Looking to start a business on a budget? Right from the start, you can save money by using less energy, paper, supplies, and maybe the actual office itself.

BONUS: you’ll shrink your carbon footprint, too.

To help you get on the right track, I’ve identified 5 smart ways to cut business costs by shrinking your carbon footprint.

1. Go Paperless
2. Automate Energy Use
3. Telecommute
4. Skip Unnecessary Trips
5. Share Office Space

1. Go Paperless

Paper makes up about 35 per cent of our waste even though it’s an easy material to recycle or not use at all. That could mean you’re spending a hefty chunk of change on reams of paper you’ll just end of throwing away. Instead…

• Create a digital business card that you can easily email to people you meet. If you must print a card, choose one of those half-sized designs.

• Use electronic software programs to print fewer documents, share documents and files online, produce rough drafts, and publish e-versions of final drafts.

• When you do need to print, print on both sides and again, use available software to eliminate unnecessary blank pages.

• Reuse paper printed on one side into note pads, stuffing for shipping containers, and scratch paper for kids’ art projects.

• Recycle waste paper through local recycling programs.

2. Automate Energy Use

* Use a programmable thermostat – If you have set up shop in a building or office where you have to pay for heating and cooling, make sure you have the option to change the temperature of the thermostat.

* Put office lights on sensors or timers to make sure the lights go off when no one is working.

* Program computers to shift to sleep mode when they’re not being used, though it’s better if you can get them turned off completely when they’re not needed.

3. Telecommute

* Reduce overhead. Many businesses now keep their office footprint small and their overhead costs low by allowing employees to telecommute. Some entire businesses operate this way.

* Share desks. Perhaps employee A uses the desk when she is in the office Monday-Wednesday-Friday, and employee B uses the same desk when he is in the office Tuesday-Thursday.

4. Skip Unnecessary Trips

If your business requires you and your employees to travel to conferences, meetings and sales calls, consider whether the cost and carbon footprint of transportation, hotel, meals and other related expenses are worth the price.

* Can you cut them down to zero by attending the event virtually, conducting the meeting on Skype or a Google Hangout, or holding a webinar?

5. Share Office Space

Renting office space can eat into costs. Plus, it may not be a good use of precious resources if you end up having to pay for office space you don’t use. If you can’t operate virtually, a good and eco-friendly solution is to bunk with another, like-minded company.

* Share administrative services, the cost of maintaining conference room facilities, and other related expenses while maintaining a separate identify.

Of course, it also makes sense to compare prices of any products you do buy. Our sponsor for this post, Cost Compare, will soon enable its customers to compare prices on a wide variety of supplies, including coffee makers, CRM services, mailing lists, and even graphic designers. You can learn more about them right here.

NOTE: Sponsors enable us to bring you expert content at no cost to you. Our editorial opinions remain our own. Thanks!

The post 5 Smart Ways to Cut Business Costs by Shrinking Your Carbon Footprint appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Most businesses are wasting a tremendous amount of money every year because they waste office paper. According to resource efficiency charity The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), UK businesses could save £23 billion per year by improving the way they manage resources. In the U.S., Reduce.org reports that the cost of using paper in an office can run 13 to 31 times the cost of buying it in the first place!

Tufts University and the non-profit Forest Ethics estimate that the average American office worker uses a sheet of paper every 12 minutes. That amounts to a ream per person every two and a half working weeks. In Britain, it’s estimated that the average office worker uses up to 45 sheets of paper per day, with half of this considered waste. Given what businesses pay for a 500-sheet ream, the notion that every staff member could essentially be wasting that amount of money every two-to-four working weeks should make any financial officer quake in his or her boots – especially after including the added costs of running printers, inks, toners and waste disposal.

The environmental costs are significant, too. Paper is one of the most energy-intensive products we use. The paper industry also uses more water to make a ton of product than any other major industry, along with an array of chemicals like chlorine and chlorine compounds. Plus, paper pulp may be produced from trees harvested from endangered forests and virgin, old-growth trees.

So what can you do to reduce waste office paper?

Most offices aren’t geared up to be completely paperless but there are many ways you can minimize both the financial and environmental impact of your office paper waste. Here are the five simplest and most cost-effective.

1) Use Less. The most obvious answer is to reduce usage. How? Print and copy on both sides. Exchange documents and memos electronically rather than printing or faxing. Determine whether circulars or hand-outs really need to be printed. Use electronic data storage rather than hard copy files.

2) Print smarter. Adjust fonts, margins and spacing to squeeze more text onto a standard sheet. Use a simpler type-face, rather than one with a lot of flair that requires more ink to print and takes up more space. Meanwhile, make printing somewhat inconvenient. Rather than have printers on employees desks, put them in a location that requires employees to get up and get their printed documents. It’s a little step, but can be very effective.

3) Use recycled-content, chlorine-free paper products. Making paper from 100% recycled content fiber instead of 100% virgin forest fibers reduces total energy consumption by 44%, net greenhouse gas emissions by 38%, particulate emissions by 41%, wastewater by 50%, solid waste by 49% and wood use by 100%, reports Environmental Paper Network in their 2007 State of the Paper Industry analysis.

4) Recycle paper rather than throw it away. Using paper recycling companies can ensure that the paper waste you do generate is dealt with in an environmentally sound manner – and all sensitive data can be destroyed in compliance with the Data Protection Act before going on to recycling.

5) Make it easy to recycle in the office. People will recycle when they know what paper to recycle, and when they can find recycling bins conveniently. Get your office to let employees know what they can recycle, and put in recycling bins near people’s desks and near the copying machines so it is convenient for people to use them.

Why waste money buying paper you’re just going to throw away? Protect your pocketbook as well as the planet by getting smart about how you use and recycle paper.

The post 5 Ways to Reduce Waste Office Paper appeared first on Big Green Purse.

• 1. Swap your print catalogs for digital catalogs via Catalog Spree
• 2. Stop unwanted paper mail via PaperKarma
• 3. Read your magazines on apps like Zinio
• 4. Read your newspapers on your iPad with apps like Flipboard
• 5. Subscribe to e-statements from your banking and financial institutions

The post Easy #EarthDay Action: Go Paperless appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Do you hate clutter? I sure do! 

In my house, clutter is a “five letter word” that actually means “paper – and too much of it.” Yes, that’s a picture of my office, above, before I got clutter under control.

Where does it all come from? Too much junk mail I won’t read. Too many newspaper advertising supplements I don’t use. Too many coupons I don’t clip. Too many business cards from people I don’t know. Too many receipts I don’t need. Too many empty cardboard boxes I can’t fill. Too much throwaway packaging I can’t use. (Yes, this is what my desk looks like every now and then…cluttered!)

Maybe all this papery nonsense served a purpose at one time, but it becomes clutter in my eyes when it physically gets in my way. It’s especially annoying when it covers my desk or makes a mess of my coffee table. Then, it can take me HOURS to go through it, sorting, shredding, tossing, WASTING precious time. To add insult to injury, all this wasted clutter weighs down the recycling bin I have to lug out to the street every week.

Plus, it pains me to think about the environmental impact paper clutter has. According to 41pounds.org, a group that works to reduce unwanted junk mail, more than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail. Just creating and shipping junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 9 million cars.

What to do? Reduce, Reorganize, Recycle

My anti-clutter crusade is based on these three strategies. I am reducing the amount of waste paper coming into my house as much as possible. I’ve re-organized my filing systems slightly so I can keep track of the minimum amount of paper I need to hold on to. And I’m recycling the rest.

Here are My 10 Sure-Fire Ways to Cut Clutter Now!

1) Pay bills and bank online. Many banks now actually charge their customers a monthly fee to send them a paper statement (my Bank of America outlet charges $8.95/month for this “service.”). So not only does online banking reduce the clutter in my house; it saves me money, too. Plus, paying bills online gives me longer access to my capital, since I can pay bills the same day instead of having to send a check a week ahead of time. In addition, I’m saving money on postage – not a lot in a month, but dollars that will add up over time.

2) Read newspapers and magazines electronically. Why? To avoid all the ads. The news part of the paper is actually rather thin; the advertising supplements are huge. If I bought what they’re selling it might make a difference, but I don’t.  When I want to know what a store has on sale, I check out their website before I go shopping, or pick up their sales paper when I enter the store. If I want the coupons, I can usually find them online: there are all kinds of mobile phone coupon apps so you can skip the print-out completely. (You can find coupons for green products here. ) Meanwhile, I read the paper on my laptop or my phone. I don’t have an e-reader, but you could certainly read newspapers and magazines there, too.

3) Share or go to the library. Sharing works especially well for for magazines. I share a variety of magazines with my neighbors, and drop in at my local library for others.

4) Stop junk mail and unwanted catalogs. You can use a service like 41pounds.org who will contact junk mailers on your behalf. What I’ve found, however, is that the most effective solution is to call the contact number directly on the mail or magazines I don’t want and ask them to remove me from their lists. You can also put a “No Solicitations, Please” sign on your door or mailbox so people won’t leave their sales fliers at your home.

5) Skip paper receipts. I don’t take receipts at the ATM, the gas pump, or the grocery store. I’ve discovered that grocery stores will usually take back a product they sell without a receipt; but honestly, I almost never take anything back to the grocery store, so why bother with the receipt? I only take receipts when I buy hard goods, like clothing or some kind of equipment. I keep all receipts in a file, just one file per year, so they’re not on my desk. NOTE: Whole Foods market gives its customers the option to receive receipts online, though I don’t want this clutter in my e-mail box, either.

6) Limit business cards. I recently threw away a shopping bag half-full of business cards I’d accumulated over the last couple of years because they were just cluttering up my office. I couldn’t remember who most of those people were, anyway – and I’m sure they don’t remember me. Now, I only give out business cards to people whom I really should be networking with, and I only take business cards so I can follow up with people I really want to be connected to.

7) Carry reusable bags. In addition to grocery bags, you can use small mesh bags for produce or grains you buy in bulk. I have a couple of snazzy shopping bags I use when I go clothes shopping, too. Plus, I just say “not” to the extra tissue paper some stores like to wrap around the items I buy.

8) Use a blackboard. Note pads and stickies are supposed to keep people organized, but they’re a big source of clutter for me, given how easily they stack up. A clutter-free alternative? Blackboards. Put one in the kitchen where you can leave “notes” for family members, put one in your office or workroom so you can write notes to yourself.

9) Consolidate.  Right now, I’m in the process of consolidating the contents of five different notebooks into just one. It will make my life sooooo much simpler. I’m also consolidating paper files into fewer folders that have only the essential papers in them. Everything else is headed to the recycling bin. Speaking of which…

10) Make recycling easy. Keep a recycling bin nearest to where the most paper comes into your house or where it creates the most clutter. Some options: 1)Near the front door, so you can deep-six unwanted mail before it makes it to the dining room table. 2)In the kitchen, so you can easily recycle packaging. 3)In your office, so you can keep paper from piling up on your desk.

The post Hate Clutter? 10 Sure-Fire Ways to Cut Clutter Now! appeared first on Big Green Purse.