Prepare to make a case for changes :

Your first step should be to quantified the environmental and economical impact of your operations. These numbers will help you compare your progress and achievements. Remember that most environmental initiatives translate into a tangible cost reduction.

Start with simple stuff. You may find out how much paper you have purchased and used in the last year or two. The more data you have the better, try to get atleast two years, divide the purchases by semester. For example you can use a table like the one bellow:

You can start quantifying expenses and quantities used on items like:

paper for copy machines, printers and others.
cotton paper and printing charges for letter head and envelopes.
alkaline batteries for appliences like remote controls.
post-it notes, pre-printed fax-covers and telephone messages slips.
catridges of ink for ink printers, copiers, and laser printers.
fuser and drum replacements for laser printers and copy machines.

You can also start by recording time expend on certain procedures like printing, making copies and delivering letters and memos.

There are plenty more stuff that we can quantify for later evaluations, yet some of them require quite some time and resources. Some are quite impossible due to the way the university operates. For example your electricity consumption. We encourage you to use your creativity and find other things to quantify. The more numbers that you have, the easier it would be to convince people.

Once you implement your changes you must keep a continues record of these items to be able to evaluate your progress and demonstrate your case. Remeber that these statistics will not only help you but would also help in promoting changes in other offices and entities.

There are many reasons to implement changes. For some people the reasons are just clear and you would be able to get support from them almost immediately. It is aslo easier to implement changes when you have control of certain aspects of your operations, especially purchases. When you depend on a higher hierarchy to manage these aspects of your operations you may need a greater degree of persuasion and a good set of reasons. While it may be clear for you and me that there is no need for a reason other than because we have to, for some people management is all about numbers, and they mean money.

If this is your case chances are that the changes that can create a greater impact are beyond your control. Yet let there be no doubt that will is all you need to make a change. First it is time to make it clear that our success as an institution is not measured by economical efficiency but by our social responsibility. Having an environmentally responsible organization is not really that hard. Its just that our procedures have a stiff resistance to changes. One of the best reasons to use in this case is the known fact that environmental initiatives can create a value for the organization.

First it may reduce direct costs. One single Energy Star appliance can save up to $60 dollars a year.
Almost every single item we use is responsible for carbon emissions and other pollutants that result from the burning of fossil fuels, chemicals and materials used during its production or use.

The most persuasive reason that you can use is a cost benefit. The good thing about implementing some of these initiatives is that we can easily forecast and measure the results before hand.

For example lets considering paper use. Assuming that we pay an average of $3.00 for a ream of paper (~500 sheets) and use one ream every 10 days we are expending approximately $9.00 a month, thats $108.00 a year. If we were to replace most of our communications to an electronic medium we could easily reduce the use to one ream a month. If we do that we would be saving $72.00 a year or 67% percent of our budget. The reduction of paper will automatically mean that you would also have a reduction in cost associated with printers, fax machines, copiers, etc.

Another example of estimating cost reduction is Energy Star. Most companies have an Energy Star specification sheet for their products. Big appliances already have an Energy Star label on them or you can find this information on the product manual or the internet. In average a non Energy Star Laser Printer consumes 318.16 KWh (Source EPA) of energy. An Energy Star compliant has an average of 138.12 KWh (Source EPA). You can easily estimate the cost by just getting the latest electric bill. The AEE bills in kWh and the price of the electricity varies depending on the price of fuel. On the AEE bill look at the column labeled "CONSUMO", this is the total kWh used for that period. Take the total amount paid and divide it by your kWh consumed and you would get the estimate price of kWh for that month. Most of the time it fluctuates from 10 to 15 cents the kWh. In average is 12 cents. In January 2004 it was 13.15 cents kWh. Now lets multiply this by 318.16kWh of a conventional Laser Printer and we get $41.84 a year. Compare that number to $18.16 of an Energy Start complaint Laser Printer. If you use a Laser Printer for an average of 5 years you could save $118.40 in only one printer.

At one point or other you will have to defend your choices and you must be prepare to provide some reasons. There will be a day when an environmental friendly product will have a higher initial cost compared to another traditional one, for example paper. Since there is currently no market for recycled paper its cost is higher than new paper and not only that but current University regulations only required that 20% of the purchases be of recycled materials. There is also a lot of traditional thinking and traditional process to challenge. A common example is the letter head and envelopes. For some trivial and short minded reason if it is not printed on cotton paper or colored paper it's not an official document. A well designed template printed on a non bleached recycled paper with a small footer reading "We care for the environment..." is far more sophisticated than any other fancy approach, not only that it would also be cheaper.

As leader you can read an implement many of the suggestions offered on this website. Trying to implement these changes by yourself is impossible. You have to create a cause among your peers. If you impose a change most likely they would do it while you are around and the people far from your direct supervision would probably never do it.

A good a approach is to find people with similar belief and ideas and get them involved first. They can be a valuable help.

Take time at a meeting and explain why are they changing something.

Allow for a transition period.

Do not try to implement too many changes at the same time or you may overwhelmed your personnel.

If you have different sections, try implementing a change systematically by sections taking into account the impact that the change may have on their work.

You have the main responsibility of enforcing a change, else it would only by a hype that will eventually fade away. Be constructive and proactive when enforcing a change

Remember to measure changes when possible.

By now you should be wondering where you should start. What about paper?