Here at CFgear, we always talk about and support the host of green initiatives underway throughout the world.  From recycled boxes, to reusable plastic, to literally shipping with recycled newspapers. Instead of getting your flash drives wrapped in yesterday’s grocery circular, we now use leftover rolls of newspaper from a local printer on some orders.  If you happen to get one wrapped in blank newspaper, don’t just toss it away.  To help motivate you to reuse it, sometimes we will write a note on the paper with a phone number to call me and get a $50 gift card for helping keep the “recycling cycle” going, so take a look before just tossing the packing paper away on your next order!

Recently, I was traveling through the mid west on my way to visit family.  Along the way, I kept notes on at least five ways I personally witnessed where flash drives could have saved time, money and the environment.  Here’s my list, in no particular order:

1. I needed new wiper blades after hitting a thunderstorm in Wisconsin.  When I went to the car care center, they nearly rolled out a catalog with 1000 pages of items in it.  Instead of printing that catalog – which probably has to be reprinted every couple of months – why not put it on a flash drive? It could then be updated as needed via the internet and copied conveniently to flash drives versus wasting hundreds of thousands of sheets of paper.
2. Once I arrived at our destination, we were having a few family gatherings at a local convention center.  While at the center, I noticed a trade show was underway.  Sitting on the table were mountains of flyers, bi-folds and CD discs.  Save the paper and use a flash drive.  Speaking of CDs, did you know that it takes 50% more energy to create a compact disc in comparison with a flash drive?
3. When I arrived home and gathered two weeks of mail, I was amazed at the amount of direct mail pieces I had: literally, a mail crate full.  Did you know that you could send a flash drive once, and, in the future, you can push an update through the internet to the potential customer’s flash drive?  No paper costs to produce the piece, no fuel needed to transport the item, no fuel needed by my post office to deliver it to my door, etc.  So simple.
4. When we arrived at our destination, a family member had more than 100 binders loaded with information on the week and places of interest, etc.  I almost cried.  All that paper that would simply be thrown away at the end of the week.  As usual, I had a supply of flash drives with me, and we had fun teaching the family how they could help be “greener.”
5. Finally, before we left on our trip, the initial plan was to have everyone send their photos and videos to each other once the visit was over.  My idea was to save all the computer time and have one individual in charge of photos and one in charge of videos.  At the end of the visit, they compiled the entire week onto beautifully etched Pedal flash drives, and everyone was able to take home all their memories without firing up more than 100 computers to download, copy, print and other time and energy consuming activities to accomplish the same thing.

The moral of my rambling is simple…. it is one thing to “say” we are doing what we can to be green, but there are many things we can all “do” (including myself) to keep our beautiful earth in great shape for the generations that will follow us!  Have a great “green” day!

Related posts:

1. Going Green with Your Marketing
2. Go Green with Custom Flash Drives for Conferences
3. Go Green at Conferences with Flash Drives