In the office

PCs and monitors

  • Switch off your monitor if you are away from your desk for more than a few minutes.
  • Shut down your PC if you are away from your desk for more than a couple of hours.
  • Set your monitor to switch off/shut down when not in use (Start > Control panel > Display)

Lighting

  • Make the most of natural light. Don't block it with filing cabinets, plants or closed blinds.
  • Switch off lights when they are not needed and when you are last to leave a room.
  • Turn off lights in the toilets, kitchen, meeting rooms etc when not needed.
  • Flickering fluorescent tubes use more energy. If you see one, report it!

Heating and other equipment

  • Keep doors and windows shut (and don’t open them to cool a room if the heating is on).
  • Connect water coolers, vending machines and boilers to timer switches so that they are not constantly in use over evenings and weekends.
  • Don’t use air conditioning if the heating is on. They work against each other and waste energy.
  • If you feel the cold, wear more clothes!

Paper

  • Paper that's already been used on one side can be re-used for draft documents. It can also be reused in plain paper fax machines.
  • Reuse old paper for notes.
  • Reuse envelopes by using stickers.
  • Recycle all paper, magazines and cardboard.
  • Visit the Waste minimisation section of the website for more information about what you can do to minimise waste in your business.

Printing

  • Do you really need a hard copy?
  • Consider changing the margin sizes, especially on drafts and reducing the point size of your text to save paper.
  • Don’t print the whole document if you only need certain pages. Go to File > Print > and in the ‘Page range’ section, select either ‘Current page’ if you want to print the page you’re working on or select ‘Pages’ and put in the page numbers you want to print.
  • Check if your printer will print multiple pages on an A4 sheet and if it can print double sided.
  • If you're the last person to leave the office  at night, switch the printer off.
  • Recycle all ink toner cartridges.

Photocopying

  • Use the size reduction feature. Two pages of a book or periodical can often be copied onto one standard sheet.
  • Photocopy double sided.
  • Put a paper recycling box beside the photocopier.
  • Switch off the copier overnight (a photocopier left on overnight wastes enough energy to make 5,300 A4 copies).

Meetings

  • Run meetings electronically by using LCD equipment to project agendas and papers rather printing hard copies.
  • Take notes on scrap paper or record minutes directly into your laptop.
  • Consider if any of the attendees can take part by video or telephone conference.
  • If people have to attend in person, can they travel by public transport?
  • If you must take your own car, can you share with another attendee? Driving by yourself should always be the last option.