How Small Businesses in San Diego Can Adopt Green Practices and Become Socially Responsible

September 2, 11:18 PMSan Diego Small Business Strategies ExaminerBetsy Brottlund

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There’s no excuse anymore. If you own a business, you owe it to your employees, and to the environment to go green. So why do I still see massive amounts of papers stacked on a desk, lights turned on at night, and no recycling bins when I visit small businesses? Bottom line: costs and laziness.

Energy management and reducing waste are two of the easiest and most cost-effective steps you can take to cut costs and increase profitability while demonstrating social responsibility for your business. Here are some of the ways you can help the environment easily and quickly:

·         Document Management Software. Most of us realize that we should use less paper, but how many of us actually have a paperless storage system set up? Paper document storage is time consuming and a waste. An electronic document storage system allows you to scan, convert, and retrieve files instantly when you do a search so you also don’t have to spend hours looking for that partnership agreement you swore was stored somewhere. Downloadable programs like SimpleOCR are free even and won’t cost your company a dime.

Hint: OCR, or Optical Character Recognition, is a system that allows scanned images to convert to text. Most digital copiers can perform scanning functions to work with these software programs.

Purchase Refurbish Equipment, Outsource a Scanning Company, and Store Data Online. If you do just a little research, you can find a refurbished copier that includes scanning functions. If you have a huge volume of items to scan, you can outsource it to a document scanning service and even have your documents scanned on-site if you are concerned about confidentiality.

 Hint: You can store the scanned documents on your server, but you’ll need to purchase additional software. Using a hosted solution only requires an internet connection.

Use Green Supplies. If you have a kitchen and provide kitchen goods for your employees, buy eco-friendly products .

Hint: The Green Office Supply has a comprehensive product list ranging from paper towels to cleaner.

 Paper. If you must make copies, or send promotional materials to potential customers via direct mail or other, use recycled paper.

 Hint: Send your next holiday greeting card using Green Field Paper. The company uses seeds in the paper so when your business customers are done reading the card, you can watch it sprout and grow a plant.

 Waste Management. Implement procedures to encourage employees to recycle. Adopt the EPA’s WasteWise recycling program.

 Hint: Send an email (don’t distribute a memo) to inform your staff.

Whether you have a home-based business, or one in an office with employees, implementing environmental strategies in your business model helps you easily identify how you can save energy costs, lower expenses and save the environment.