I first learned about Earth Day in high school and found it kind of interesting. It’s a great reminder that we are all here on this planet and need to take care of it for the next generation. Since then, I am committed to recycling paper, plastic, aluminum each week for the last 20 some years.
In honor of Earth Day recently, there are activities that entrepreneurs can do to help the environment and reduce their footprint. While we may not all be able to reduce the amount significantly, we can chip away at the different areas of our business to make it more friendly to the environment. Below are various Earth Day activities for your business to help the environment. Get your employees/subcontractors involved in the process too to see an impact.
7 Various Earth Day Activities For Solopreneur
Recycle paper
event: Schedule time in the work day (1 or 2 hours) for employees to go through their non-personal paperwork and recycle it.
Shredder
event: Contact a shredder truck to come to your location and have employees get their OLD private work related papers and have it shredded. As a benefit, have your staff bring one box of their personal paper to shred as an incentive.
Get rid of old electronics or item event: Have everyone gather their old electronics and give at a nearby location. Make sure you have rules on what you can take and what you can’t take. Have everyone gathers their old glasses and donate them to a retirement home if they need them.
Change light bulbs
event: Send out an email asking how many light bulbs are in their space and what type of light bulbs they are using. Then, have them email back how many they would need. Order enough low energy light bulbs and make Friday afternoon “Change the light bulbs” Day.
Clean up a nearby park event: If you work near a park, get lots of bags, and plastic gloves have a lunch hour clean-up the park event. It’s a great opportunity to do some good for the environment and do some teambuilding exercise.
Clean Out your desk drawer event: On a Friday afternoon, line up recycling paper bins, recycling electronic bins, recycling plastic containers, etc… and have people go through their desk drawers and get rid of the items they don’t want and recycle them. Make a list of articles that can go in each bin to help them know where the things need to go.
Go to a park and have a group walking meeting with staff to enjoy nature: Make it a weekly event, go for a walking meeting once a week on the day that is less busy.
While these activities are wonderful and easy to setup, you may want some more ideas. Here are some additional posts about environmentally-friendly activities for Earth Day and every day:
10 Ways to Mark Earth Day at Your Company
Repurposing & Upcycling – Professional Organizers Blog Carnival
Spring Cleaning Digital Files Like a Rockstar
I hope this gives you some ideas on what to do to make this and every Earth Day special. Better yet, pick a day each season to do one or more than one of these events to help your office be more organized and clear the clutter more regularly. Make an event a quarterly or yearly activity to truly make an impact. It doesn’t just have to be near Earth Day. Happy Earth Day!
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In my first office job (back in the 1980s), at one point the company told us that money was tight so we had to cut back on our office supplies. Instead of throwing away old paperwork, we started cutting it in quarters and using it instead of buying message pads. I don’t know how much difference it made to the company’s bottom line, but it’s a practice I still follow to this day.
Great tip, Janet. I find that paper is the easiest to recycle in an office. I have been in many offices that used the other side of already used printer paper for reuse for draft documents. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.