Marie Kondo famously said, “To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.” Clutter doesn’t just feel oppressive—it is oppressive. Those heaving shelves threaten the productivity of your office.
A typical office worker generates an estimated 4.4 pounds of waste annually, and e-waste is one of the chief offenders. Disposable electronic equipment like printing equipment and digital devices have a way of piling up. The world generates 53.6 million metric tons of waste annually, so it’s time to declutter.
Decluttering Your Office for Dummies
Confronting an entire office head-on demands a strategic approach, particularly if you haven’t cleared your workspace in years. If you have a large business, it doesn’t make sense to empty every drawer and cabinet you can see in one go. Instead, target one small section of your workplace at a time.
Discarding should come first, so create separate piles for disposal, donation, and recycling. Be ruthless. If you haven’t used an item for six months, the odds are fair you’ll never use it again.
You’ll find it easier to organize the rest of your supplies if you consolidate everything into categories. This way, you can identify duplicate items worth donating. Consider creating piles for:
- Paper goods
- E-waste, broken electronics or wires
- Unused toner and ink
- Digital devices and components no longer needed
- Defunct or duplicate equipment like coffee machines, printers, and phones.
Finally, you’ll need to figure out what to do with each pile.
Dealing with Unused Toner and Ink Cartridges
Every year, the world throws away 375 million ink and toner cartridges, each of which takes 1,000 years to decompose. Even though 97% of the materials in cartridges are recyclable. And sometimes, they are even worth money!
Recycling is a crucial way to diminish their environmental impact. It conserves natural resources and energy while saving 11 gallons of oil every seven months. If you have unused cartridges, It might even put extra cash in your pocket.
Where to Sell Unused Toner and Ink Cartridges
WeBuyToner won’t just accept your unused printer cartridges — we’ll pay for them as well. All you need to do is submit photographs and wait for your quote. With extra money in your pocket, you’ll be able to rest easy in the knowledge that you’ve helped fulfill an environmental mission by keeping cartridges out of landfills. Through WeBuyToner, you’ll minimize your environmental footprint, help tackle more significant climate problems, and reduce environmental damage in one fell swoop.
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What To Do With Unused Office Supplies
An office clean-out can lead to a good deed. Many office supplies can enjoy a second life. Those old pens, desks, laptops, and coffee machines might be useless to you, but they could be treasured possessions for needy schools or non-profit organizations.
It can be labor-intensive to donate items one at a time. Larger organizations like The Freecycle Network, iLoveSchools, and Goodwill Industries International will happily accept and refurbish huge swathes of discarded supplies.
If you have e-waste or older electronics that need to be recycled, consider a company like Reboot Electronic Recycling who will come to your office to pick them up for free!
A cluttered office is an unproductive office. Office paper alone accounts for more than a quarter of landfill waste. As that waste decomposes, it releases toxins that pollute surrounding regions.
A donate-discard-resell strategy can bring a fresh productivity injection into your work environment.
Better yet, if you handle it well, it’ll also benefit the planet and its people.
