6 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Business’ Carbon Footprint

There’s been a lot of “Green” talk this year. And I think everyone can agree that consumers and businesses alike need to commit to making more ecologically positive choices. But if you’re a business, is going green expensive?

Of course there are extreme ways to go green, like Subaru’s zero landfill auto plant in Indiana, but there are also many low or no cost Green choices you can make when it comes to your office and your direct mail campaigns. All of which you can use to proudly say, “our company makes green choices.”

1. Make Recycling Readily Available to reduce your Paper waste. Next to every printer in your office you should have a labeled bin dedicated to recycling paper. While this seems obvious, I’ve worked for small and large companies that still don’t do this – the box is a mystery junk pile with someone’s half eatten lunch and a shoe in there, or the bin is totally hidden. If you don’t have a bin for recycling, people aren’t going to recycle.

2. Incorporate recycling into your print design. Add a reminder note on all your direct mail items that says it’s recyclable – even if it’s just adding a logo.

3. Use green proofing. Instead of printing out a hard copy of your latest marketing piece to proof it, try emailing a proof to two or three people. They’ll give you fresh eyes and catch more mistakes than one person looking at a hardcopy.

4. Offer opt outs to customers so they can choose Internet communication or direct mail. It will actually improve your response rates, as customers will be receiving your messages in a format they check more frequently and prefer.

5. Re-check your mailing lists. Make sure addresses are up to date, especially if you’re using an in-house list that’s a month old or older. If you’re buying a list, make sure to ask your list provider if bad addresses and duplications have been cleansed. Though it seems like that’s something they would do automatically, you may need to double check since it often costs a nominal fee to perform. In the long run, you’ll save – since it’s less postage and less paper.

6. Green Chat. Almost everyone uses email these days, but what about one-off meetings where you inevitably have to jot something down. Try using internal messaging like skype or google talk, which incorporates google document sharing and project management. It’s easy to install, you can quickly send files and make comments in real time and it keeps a record of the entire conversation you can refer to later.

Nextdayflyers and Greener Direct Mail

Nextdayflyers uses UV coating that is solvent free and our excess paper waste is recycled not incinerated or dumped in a landfill. We offer green proofing so you can approve all your designs right online. Our mailing service will also help you eliminate duplications and inactive addresses so your mailing list is clean and green!

Resources
1. Green messaging
2. Sustainable marketing
3. The Case for Direct Mailing
4. Green Direct Mail
5. Guidelines from green marketing coalition
6. UV and EB Recycling reports