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Green Life in Business

By Tony Busko

Green Life in Business
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Friday, March 9, 2012

Being Green at Work

Years ago, most companies were on the band wagon on being green. From making automatic lighting adjustments in bathrooms, kitchens and warehouse’s to putting recycle bins by all trash bins.  The wall switch you see around are these and are priced fairly reasonable. Have you noticed your company make any of these changes? If so, they are on the right path. If not, you might suggest or bring it up to the right people that you’re concerned about the companies path to being green or their carbon footprint to the community..


I know that we are all not perfect in being green, it’s a big change in our busy fast lifestyle. Every morning on the way to work or first thing when we all get to work is we grab some coffee. Do you have  your  own cup, recycled cup, or reusable to-go mug? That’s great if you do. Did you know that the styrofoam cups will stay in our landfills and never decompress. They will just break down in small pieces, and that’s it. If your company offers styrofoam cups, imagine how much of it goes in the trash.

Say you have 50 coworkers, who all drink it for coffee, water, tea or etc. If they use two or three per day, that can be about 100-150 cups being thrown out per day. Weekly, that’s about 750-1,000, and yearly…ready, about 39,000-52.000. Here’s what happens in five years, 195k to 260k. I know I know, those are some high numbers but it’s just a rough number to show you how bad it can be over time. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states on it’s website: “Each year Americans throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups. Even 500 years from now, the foam coffee cup you used this morning will be sitting in a landfill.”

I think companies should start thinking about this as it’s a serious issue towards the environment. What they should do is stop providing these styrofoam cups and exchange it for the recycle cups or provide the reusable mugs. Not only would there be less in the landfills, but the company would have more money by saving money on not buying the cups.  If they don’t want to provide the employees with cups, then you can bring your own.

So if you are one of those that drink from styrofoam or buy coffee from your local coffee shop, just remember the next time you throw your cup away, what damage it can do in the years to come…

Remember, coffee cups are not recyclable.


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Posted By Green Life in Business On 03/09/2012 1:00 pm

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