Earth Day – a few thoughts on Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
Today is Earth Day. It’s a good time to think about what you can do in your home or office to lessen your impact on the environment.
Most of us are pretty good at recycling – we throw our garbage in the garbage, pop cans in the blue box, and paper goes in its recycling box.
However, it is more important to think about Reduce and then Reuse; so there isn’t so much to Recycle.
These are a few of the changes I’ve made in my office over the past year:
- Paper reduction – we now receive all faxes electronically rather than printing. We have two large monitors at each work station; one to read from and one to write to. With real estate conveyancing, we used to have 3 paper copies of each documents – File, Client and Bank. We have changed that to one copy. After it is signed; we scan it. That is our File copy; and we also email that to our Client. In most cases we mail the signed paper to the Bank, or if not needed by the bank; we return to our Client. We do not keep a paper copy. Many “paperless” offices scan their copies and then shred and recycle them – make sure your service provider is not printing what they don’t need.
- Lights – We all remember Earth Hour; turning your lights off for 1 hour. When you come into my office, you will see that lights are usually turned off. We have several bright windows; and our computer monitors provide sufficient back lighting. Not too big a deal, but I expect it makes a difference over time.
- Water – We used to have a Water Cooler, which had a 5 gallon water supply delivered by truck in plastic jugs. I have canceled that account – Sorry Canadian Springs. We are drinking tap water.
- Transit – Starting January 1 of this year, I provide all of my staff with monthly transit passes.
- Advocate – We think about what we do and we tell others about it. Together we can make a difference.
A few small changes make a big difference over time. What can you do?
David Watts, Notary Public
www.davidnotary.com