. You can find independently verified products by consulting the Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program.

If you need to shop for a new toilet for your organization, choose a two-flush toilet. These will save you 50% of the water needed to flush a normal toilet when you’re only flushing liquids.

Cold Drinking Water            

Your employees who like to drink cold water often let the water run for a minute or two with the tap open to keep from drinking room temperature water. If your organization has a mini kitchen or a refrigerator that employees use for their lunches, keep a container filled with water in the office refrigerator. This is an opportunity to avoid wasting all that water. You’ll save gallons every year.

Recuperate Gray Water      

You can install a system that recuperates gray water from your office's sinks and washing machines. A gray water system filters this waste water so you can reuse it afterwards for outside watering or your toilets. When combined with rain water, gray water can be sufficient for all the toilets in your organization.

Responsible Water Consumption  

Water is needed for a variety of tasks like cleaning (clothes, dishes, people, cars), drinking, heating, garden work, toilets, etc. While carrying out these activities, make sure not to waste any water. Public water is treated and therefore needs processing with chemicals, filtration, and so on. As a taxpayer, you pay for all of this. Also, although water that’s returned to the environment is treated according to regulations, it’s not the same as it was before going into the water system, therefore it can potentially affect bio-diversity downstream. Your manufacturing processes may need water, too. Make sure water is used responsibly and that alternate solutions are looked into to avoid wasting water.

Water Barrels           

Place water barrels outside to collect rain water from your workplace's roof. In most climates, there’s enough rain that your barrels will hold enough water to keep your flower beds and small gardens well watered. Have your lawn cutting company use this reclaimed water before using fresh water from the tap. You can even put your barrel on an elevated platform or up on cement blocks so you can plug in a hose for watering. If you look at the marketplace, you can find barrels already modified to plug in a hose.

Storm Water Runoff

Most commercial operations have overly large parking lots and this increases storm water runoff. When a storm occurs, rainwater falls on the asphalt and picks up pollutants that are then evacuated into designated overflow areas. Since asphalt doesn’t really absorb water, pollutants are much more concentrated within this water. When planning you site, keep this in mind and try to minimize the potential problem. Also consider the fact that heavy asphalt concentration increases surrounding temperatures and that asphalt is made from petroleum. The less asphalt you have, the greener you are.

 

September 14th

Right Heating and Right Cooling

Right heating is the concept of heating just enough at the right time. Using programmable thermostats or programming you central heating system is how you achieve this. The main advantage is that you can reduce the temperature when not required. For example, when you sleep, you can easily reduce the heat by a few degrees and also when you go away for a vacation, weekend get-away, or even to work. This can easily help you save 5 % to 10% of your energy consumption on a yearly basis, and these devices are better at keeping the desired temperature. Because a programmable thermostat’s precision level is higher than that of older models, you’re certain that the room stays exactly at the temperature you’ve set.

Formal dress codes with long sleeve shirts are less suited to summers or warmer climates. Requiring your employees to dress formally also requires cranking up the air conditioning to maintain comfortable conditions. Start by having casual Fridays, where people can wear short-sleeve, open-necked shirts so your organization’s temperature can stay a little higher. After that, you can adopt a summer clothing policy that is in effect between specific dates you choose. If you feel this may not be well received by customers, provide closet space so your staff can keep more formal attire for certain occasions.

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) 

CFLs are four times more efficient than traditional bulbs and last longer. Although they are contain gas, if disposed of properly at an approved recycling center, the benefits of a CFL’s 50% to 80% energy savings more than compensate for the gas used in production. Make sure you put these bulbs in rooms where the lights stay on for a good period of time, since turning these lights on and off reduces their life span. If you turn on CFL-based lights and need to leave the room but will return in just a few minutes, leave the lights on instead of turning them off.

Lighting Tips             

To make sure you use lighting energy more efficiently, start by having your bulbs and neon lights cleaned frequently so the light generated is crystal clear. Second, luminosity is better if most of the wall colors are pale. Third, when a task requires focused task lighting, turn off surrounding lights when not required.

Replace your Light Bulbs     

Did you know that traditional bulbs use 5% of the energy needed to light and 95% is emitted as heat? With CFLs, this ratio is 80% light and 20% heat. Don’t throw your traditional light bulbs away, but as your bulbs burn out, start replacing them with CFLs to gradually use less energy.

 

Automatic Checks Deposits      

While direct deposit is widely implemented, there are still people and small enterprises that give out paper pay checks every week. Converting to electronic pay checks not only saves paper but also saves employees time (don't need to cash it), fuel, and money.

 Green Office Supplies        

Almost anything used in an office can be somewhat green. From promotional material to the paper used in the printers, there’s no limit! Below you will find supplies that can be easily switched out in favour of greener choices. Choose a source for office supplies located as closely as possible to your organization. Look for products manufactured in your country or continent that will require less transportation.

 Adhesive Notes

Before having all these notes spread over your desk and computer, ask yourself if you really need this type of supply. Do you really need the combination of adhesive and paper, or can paper alone do the job? If you do buy adhesive notes, buy ones made out of recycled paper and that contain post-consumer content. Sometimes post-consumer content isn’t always indicated on the label, but ask for it. The more consumers ask, the more corporations will adjust their materials strategies.

 Binders        

First, always use your binders more than once. If you no longer need the contents of a binder but feel you need to keep it, store it in a cabinet or in properly labelled storage boxes. Every year, check to see which ones are still good and which ones need a little repair, then try to find binders made with recycled materials.

Pens

Instead of buying cheap pens and throwing them away when there’s no ink left, use a long-life refillable pen made out of recycled plastic, paper, or timber. Why not rely more on electronic means to write down notes? It’s now a common practice to bring a computer to a meeting to take down notes. You’ll save paper, ink, and time since you don’t need to re-type the contents to send minutes or actions via e-mail. If you’re more the pencil type, buy pencils made with wood off-cuts or recycled paper.

 Paper Clips

Reuse, reuse, reuse. If you look inside office drawers in North America, you’re sure to find paper clips. Everyone has them. Set aside a reclamation area where people can leave their unneeded clips and  others can take them as needed.

Make sure your office's coffee machine has a metal or plastic filter. This will save you from using paper filters every time the coffee machine is used. While you’ll require more water to clean the filters, this is still less water than would go into producing those paper filters, plus it also creates less waste in landfills.

 Office Kitchens

Allow your employees to bring their food from home. This habit is cheaper for the employees and produces less solid waste. Your office’s kitchen should have recycling bins for glass, plastic, aluminum recycling, and a compost bin, if possible, even if this requires some spending. Don’t offer plastic or paper cups and utensils—if they’re available, people will use them. Provide real dishes, mugs and utensils. In the long run, you will save money, also.

 Bottled Water          

Avoid buying water bottles. Although recyclable, the quantity of bottles produced and not recycled is becoming incredibly high in landfills. At work, have your people make habit of filling their personal bottle. Standards defined by the EPA are more stringent than the standards set for bolted water by the Food and Drug Administration. If you want to be more drastic, remove bottled water from your organization’s vending machines. For safety measure, educate workers on the importance of cleaning their personal bottle after each use in order to eliminate bacteria in the bottle. If you’re unsure about your building’s water quality, or if people don’t like its taste, try faucet filters.

Don't Drink Traditional Soda             

Replace traditional soda brands in your vending machine with the new brands of organic soda available. Consider club soda, which is made from filtered water that’s been carbonated. This way you also avoid drinking artificial flavours and preservatives. Some brands to try include Santa Cruz Natural or Blue Sky Beverage Company.

Reusable Mugs vs. Cardboard

Thank God Styrofoam cups are disappearing from our landscape. The next step is to use ceramic or metal mugs. In the office, when people need to pay for coffee, have disposable cups removed and provide a financial incentive for people to bring their cups back. Life cycle analysis shows that over its average life of 3000 uses, a mug generates 30 times less solid waste and 60 times less air pollution than a foam or cardboard cup.

Coffee

Change out the coffee you have at work in favour of organic and Fair Trade-labelled brands. Fair Trade certification promotes more sustainable agriculture. Fair Trade distributors pay a higher than market price for products to ensure minimum labour, environmental, and social conditions are met. For more information on fair trade certification, go to: www.sustainableharvest.com.

 Coffee Stirrers and Milk

Paper and Ink Reduction            

When personal computers were invented, we were told we‘d eventually be working in paperless environments. The opposite happened. It’s  become so simple to correct a document and re-print it, as opposed to re-typing it on a typewriter like we used to do, that people can print 10 copies of what used to take two to three to get right the old-fashioned way. Make paper and ink use reduction one of your key environmental objectives for the year and give yourself an aggressive target. People should think twice before printing. This would not only save trees, but also storage, handling and fuel. Print on both sides, have all important documents spell-checked before printing, and when doing a presentation that absolutely requires you to print handouts, print at least three slides per page and use both sides of the paper.

You can also save paper by reducing your documents’ default margins—try ½ inch all around. This needs some getting used to, as there is more text per page, but can help you save up to 20% in paper.

There is a software program called GreenPrint which is designed to eliminate unnecessary pages and converts files to PDF for sharing electronically. GreenPrint also calculates your savings so you can track and see your reduction in number of pages. Another good practice is to ban high-gloss products and color papers which are not recyclable.

Finally, for the paper that you must buy, look for unbleached post-consumer waste paper. For virgin paper, look for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification to ensure the wood used was harvested responsibly.

Recycle Ink Cartridges          

Spent ink cartridges take up a great deal of space in landfills. Aside from the warranty from the manufacturer, there is no good reason why cartridges can’t be recycled. More and more re-fillers offer written guarantees against down time and equipment damage, so ask for these. Finally, recycled cartridges can cost 90% less than new ones—an incentive most managers can appreciate. 

Collect Cell Phones               

Provide a bin to collect old cell phones and send them to organizations like ReCellular, which collects and reprocesses more than three million retired phones annually. Choose a location in the organization where most people pass by to make it easy for them to deposit the phone. If you deal with a service provider for your mobile phone services, ensure they apply this policy also.