Top 5 Tips for Green Company Picnics
It’s that time of the year again; businesses are getting ready for their annual company get-togethers. Here are some must-have tips for keeping them green.

  1. Buy Bulk. Reduce waste and expenses by eliminating individual cans, bottles, condiments and individually wrapped cutlery. Large coolers and bulk dispensing is the way to go. 
  2. Stay local. Don’t make people drive long distances to get to the picnic spot. You’ll save gas, time and minimize pollution. If you have to drive far, then carpool. Give incentives to those that ride their bike.
  3. Recycle. Seems simple enough but most people don’t want to walk the extra 10 feet to put something in the recycling bin. If you are going to have a lot of aluminum cans and plastic bottles at your picnic make sure you have multiple, noticeable, recycling bins. Even better, set your goal to have a zero-waste event with everything reusable. Frisbees make a great plate and wonderful gift.
  4. Use natural and organic food. Bring foods that are locally grown and feed money into your community. It is usually cheaper and better for the environment because no pesticides or additives were used.  
  5. Clean up. Clean up and make sure that nothing was left behind. Leave your picnic ground the way you found it. 

Environmental Calculators
Calculate your household emissions, energy usage of everyday appliances, or paper usage of your business:

Click Here for CO2 Calculator 

Click Here for Energy Usage of Appliances

Click Here for Energy Usage of Household Items

Click Here for Individuals Calculator

Click Here for Paper Usage of Business Calculator

Click Here for Personal/Family Carbon Footprint Calculator
 

Green Tips for College Students

Swap and Sell​

  • Re-use other student’s textbooks and let them use yours for free. Checkout PaperBackSwap.com. You only pay shipping.
  • Instead of having a shopping spree at the mall organize a clothing swap among your friends.
  • ​Go to flea markets, consignment shops and thrift stores. Someone’s old skinny jeans could become your new favorite piece of clothing

Embrace Tap

  • ​When you're out at the bar, buy beer on tap (that's served in a washable beer mug) rather than bottled beer. Not only are you decreasing waste and your carbon footprint, your having fun at the same time.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

  • Don't throw away that halfway printed page or rough draft paper, use the other side for scrap paper. Create your own post-it notes or notebook for classes.
  • If you’re looking to reduce your waste—and the total price at the bottom of your receipts—buy used books, electronic books (E-books), or rent them.
  • Used textbooks are often available for half off or more in campus book-stores, and web sites such as e-Campus and Amazon carry a broad selection of used titles. 
  • Online textbooks are also a great idea, in order to reduce both your costs and strain on your backpack. 
  • Talk to your professors. Some of them make textbooks available to check out in libraries.
  • Renting books is a growing option that helps to reduce the amount of books being created, saving energy and trees. Check out Campus Book Rentals and Book Renter: they rent college textbooks for a fraction of what you might spend at a campus bookstore. The money saved by recycling 1% of the schoolbooks sold every year could send more than 4,000 students to a four-year public college.

Monitor Electronics

  • To reduce the energy consumption for your home or business, check out, 15 “Green Apps” to Track Energy Usage. 
  • When it comes to your computers, graphing calculators, printers, and any other electronics. Unplug things when you don’t use them, turn the lights off when you leave the room, and purchase rechargeable batteries instead of new.
  • Invest in a Smart Power Strip: the strip stops drawing electricity from appliances that are turned off, meaning you don’t have to remember to switch the strip on and off every time. Sounds like something that could be useful all over the house, doesn’t it?

Spend Less Time in the Shower

  • Just by reducing your shower time by about 2 minutes, you can save up to 1,000 lbs of CO2 from being emitted into the air. You will use less electricity to heat the water, as well as conserve water.

Find More Tips about Going Green at School
A Guide to Sustainability in College and in Life 

Back to School Green Tips (K-12)

Purchase Recycled

  • Look for recycled backpacks and other school products. Check out products like TerraCycle, also check retailers such as Target and Office Max for brands such as Pilot and Post-It have all embraced the green trend.

Learn the School Bus Schedule, Start a Carpool, Get on Your Feet

  • If your child stays late for music lessons or soccer club, check the schools extended bus schedule to accommodate for after school activities.
  • Assemble a “walkpool” chaperoning a group on foot to and from school.
  • Walk. Only 31% of kids who live less than a mile away from school walk there. Half go by car. If just 6% of those who go by car walked, it would save 60 thousand gallons of gasoline a day!

Don’t Overbuy

  • Back to School shopping can be fun, but don’t be tempted to buy more than you need.
  • Before you even go shopping, check what you already have in stock.
  • Ask yourself questions such as: Did my child really use all 500 sheets of paper I bought last year? Is every single pencil worn down to the nub? Only buy what you really need for the school year.

Conserve at Lunchtime

  • Taking a brown paper bag filled with baggies or pre-packaged snacks to school every day adds up to a lot of trash. Invest in a lead free lunch box, reusable plastic containers,  and cloth napkins.
  • Just by eliminating all that daily wasted plastic and paper, your child could save 67 pounds of garbage a year. 
  • Lead by example and tote your own lunchbox to work 

Encourage Your School to Go Green 

  • Schools collect tons of waste every year. Students and parents can talk to school officials about decreasing waste and recycling. Tell your school and friends about your green back to school ideas. One voice can make a great impact.​

Home Living Tips

  • Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. About 90% of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water. Also, reduce the number of times you run the machine by always waiting until you have a full load.
  • For every degree you lower the thermostat, you'll save between 1 and 3% of your heating bill. Do the same thing in reverse with air conditioning.
  • During the summer your A/C works hard to cool hot air from sunny windows. Install ENERGY STAR rated windows and use curtains and shades to give your air conditioner and energy bill a break.
  • Ceiling fans can reduce air conditioning costs by as much as 40% in the summer. 
  • In the Winter, ceiling fans can reduce heating bills by 10% by stirring up the air and stopping cool air from pooling at ground level.
  • Hang a line: Rather than turning on your clothes dryer, hang a clothesline outside. You'll save on energy, your clothes will last longer and your house won't be pumped with the extra heat from the machine.

Environmental Tips

  • Buy locally. Find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food near you at LocalHarvest.com
  • Avoid buying gas during the heat of the day, since heat increases evaporation, it cuts down gas emissions.
  • To help fight Global Warming fil up either early in the morning or late in the evening when the temperature is cooler.
  • Save natural resources by enrolling in online bill-paying options. Paperless Billing eliminates the fossil fuel needed to get all those billing envelops from them you and back again

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

  • Take your batteries to a recycling center, check out Earth911.com
  • If you use plastic grocery bags, recycle them for doggie poop bags or for small trashcan liners.
  • Consider organic cleaning products like vinegar, borax, and baking soda.
  • When going to the grocery store without reusable bags, opt for paper.
  • Styrofoam takes thousands of years to degrade. Find a substitute or avoid using Styrofoam peanut packaging, but if some comes your way, save it and reuse it.
  • Refill your travel mug at the nearby coffee shop instead. Many coffee shops offer a discount if you bring in your own mug.
  • Reduce the number of paper and plastic bags you use by carrying reusable tote bags to grocery and department stores
  • Return your plastic bags to the grocery store. Most stores have a container to take these bags back and recycle them for you.

Preplanning
Preplanning is a big part of the order process. It is “business as usual” for Eco Promotional Products, Inc. (EPP) to process rush orders. Some customers need products in months while others need products by the end of the week. We are able to process orders on tight deadlines, however, the time, resources and extra costs are unnecessary burdens on the customer and the environment.
Click Here to Read More About Preplanning