MBA Lawyers Eco-Challenge Eco-Tips

Tips will be added to this page regularly and published in each edition of Lawyers Weekly beginning Jan. 7.





Education

     1. Foster employee awareness of your environmental initiatives by developing an environment section of your employee handbook and providing training on your environmental initiatives as part of your firm’s employee orientation.

     2. Send out monthly eco-tips to encourage participation in your firm or company’s environmental initiatives and provide incentives to recognize exceptional performance and creativity from employees.

     3. Set up and label a Conservation Center in a high-traffic area of your office to educate staff about environmentally friendly practices and, if applicable, the office’s participating in the MBA Lawyers Eco-Challenge. The center can be a bulleting board, bookshelf, poster or other materials and can include one or more of the following:

A copy of the MBA Green Guidelines;

A list of tips for the office and home;

A ride-share or carpool chart; and

Books and pamphlets about conservation and preservation.

     4. Honor the MBA Lawyers Eco-Challenge by celebrating Earth Day on April 22. Use Earth Day to raise awareness of or to institute green practices in your office:

Create an Earth Day center with green resources and tips in a high-traffic area;

Email Eco-Tips to all staff and urge them to implement one tip in honor of Earth Day;

Hold a contest to determine which staff member has most increased their recycling; and

Schedule office leaders to hold short Eco sessions outlining ways of greening the office.

     5. Make sustainability a true part of your business practices by adopting change from the inside out.

Work with individual employees to determine how each can become more environmentally friendly in their current roles;

Set-up internal goals for employees or departments, as well as rewards for meeting those goals. Issue regular reports on the progress of those goals; and

Use the office’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint to create a positive image for your business in mission statements, marketing and advertising campaigns.

Energy Conservation

     1. Reduce the amount of electricity consumed by computers in your office. For example, computers left on after hours result in 14.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Set computers on timers that shut them down after 30 minutes of being idle.

Make sure all computers have and use screen savers.

Instruct everyone in the office to shut down all parts of their computer – including the monitor – when they leave for the day.

     2. Reduce the amount of electricity used in your office by cutting down on light usage.

Turn off lights in all rooms when not in use.

Install motion detectors in areas such as hallways, conference rooms, bathrooms and kitchens.

Replace older light bulbs with compact fluorescent light or light emitting diode bulbs.

     3. If your office is in a building you do not own, work with your landlord to implement sustainable practices. For guidance in this area, view the Environmental Request to Landlord section of www.massbar.org/ecochallenge. Here are a few examples of initiatives:

Work with your landlord to encourage energy savings by installing compact fluorescent bulbs and timers.

Encourage your landlord to buy green power. Visit www.epa.gov/greenpower.

Discuss with your landlord the possibility of having your utility provider complete a free energy audit, in just your space, or the whole building.

Educate your landlord on sustainable building practices used by the U.S. Green Building Council LEED program. Visit http://www.usgbc.org/

Promote the installation of a green roof. Visit http://www.greenroofs.org/.

Environmental Conservation

      1. Support local environmental organizations and consider establishing a workplace giving program.

     2. Promoting green practices at your office:

Invite and promote educational speakers on sustainability to be part of office training

Implement a workplace giving program that supports environmental non-profits.

Employers should consider matching employee donations.

Environmentally Conscious Purchases:

     1. Save trees and reduce your carbon footprint by switching to 100% post-consumer recycled content paper for photo-copying and professional print jobs. The myth that recycled content paper is of worse quality or will get stuck in copiers and printers is just that – recycled content paper performs just as well and comes with the added benefit of being able to promote your “green” choice to customers and clients.

     2. To cut down on trash and packaging, buy your kitchen supplies – like sugar, creamer, and coffee – in bulk rather than in single-serving containers.

     3. Consider energy-efficient equipment when replacing appliances and computers in your office and home.

Visit Energy Star at http://www.energystar.gov/ to find a wide array of energy saving products, including printers, copies, refrigerators and computers.

When replacing computers consider those that are rated highly by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) by visiting http://www.epeat.net/. The web site uses a set of criteria to help consumers compare the energy efficiency of various computers.

     4. Think about the impact of all the products you buy for the office, even those seemingly as innocent as hand soap. When purchasing dishwashing liquid, hand soap and automatic dishwashing detergent for use in office kitchens and bathrooms, choose those free of toxic substances including phosphates, triclosan, chlorine and/or other antibacterial ingredients.

     5. To help your office implement the many tips we've offered over the past several weeks, view a comprehensive list of Green Resources. The resources list where you can purchase green office products, includes:

The Green Office - www.thegreenoffice.com/

The Sustainable Group - www.sustainablegroup.net/

Energy Star - http://www.energystar.gov/

Atlas Water - http://www.atlaswatersystems.com/

Greenhouse Gas Reduction:

     1. Work with the state’s free travel options program, MassRIDES, to set up programs at your office that encourage your employees to use commuting options, like transit, carpooling, etc…MassRIDES offers free assistance and will work with you to set-up programs that best suit your employees needs, from transit pass programs to online ride matching for carpool/vanpools.

     2. Help reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming by cutting back on your travel to and from work and while working. You can do that several ways:

Choose other modes of travel besides your personal car, like public transportation, biking, walking and carpooling. If you must drive, choose a fuel-efficient vehicle.

Hold Web and phone-based meetings instead of gathering in person.

Work from home whenever possible.

      3. Do your part to reduce gas consumption and traffic congestion.

Set up a ride-sharing or carpooling system at your office.

Allow employees to work from home on a regular basis.

Set up conferences over the phone or via the web instead of in person.

Provide incentives for employees to use public transportation instead of their cars.

When workers travel for business ensure they rent fuel-efficient cars.

Paper Reduction

     1. Review all catalogs, periodicals and other written materials that are regularly mailed to your office to check duplication, need and the possibility of electronic delivery

If the same magazine or catalog is mailed to more than one person in your office, consider sharing the information instead of receiving multiple copies.

Remove your office from mailing lists when you can view the same information on-line or if the material is discarded immediately.

Visit 41pounds.org for help in getting off mailing lists.

     2. Make an effort to reduce the amount of paper consumed by your office and be sure to reuse existing paper print-outs no longer needed:

Refrain from printing emails when feasible.

Encourage sharing of phone and reference books Use letter sized paper, files and pouches instead of legal size.

Create notepads from used paper that has been printed on one side.

     3. Whenever possible use electronic delivery of documents instead of paper. Lawyers use 10 times more paper than the average office worker:

File with courts and agencies using their online options.

Route interoffice memoranda and reports through the office using email or an Intranet page.

Set up fax machines to receive messages electronically.

     4. Cut down on the number of sheets of paper used for print or copy jobs. Each individual lawyer in the U.S. consumes a ton of paper each year, about the equivalent of 24 trees.

Choose copy machines and printers that have an option to print on both sides of one sheet of paper. Instruct everyone in the office to use that option for each print job.

Use smaller font sizes, wider margins and no extra spaces between paragraphs and sentences.

     5. If double-sided printing is not yet an option in your office, use the clean side of discarded paper to print all documents for internal use, including drafts, emails, notices and reports.



Recycling:

     1. To increase recycling, reduce wasteful purchases and encourage teamwork at your office, create an internal reuse center. This center, housed in a common area such as a cafeteria/kitchen or storage room/closet would become the central location for staff to swap supplies, from the tape dispenser left behind by a former colleague to a duplicate desk calendar.

     2. Implement or expand a recycling program at your office. Recycling prevents habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity and soil erosion associated with logging and mining.

If no recycling program exists, contact your local city or town hall and ask for help with starting a program. Visit Earth911.org for more information on recycling programs.

If a recycling program exists, look at ways to increase the variety of items that can be recycled. Move past paper and bottles and cans to plastics, cardboard, batteries and electronic equipment.

     3. Cut down on waste and disposables in your office and work toward recycling items you are no longer using:

Arrange for your ink cartridge supplier to pick up used cartridges for reuse and/or purchase remanufactured cartridges, rather than new ones, for laser printers.

Provide pitchers with filtered water rather than bottled water, to employees and visitors.

Donate old office equipment, computers and supplies.

Sustainable Practices

     1. Recycle your old computers or donate them to a local non-profit organization. Most major computer manufacturers offer recycling programs that make it easy to recycle or donate your old computers.

     2. Buy reusable coffee mugs for your employees or yourself and use them when you get your caffeine fix for refills in your office or the local coffee shop.

     3. Reduce the use of toxic products in the workplace.

Purchase unbleached paper towels and napkins for bathrooms and the kitchen/cafeteria.

Buy cleaners for bathrooms and the kitchen/cafeteria with low toxicity and high biodegradability or clean with natural products such as baking soda, lemon juice, white vinegar and club soda.

     4. Cut down on waste and disposables in your office and work toward recycling items you are no longer using:

Arrange for your ink cartridge supplier to pick up used cartridges for reuse and/or purchase remanufactured cartridges, rather than new ones, for laser printers.

Provide pitchers with filtered water rather than bottled water, to employees and visitors.

Donate old office equipment, computers and supplies.

     5. Conserve water use in the office.

Install low-flow toilets and aerators in all sink faucets.

Post signs asking users to use as little water as possible.

Establish regular maintenance of sinks, toilets and other areas that use water to catch and repair leaks.

     6. Change the way staff and visitors eat and drink at your office.

Install dishwashers in all kitchens.

Replace disposable cups, plates and utensils with high-quality mugs, glasses, plates and silverware.

Replace single serve coffee filters, creamers and sugar with refillable carafes and/or containers.

     7. Consider using paper products and printing companies that abide by sustainable practices. Among those to consider are:

Purchase printed stationary from companies that use environmentally-sustainable inks;

Use paper gleaned from sustainable forests; and

Choose printing companies that rely on wind power and use soy-based inks.

For more information, or to get involved e-mail Eco-challenge.