PRIM&R is aiming to help our planet be healthy and safe!  Not only have we focused on “greening our meetings” but we’ve also carried over our environmental practices to our office (and homes).  We wanted to share some of the endeavors we are undertaking so you can better understand how we at PRIM&R are “going green” (and know that we practice what we preach!).  We hope this gives some ideas for greening your office or home.  Know of something that’s not on this list?  Please share it with us.

At our office…

• Recycling - We recycle everything possible.  We have recycling bins in the kitchen for cardboard, plastic, glass, and cans, and each staff member has a recycling bin at his/her desk for paper that can’t be reused.
• Paper
  • Any piece of paper that comes through our office that has only been used on one side gets put in a box near the print stations to be reused. 
  • We use Green Print, a free software program that allows you to preview print jobs and remove those pages that don’t need to be printed. 
  • We’ve changed our default page margins so that they are set at 0.75”.  It might seem like a simple change but it can save over 6 million trees per year! 
• Paper towels - We buy recycled paper towels, and have hand towels in the kitchen to reduce the amount of paper towels we use. 
• Electronic equipment - We dispose of all electronic equipment (computers, monitors, etc.) appropriately.  
• Transportation – We encourage employees to take public transportation whenever possible (not hard to do since we work in Boston!), providing a partial transportation subsidy to aid those who do.
• Electricity
  • We shut down or “hibernate” our computers every night to save energy. 
  • We plan to install motion-sensing light switches, which saves energy (and cuts down on the electric bill!). 

At our meetings….

According to a recent article from the ASAE & the Center for Association Leadership, "a study conducted in 2003 by Meeting Strategies Worldwide showed that a typical five-day conference for 2,500 attendees will use more than 90,000 cans or bottles, 75,000 cups, and 87,500 napkins.  From an exposition standpoint, a typical 100-square-foot exhibit booth generates 35 pounds of waste on average, which means a trade show of 300 booths can easily generate more than five tons of waste."

So, we’ve focused on the efforts below to offer you “greener” meetings….

• Whenever possible, we print conference materials on both sides of the paper to save resources.
• Educational materials are made available to attendees on CD-ROM, rather than printed in binders.
• We use an online Conference Handouts Center to prevent the copying of unnecessary materials.
• We encourage attendees to recycle name badge holders. 
• We use an electronic evaluation system. 
• We utilize an electronic abstract submission process, which reduces the amount of paper used.
• We work to hold our conferences at hotels and convention centers that have the same environmental philosophies that we do. 

At home you can…

• Shop at local farmer’s markets.  Learn about restaurants that support environmental sustainability on localharvest.org.
• Bring reusable bags to the grocery store, and avoid plastic bags at the checkout counter.  Some grocery stores will give you a discount for each bag you bring in yourself.
• Recycle cell phones through iRecyclePhone.com.  This organization will plant a tree for every phone donated.
• Place sand-filled milk cartons or bricks into toilet basins to reduce water consumed by flushing.
• Contact the National Wildlife Federation to certify your yard, roof, etc. as a wildlife habitat.
• Go to Catalog Choice and ask that you be removed from those catalogs you no longer wish to receive.
• Use DIY green cleaning products (vinegar for window cleaning, baking soda, vinegar, and water for drain cleaning, etc.).
• Use low-VOC paints when painting a room.
• Unplug appliances and electronics, especially chargers (for cell phones, ipods, etc).
  PRIM&R staff tip: Keep everything that can be unplugged daily on a surge protector and only unplug the surge protector.  No need to unplug three or four different appliances!
• Consult National Geographic’s Green Guide for tips on organic groceries, earth-friendly products, etc. 
• Visit the Sierra Club website for greening tips.  Or, sign up for their electronic newsletter, and get a new green tip in your inbox every day!

Lastly, we encourage everyone to lessen their impact on the environment by calculating and offsetting their carbon footprints!  For more information, please visit the Carbon Footprint website.

Questions?
Please contact us via e-mail or telephone at 617.423.4112, ext. 0. Thank you!