How You Can Promote Reuse In Your Business

Julie Starr • January 4, 2022



The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that America’s landfills are filled with a whopping 139.6 million tons of waste annually. Businesses are undoubtedly one of the most significant generators of this waste, so it is crucial for them to modify their purchasing and current processes to reduce waste volume. Reusing materials is one of the best ways your company can lower the amount of waste it contributes to landfills every year, making it more sustainable. Here are some ideas to promote reuse in your company.

  • Use envelopes and packaging again

It is vital to note that your average envelope begins as a tree or several trees. Additionally, transforming raw materials into envelopes demands top-notch equipment and renewable and non-renewable resources. Consequently, reducing your need for new envelopes through re-usage lessens the waste that ends up in landfills and the resources required to produce them. You can reuse envelopes sent to your company by detaching the glue that holds them together. Then, fold these envelopes in the opposite direction to obtain a clean area where you can write any relevant addresses.

You can also use masking tape to conceal envelopes’ original addresses and write new ones with a black marker. Furthermore, a reported 91% of all packaging waste ends up in landfills or the environment. Therefore, consider reusing your packaging waste to make your enterprise more sustainable. For this, you can use packaging like cardboard boxes, jiffy bags, and wooden pallets again, as long as they are durable. Similarly, you can keep old bubble wrap to reuse as packaging, so keep this in mind.

  • Use a VoIP system

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is an excellent communication technology that enables you to make voice calls with a broadband internet connection instead of an analog phone line. This technology is also highly flexible, allowing you to readily integrate it into your present office hardware through software development. As such, your company can continue using its original telephones and connect them to its VoIP system, allowing a rapid change over from one system to another. On the other hand, traditional landline systems require regular upgrades because they lack features like video calls and screen sharing that modern businesses need. These upgrades are costly and often wasteful. Replacing a telephone system requires removing critical equipment and wiring, which eventually ends up in landfills where it will take several years to completely break down. Consequently, consider searching for the best VoIP phone system provider for your business to ensure that you can reuse your telephone system and avoid contributing to landfill waste. These IP phones are wire-free, and it takes just one phone call to your provider to upgrade your VoIP service.

  • Refill your toner and ink-jet cartridges

You have likely thrown away a printer cartridge more than once a month if you do a lot of printing daily in your business. However, numerous experts agree that doing this isn’t always the best option; you can save good money by getting your empty printer ink cartridge refilled instead of purchasing a new one. In many cases, you can save up to 70% of the price of a new cartridge if you choose to refill instead of buying new ones. Additionally, refilling your printer cartridge instead of putting it in the trash will help the environment. For starters, refilling diminishes the overall amount of garbage that ends up in landfills. Also, remember that many printer ink cartridges are made from non-biodegradable materials like plaster. It would take hundreds of years for even the smallest ink cartridges to disintegrate. Therefore, refilling your cartridges will reduce soil destruction as well as air, land, and water pollution.

  • Donate your old office furniture and used equipment

It isn’t uncommon to get rid of various old furniture and equipment around your office occasionally. However, you can donate these unwanted items to various non-profits, schools, and charitable organizations that reuse them instead of sending them to landfills. Donating your furniture also ensures that fewer raw materials are required to produce new ones, preventing unnecessary pollution. Furthermore, donating your office furniture and equipment ensures that these items can be used throughout their entire life cycle. Many consumers get rid of items that can still be used because they are no longer deemed aesthetically attractive. Therefore, donations ensure that things you don’t consider useful or pleasant don’t end up in landfills simply because you don’t fancy them anymore. Instead, you can make your waste items a gift for someone who needs them, promoting longer usage.

5 Everyday Items That Can Quietly Boost Your Brand

By Julie Starr • July 17, 2025
The best branding doesn’t always come from big campaigns or expensive graphics. Sometimes it’s the smaller stuff that leaves the biggest impression. Things people actually use, touch, or carry with them. That’s where your brand can quietly make its mark without needing to shout about it. If you’re only focusing on social media and business cards, you’re leaving a lot on the table. Here are five overlooked ways to get your name out there that feel natural, useful, and more personal. Thank-you slips If you’re already sending out orders, there’s no reason not to include a short thank-you slip. You can easily get these made through any decent online print shop , and they’re usually pretty cheap to run off in small batches. Just a simple note that says thanks, maybe with a reminder to follow you online or a cheeky discount code for next time. It’s quick, thoughtful, and makes the whole order feel more finished. Customers notice that kind of detail, especially when everything else they buy online comes with zero personality. You don’t need a complicated design either. Just something clean with your logo, a message that sounds like you, and maybe a social handle. The point is to give them a reason to come back or remember your name without it feeling forced. Branded zip pouches If you sell physical products, offer services, or run events, small zip pouches are surprisingly effective. Think of the kind you’d use for stationery, receipts, or travel bits. You can get your brand printed on the side and hand them out with purchases or include them in welcome packs. People keep them because they’re actually useful. They get tossed in handbags, school bags, or glove boxes and your logo just keeps turning up. Cleaning cloths for glasses or screens This one works brilliantly if you’re in tech, health, beauty, or anything involving screens or eyewear. A simple microfibre cloth with your branding on it can go a long way. Everyone needs one. Whether they use it for glasses, a phone screen, or their laptop, it’s something they hang onto. It’s not the kind of thing people throw away, and that means your name sticks around too. Receipt envelopes You might already use little envelopes to hand over receipts or business cards. Branding those envelopes is a small change that makes a big difference. Instead of someone getting a scruffy bit of paper in a plain sleeve, they’re handed something that feels a bit more finished. You can even add a message inside. Doesn’t need to be anything dramatic. A simple “thanks for visiting” or “see you next time” is enough to add a personal touch. Wet wipes or mini hand gels If your business is in hospitality, food, or anything hands-on, branded wet wipes or pocket-sized hand gels are surprisingly popular. People actually use them, especially at festivals, food stalls, pop-ups, or kids’ events. They end up in handbags or cars and stick around longer than you think. They don’t scream “marketing” either. They’re practical, and when done right, they make your business feel thoughtful. That’s what good branding does, it shows you’ve thought ahead.

How Student-Led ‘Energy Audits’ Are Cutting School Costs (and Lighting the Way Forward)

By Julie Starr • July 14, 2025
What happens when students stop waiting for adults to fix things and start conducting their own energy audits? Money gets saved. The lights get switched off. Data gets analyzed. And a quiet revolution in sustainability begins—inside schools that once overlooked their own inefficiencies. Across the globe, student-led energy audits are proving that change doesn't always need to come from a policy shift or a major capital budget. Sometimes, it begins with a clipboard, a spreadsheet, and a group of curious minds asking: Why are the hallway lights on at noon when sunlight floods the building? The Energy Detectives These audits aren’t science fair projects. They’re rigorous investigations, often done in collaboration with facilities staff, local environmental nonprofits, or even engineering mentors. Students go from classroom to classroom measuring electricity usage, checking for phantom loads , and identifying where heat is escaping in winter or air conditioning is leaking in summer. One high school in Ontario saved over $12,000 a year after its Grade 11 physics students ran an energy audit and suggested simple changes—LED upgrades, motion sensors in bathrooms, and smarter heating schedules. They didn’t just propose ideas. They pitched them with spreadsheets, thermal images, and payback timelines. It worked. Learning That Pays Off—Literally Unlike textbook learning, these audits blend real-world math, environmental science, economics, and persuasive communication. Students aren’t just learning about sustainability. They’re doing it. And the savings add up. From dimming overlit hallways to reprogramming HVAC systems that run all weekend for empty buildings, students are surfacing blind spots that administrators often overlook. In some districts, their findings are influencing energy policy. Elsewhere, the audits have inspired school boards to hire sustainability coordinators—often alumni of the student programs themselves. There’s something poetic about a school funding new books or laptops from money saved by students who found out the vending machines didn’t need to be plugged in 24/7. Why This Matters More Than Ever With education budgets tightening and utility costs rising, every dollar saved is a dollar that can go back into classrooms. And here’s where it gets interesting from a family finance perspective, too. If you’re a parent setting aside money for post-secondary savings, every bit of school efficiency helps. Fewer energy costs might mean more programming, better STEM facilities, or even bursaries. That raises a broader point: when families save for their children’s future, they often look into RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans). And many wonder—is a RESP deduction available on my taxes? While contributions themselves aren’t deductible, the gains grow tax-free, and students often pay little to no tax when they withdraw the funds during school. A Movement Worth Replicating These audits aren’t just an exercise in environmentalism. They’re leadership labs. Students learn how to spot inefficiencies, speak up in board meetings, and make a business case for change. They don’t just flip switches—they shift mindsets. And they carry these habits into adulthood. The result? A generation growing up not only with climate anxiety, but also with tools to tackle it.