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Transforming Earth Day into Earth Every Day

Ah, Earth Day. The one day of the year people across the globe are guaranteed to be more motivated to recycle their plastic water bottle or pick up neighborhood trash. And why wouldn’t they? Every day, we make a lasting impact on our environment. Unfortunately, it’s not always a positive impact.

Of course, we’d all love to keep the Earth-saving momentum going - so why not make every day dedicated to preserving our planet? After all, we only get one.

Sadly, that’s a difficult request for many people, especially businesses, to implement and sustain. But it doesn’t have to be difficult.

Over the past decade, companies of all shapes and sizes have been looking for practical ways to become more sustainable, such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with LEDs. In fact, that’s essentially how PaperCut got started. From an overflowing recycle bin to where we are now, I’m proud of how far we’ve come.

I’m also proud to say we’ve got plenty of initiatives floating around to improve our environmental impact - from using recycled building materials to encouraging our employees to take the stairs instead of the lift. We even launched an environmental guild to promote sustainable business practices.

So what’s the ultimate secret to our success with these initiatives? It’s our people.

I’ve come to realize the path to true environmental sustainability lies in purpose-driven people - framing the ROI and building habits by closing the feedback loop. This way, our wins don’t stop at the workplace, but also flow into home and our communities.

Three ways to inspire positive change in your workplace

Get a good - no, GREAT - team together

Great people inspire great things. Right now, a generation of purpose-driven people are joining your workforce. For example, three-quarters of Millennials will consider a company’s environmental and social strategy when deciding where to work. And let’s not forget to mention purpose-driven people help build cultures that are priceless. We call that a win-win for the environment and our working lives.

Always consider the environmental impact

You’ve likely been tasked with obtaining a print management system for your company, nothing more, nothing less. I get it; the basic needs are important. But if you could help your business reduce its environmental footprint in the same platform, would you?

Good news is, not all sustainability changes will cost you. And often, simple obtainable changes are best.

Even better news, PaperCut has you covered on this with all our products. We believe the environment should always be a winner and must play a starring role in your operations. The best kind of environmental change happens when everyone at every level in a business realizes how environmental responsibility moves the company forward.

Forming (good) habits with the why

We’re all guilty of having bad habits, but cementing the new sustainable ones doesn’t need to be hard.

Sure, you can go the easy route and email blast your people to use the recycling bin. However, I don’t recommend this as the most effective method. Old habits die hard. And an email blast is often seen as just the sender washing their hands of responsibility: “Right, I’ve done my bit - time to move on to the next project”.

Instead, provide “the why.” I can’t recommend this approach enough. If you can provide a strong understanding and purpose for change, a sustainable future is more likely. Always close the loop. Show the tangible impact. It’s what we’re hardwired to remember.

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At PaperCut, we’ve still got a lot of growing to do when it comes to the role we play in sustainability - not to mention how we can help you better met your green goals. We do, however, have a few tips for success when it comes to truly going green. Just remember, true long-term sustainable change is about your people. From there, success flows into the home, our communities and Mother Nature surrounding it.

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