1. Skip the single-use plastics.

Instead, bring your own tumbler/mug/cutlery. I’m a fan of the Yeti tumbler (it keeps cool and is big enough so I don’t have to keep running back to the water machine as much!)

Think about it - how many times a day are you using single-use plastics? Even if you bring breakfast or lunch from home, you’re likely using the office’s stash of single-use plastic forks/knives/spoons. Let’s assume the average person uses 1 fork and 1 spoon every work day for lunch, and 1 spoon every other work day for breakfast/drinks. That equates to 50 single-use plastic utensils/month. 50/month x 12 months = 600! That’s not even counting containers, iced coffee/tea cups, etc. If you start thinking about your waste contribution at scale, you may just scale back to help the environment.

2. Use the revolving door, even if it takes longer and is a little heavy.

I am definitely a culprit of this! Yes, it’s faster and easier to just pull open a swinging door but, as noted in this Vox article, revolving doors are more energy efficient. A study notes “a single pass through the swing doors allowed about 8x more air to flow in or out of the building than a pass through the revolving doors.” It’s worth the extra second and putting your back into it to make a positive impact on the environment.

3. If you must print a presentation, print multiple slides on one page and/or skip the fine print slides.

Sometimes, you just gotta print. I get it, trust me. I build decks all day and the best way to proof those and to actually get your boss to review them is to print them out. This tip applies to internal presentations that are not going to clients. Two ways for you to not feel so bad when you hit the print button are: (1) print multiple slides (i.e. 2, 4, 6) on one page (2) skip printing of the fine print slides at the back that no-one reads anyway like the appendix, disclaimers, etc. The trees will thank you.

Little by little goes a long way!