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FRAMINGHAM, MA — Staples Inc. and Entrepreneur.com are offering a $10,000 green office makeover gift pack to the small business that presents the best case -- and game plan -- for making its workplace more eco-friendly.
To be enter the “Green Your Small Business Challenge,” small business owners, operators and others must submit a 100-word essay about how and why they would make their offices more sustainable. The entry period starts today and concludes June 4.
Entrepreneur.com will select the top three entries. The small business with the best essay will receive a Staples gift pack worth $10,000; the second-place winner, a $2,000 gift pack; and the third-place finisher, a gift pack worth $1,000. The first place winner will also be included in an online feature in August called “How to Take Your Business Green.”
More information about the contest is available at www.entrepreneur.com/greenoffice.
The promotional event is the latest in escalating efforts among Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax and others to capture the market for green office supplies and services such as recycling of office equipment and ink cartridges.
In March, Office Depot launched a green office makeover contest for small and medium-sized businesses in partnership with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. The winner of that regional competition, also an essay contest, is scheduled to be announced on May 12.
In announcing its contest, Staples also provided 10 tips -- many of them geared to the company's products and services -- for greening the workplace.
Here are highlights from the list:
1. Set up a recycling system in the office in which material such as cans and empty beverage bottles are separated from recyclable paper and boxes. Use old stationery as scratch paper.
2. Use ENERGY STAR-certified products and set up computers and other equipment powered by electricity (such as copiers, fax machines) to go on standby mode to reduce energy consumption.
3. Turn off equipment at the end of the day or before the weekend starts and unplug equipment until it is needed since many machines consume energy even in the “off” position.
4. Replace any incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs which can last up to 10 times longer.
5. Bring old computers, monitors, laptops, printers, faxes and all-in-ones to any Staples store in the U.S. and drop them off at the customer service desk to be recycled properly. All brands are accepted regardless of where they were purchased. Staples also provides ink and toner cartridge recycling and offers $3 back in Staples Rewards for any ink and toner cartridges returned to stores, up to 10 per month.
6. Save materials and important documents digitally on your computer instead of in file cabinets. When printing, use both sides of paper.
7. In desk makeovers or when replacing office products use supplies, tools and equipment that are more environmentally friendly.
8. Use eco-conscious cleaning products when tidying up the office.
9. Consider furniture and cubicles that are Greenguard Certified.
10. Carpool, walk or ride a bike to work.
Image CC licensed by Flickr user thepatrick.
Small businesses appreciate the sustainability support
As someone who works on energy and sustainability issues for a small business organization, I truly appreciate Entrepreneur.com and Staples for their creation of this program. Our small business members have made it clear to us on a number of occasions that they have the will and desire to become more energy efficient and sustainable, but they lack the funding and access to information that they need to actually pursue the information. By creating this program and rewarding proactive small businesses for their efforts to educate themselves and create a guideline for sustainability, Entrepreneur.com and Staples are helping to overcome this hurdle. We will advertise this to our membership, not only in the hope that one of them would be fortunate enough to actually win one of the prizes, but because I feel that simply giving a small business owner a reason to sit down and strategically consider how to make his/her business greener will make him/her more likely to actually carry through on these efforts, regardless of whether or not they get $10,000 to do so.
Tim Kovach,
Product Coordinator, Energy
COSE
www.cose.org/blog