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Can a Small Office Be Environmentally Sustainable?

Updated: May 22, 2021




In honor of Earth Month, we wanted to tell you how we keep our office as sustainable and earth-friendly as possible! Just because we’re a small business doesn’t mean we just look for the best bang for our buck. There are lots of little things that we do to help do our part!


We Reduce Energy


  1. Energy Star Appliances - Our printers and computers are all stamped with the Energy Star to make sure that we use as little energy as possible. This includes turning off all of our equipment at the end of the day!

  2. LED Light Bulbs- We are often looking at documents all day long so we use lots of lights. The lightbulbs we purchase are all LED.

  3. While we often travel by public transportation when we can, sometimes we need to drive the company car. By 2022, we are going all Electric!

  4. Our office rental space is in an accredited LEED and Wired Certified Building. If you’re going to have a supplier or vendor, it doesn’t hurt to make sure these bigger companies are also doing their part.


We Reduce Waste

Coffee and Water consumption is an essential part of our daily life. But we try to do so sustainably!

  1. We have reusable coffee mugs! I bought a few for the office and it works great while reducing our carbon footprint.

  2. We even bought bamboo cutlery! They actually work out great, I’m really surprised at how much I like them!

  3. We have company reusable water bottles. This hits three birds with one stone; it’s great marketing, keeps everyone healthy and hydrated, and keeps us from adding waste.

  4. We have reusable bags with our logo on them. Honestly, we used VistaPrint and they came out great!

  5. We use reusable K-cups for our locally sourced coffee, Brooklyn Roasting Company! It took a minute to get used to the reusable K-cups but I actually love it! My grounds are fresh and it really doesn’t take much to clean.


We are a Responsible Consumer and Buy Sustainably!


  1. All of our paper products come from Sustainably Sourced Forests and are certified with the FSC accreditation.

  2. Pens and utensils are made from recycled materials. While it’s the ink that’s the most important, we try to make sure the body of the pen is eco-friendly.


We Recycle

  1. Of course, we recycle all of our paper when we can, that is after shredding! If you use a shredding company, even better! Just make your office an all document shredding office and you’ll be sure to increase the amount you recycle.

  2. We recycle our toner cartridges and the cartridges we do buy come from recycled material. Usually, Staples will accept your recycled cartridges or you can return them usually where you bought them. That’s why I like EZ Cartridges.


We Talk to Our Vendors and Clients

  1. We understand that some things are outside of our control, for example, FedEx and UPS. We need to use their packaging and services. So that’s why we fill out surveys and try to push the importance to use of sustainably sourced materials. Our voices are listened to when we are the client!


We know we’re not perfect when it comes to saving the environment, and though our company is small we still try to do our part! If there are any other ideas on how we can better support our planet, let us know! Look, we didn’t create this post to advertise how great we are, but we want our clients and vendors to know what we’re doing to be more responsible. Hopefully, this might be helpful to other businesses and together we can build a more sustainable planet!


Here is a list of honorable mentions and vendors we use:


Earth Hero - They have everyday products for home or in the office. I like that all the products are already vetted and the prices are reasonable!


Thrive Market - A market for a for shopping.


Public Goods- Another great source for buying office products.


Brooklyn Roasting Company- They have sustainably sourced coffee beans and are an incredible company!


Amazon Smile- When buying from Amazon we buy through Amazon Smile to donate to charity.


Buy Used Office Furniture! Letgo, OfferUp, Salvation Army, and ReMix (In Long Island City) are all good sources for used furniture. (ReMix is my favorite because proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity).


If you’re moving or upgrading, donate your furniture! Ask your accountant but I think it’s a tax write-off. Check out this blog post on organizations in New York City.


Try this green moving company, Movers Not Shakers! We’ve used them in the past and think they’re amazing. They give you the bins to pack everything up! No boxes needed.


Below are the labels we’re looking for when shopping with our vendors!






*Please don’t use this as legal advice.

*There are no paid endorsements, these are just companies that we like to work with or think to make a positive impact while having a great product or service.



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