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It’s New Years Eve—it’s hard to believe it, but another year is upon us! We’re thrilled to have you as part of our eco18 community where we encourage everyone to be the best green they can be. For some of you that means using a reusable water bottle instead of plastic, while others are trying to have their homes operate off of solar power. No matter where your green spot may be, we hope that you find encouragement through the various articles and stories that we share daily. We also hope that you enjoyed our 12 Days of Christmas giveaway where we gifted some of our favorite eco-items. Be sure to continue to check back for periodic giveaways in addition to fresh content.
Earlier this year as we marked our one-year anniversary, we committed to 18 resolutions that we would commit to by our second anniversary on July 18, 2013. I wanted to take a minute to update you on where we are with these goals.
- Walk, bike or take public transportation to work. No cars, no cabs. – Considering that our office is located in the heart of New York City, where driving would be more of a hassle to get to the office, this one has been pretty easy for us. We admit grabbing a cab to a meeting now and then when our arms are loaded down and our heels are extra high, but the whole team can say that mass transit and/or walking to work is the way to go.
- Bring in a healthy lunch from home at least once a week and partake in Meatless Mondays and/or non-processed food Wednesdays – Again, something that our whole team is dedicated to doing on a regular basis. Everyone enjoys a lunch out now and then, but usually you will find our mini-fridge is stocked to the brim with healthy foods.
- Unplug laptop and cell phone chargers when they are not in use – An easy one to forget about, especially when rushing around, but we have all been making a conscious effort to do this.
- No disposable plates or utensils in the office – We have cabinets full of plates and glasses, so its rare to see disposable plates or utensils around here. We did try to nix the paper towels, but so far that hasn’t gone quite as planned. It’s a work in progress.
- Power down all computers at the end of the day – This is a toughy! We’re going to have to keep working on this one.
- Sponsor an individual from KIVA – This is something we just did through our parent company, ADinfinitum, during the holidays!
- Introduce some live plants into the office to increase oxygen flow – Not only have we introduced live plants, but we’ve actually managed to bring back to life a few that previously seemed to be on their last leg.
- Recycle our old technology/machines – It took some time, but we managed to recycle or donate all equipment that wasn’t being used in the office, including printers, copy machines and old computers.
- Switch to eco18 travel coffee mugs + water bottles – We haven’t actually gotten travel coffee mugs yet, but we did recently introduce a Keireg in to the office. This means we’re using regular coffee mugs daily, but also disposing of those little pods; it’s a toss up.
- Shut off lights in and around the office when not necessary and use natural light – We not only turn off the lights at the end of the day, but many of us work the whole day without lights, well up until we literally can’t see anymore.
- Only print on clean paper when absolutely necessary – We have put a nice system in place for making sure we recycle any paper that has only been printed on one side.
- When we get goodies and giveaways from tradeshows, share them with all others in the office – You should’ve seen how much stuff we all got after attending the last two Natural Products Expos—we carried through on sharing with everyone, even if they didn’t attend the show.
- Don’t buy notepads – recycle paper for notes – There are still a couple of lingering notepads, but for the most part we are good about recycling paper that has already been used.
- Donate old business clothes – We’ve all found our donation site of choice and do this on a regular basis.
- Recycle + reuse shipping materials – This has been an easy one considering how many packages come through here—we’ve become masters at Frankenstein-ing a box.
- No opening windows when the AC is on – This is harder than it sounds; it gets SO cold in here when the AC is on. But we’re trying hard to keep the windows shut. Much easier this time of year!
- Save coffee trays and return them to the coffee shop – This is something we made a habit of pretty quickly.
- Plant a tree to represent eco18 growth – We planted a tree last July and it is growing nicely in upstate New York.
We hope you will continue to stick with us as we work on our checking all resolutions off of our list, and as we enter in to what we hope will be a lovely year for all.
Happy New Years!
Leesa
Eco18.com Editor
