office chair mat
Plastic chair mats are big, ugly, and bad for the environment. If you need an office chair mat, then please consider getting one made out of sustainable materials such as bamboo. They are more attractive and the earth will thank you, too.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
http://www.apc.com/recycle/index.cfm?isocountrycode=us
I use a battery backup UPS on my home computer equipment for protection from damaging surges and spikes. It allows me to save my files and safely shutdown my computer during a power outage.
I had one for several years and then last year it died. I wondered what I was going to do with the old UPS? I discovered that there was a recycling program with several eco-friendly options available. I sent in my old UPS and got a discount on a new, energy efficient one.
If your old electronics stop working, then please find out where you can recycle them. Please help keep electronics out of the landfills.
Macally EcoFan Bamboo Laptop Stand with Fan
I’ve had this organic and eco-friendly bamboo laptop stand with fan for a few months, and it works well. The fan is powered by USB and is the ultimate thermal solution to cool down your laptop. It is very sturdy and has rubber feet to stop it from sliding. The fan is fairly quiet. It is as loud as the fan in my laptop when it starts to kick in. It is great for home use, but it isn’t very portable. All and all it is a beautiful stand and does what I need it to do at home.
Eco-friendly Deskjet Printer
A couple months ago, I was looking for a new printer for my home office to mainly print documents. I found the HP Deskjet 1000 Printer and decided to check it out. I was very attracted to the green features it offered. It is very straightforward, affordable, reliable, lightweight and compact. It is great for basic printing. I wouldn’t expect professional quality from a deskjet printer anyway. It is fine for what it is.
You can return the ink cartridges for recycling, but some people aren’t aware that you can refill cartridges at some drugstore photo labs or even Costco. I usually refill mine a few times before I recycle it. I would recommend this printer for very basic printing needs and here are the green features below:
Resource conservation and recycling
• Save energy with this ENERGY STAR® qualified printer, which uses less than previous models
• Conserve resources: this model is made of 30% recycled plastic and shipped in recyclable packaging
• Recycle cartridges by returning them via Planet Partners4
Eco-Friendly Mini Business Cards
I have used Moo mini business cards for a few years now. I love the size and they are more memorable than average sized business cards. The only problem is the mini cards are not so green. Moo offers eco-friendly traditional sized business cards, but states that they haven’t found a recycled stock suitable for their printing process. They are also located in England so, traveling across the ocean makes a huge impact on the environment.
I did some research on other mini business cards that are eco-friendly, and one company is Zazzle and the other is Pixxlz. Their cards are slightly longer than Moo mini cards.
Moo mini cards: 1.10″ x 2.75″
Zazzle and Pixxlz mini cards: 1″ x 3.5″
Moo mini cards are extremely affordable and you can have 100 different images on your cards. This is fantastic, but I just needed 1 logo on all cards and I decided to pay extra to have eco-friendly cards.
After much debate I decided to go with Pixxlz. Nothing against Zazzle. Their products seem just as green as Pixxlz. I just felt the design interface wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t want to design online. With Pixxlz they offer Photoshop and Illustrator templates so, it made it easy for me to design and upload. If you are not a designer, then the design online option on both sites will work for you.
The turn around was super quick and I received the cards in one week. I am please with the size, quality, price, and service. I will definitely order from them again in the future.
