When my super-talented and most awesome friend Isis Petrie of Posh Events, LLC "tagged" me with a Green Tag, I was certain I was being clued in to some game that my 3-year-old twins know but I don't. But, I dutifully (and might I say promptly for once) read the instructions on her blog and discovered that I am actually supposed to "list my contribution to maintaining an eco-friendly, green environment".
At Weddings by Shayna, LLC, we:
1. have a "use every paper twice" policy - I have a stack of halved 8 1/2 x 11 paper next to my desk that I use for notes, client consultation reminders, the occasional paper airplane (which gets notes on it too - so that's actually 3 times!) and of course, to entertain my 3-year-olds when they are at the office (a frequent occurrence certain times of the year).
2. have dramatically reduced our paper usage by maintaining the bulk of each of our client files electronically, and printing out only critical e-mails as necessary (down from huge quantities of paper used in the past to print every e-mail).
3. have replaced our office desktop (which met an untimely and early death in a tragic motherboard failure) with a re-purposed or re-developed or re-somethinged (I can't remember what the techie called it now) computer - essentially a new motherboard with my old hard drive in a shell of a computer that offered us upgraded features, but was previously owned, keeping one more computer shell out of the landfill.
4. have purchased a reasonably expensive laser printer. How is another "printing monster" environmentally friendly? In the past, our printing demand has been so large that we've "killed" economy deskjet after economy deskjet, creating a stack of useless cheap printers that I'm still seeking a recycling method for. I committed myself this year to buying quality technology products (including a reasonably expensive all-in-one to handle tasks that my printer can't), along with maintenance plans. Now, when I have an issue, I send the suckers back to the manufacturer, who gladly send me replacements - almost always factory re-tooled devices that themselves were previously used. I actually feel much better, and with the laser printer, use significantly fewer print cartridges.
5. buy recycled paper for our all-in-one.
6. keep up to date and publicize new info on organic flower resources and products (see previous blogs).
7. travel in a single vehicle to most events, work within a mile of my office, work from home whenever possible and avoid making superfluous trips around town and to sites - we really try to pack in power weekends of site visits and vendor appointments, and otherwise use the technology we have to stick close to home base.
8. are in the process from transitioning our traditional paper mailing system (for client reports and reminders) to an e-mail based system that will play nicely with most e-mail hosts.
9. require accommodations in our contracts for events a certain distance (give or take 60 miles) from our local area between the rehearsal and wedding - not only does it save gas and limit unnecessary risk of long-haul trips for our staff, but it also ensures our clients that we are on site and often times, on the "correct side of the water" (thanks to our many "reliable" bridge-tunnels) on their wedding day. Surprisingly, it doesn't cost them much more than they'd pay us in a mileage surcharge, and it adds incredible peace of mind.
We have a long way to go, and we live in one of the least eco-friendly areas I can imagine (from an availability of recycling programs standpoint), but I have hope for the future, and am excited about the resurrection of the dying green movement. Thank you Isis for making us reflect on this again! I'm off to figure out new, green policies and tools!
Now I have to find someone to tag (prompt me CC'ers if you haven't been tagged - I'm at least a month behind on reading posts and blogs!).
What a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing so many great ideas. I just wanted to let you know that I've compiled the comments from everyone who has answered my Green Challenge on my blog. I've got a link to this post. I do hope you pass the challenge on to others (please let me know when you do so I can tag those people too).
All my best!
Lara
Posted by: ready2spark | October 12, 2007 at 06:35 PM