4 ms·

Ask HN: Companies that are environmentally friendly?

2 points by novia 9y ago

Hello HN, I have been frustrated by the amount of unnecessary paper my company uses since I started working here. Everyone in my office has an aversion to printing two-sided, and lots of unnecessary duplicate copies are made. A proprietary program we use here will actually print your document one-sided even if you changed the settings in the print menu. I am the only one here who cares at all, and it's frustrating. I just did a google search for "Environmentally Friendly Companies" in an attempt to find a place to work where people actually care about the environment. Well, surprise surprise, in the articles listing the most environmentally friendly companies, my company always made the list. Since I see first-hand that no one here actually cares, this makes me not trust the lists on Google at all. So HN, I ask you instead: Have any of you ever worked for a first class environmentally friendly organization? If so, where do I apply?

smt88 9y ago
Why do you think using extra paper is a huge environmental problem? A lot of paper in the US is harvested sustainably (more trees are planted than cut down) and paper is pretty low impact in every way. The source of your company's energy (and how much energy it uses) is likely a bigger problem, if it's not from a renewable source. Also, check out B corporations. They're all certified for responsibility.
- novia 9y ago
  The harvesting might be sustainable, but the production dumps a lot of methanol and other stuff into the air. If you've ever driven through a paper mill town you probably know the smell. According to [1], pulp and paper is the third largest industrial polluter to air, water, and land in the United States. Additionally, since my company hangs onto every piece of paper printed for about 2-10 years, the storage issue is non-trivial as well. I'm sure there are other corporations with similar outdated policies. [1] https://environmentallaw.uslegal.com/specific-issues/paper/ https://environmentallaw.uslegal.com/specific-issues/paper/