Print Grows Trees!

One of the great things about print is that the form of energy we use is incredibly renewable.  When forests are responsibly managed, print has little to no environmental impact--in fact, paper manufacturers can actually contribute to the number of trees we have.

Additionally, paper is far more biodegradable than plastic or many of the other materials we use day-to-day.

That's when I was really excited when I saw the t-shirt that we'll be giving out at the Ohio State Fair in a few weeks! It looks AMAZING and I can't wait for you guys to see it--I'll be posting a picture soon. :-) In the mean time, check out http://www.printgrowstrees.com/ to learn more about sustainability.

Disagree? Concerns? Questions? Tips on other ways to be sustainable? Leave me a comment! I would LOVE to hear from you. :-)

5 Easier Ways to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We've all heard "reduce, reuse, recycle." But how many of us actually do it? Let's fact it, recycling can be inconvenient and many of us feel like we don't have the time or energy to do it. Thing is, recycling isn't just about the environment--it's also about people.  Often trash gets sent to areas that are already struggling and the people that live there have to deal with the stench and sanitation issues that come from unsightly mounds of trash.  So, it's really important to try to reduce the amount of trash we send to landfills as much as possible.

Thankfully, it's starting to become easier. Here are 5 easy ways to recycle:

1) Buy a toothbrush made out of yogurt cups. Plastic is one of the most important things to recycle since it doesn't break down in landfills. Unfortunately, most recycling centers don't take polypropylene (commonly referred to as #5 plastic), the plastic used to make yogurt cups, cottage cheese containers, and vitamin containers.

So, a company called Preserve will take these yogurt cups and turn them into an attractive, effective toothbrush. The container is also an envelope so whenever you buy a new toothbrush you simply drop your old one in the envelope and mail it in so the cycle can continue!

You can buy Preserve Toothbrushes at Whole Foods or Target or online at preserveproducts.com (Preserve also makes other products like plates and measuring cups).

While we're on the subject, drop your yogurt cups and other #5 plastic off in boxes at a variety of Whole Foods locations across the country.

2) Shop second-hand. This is my new favorite thing. It's socially responsible and easy on your wallet.  If you're willing to dig a little, Goodwill often has items that are in excellent quality for very little; Goodwill's stores are also usually fairly clean and the money you spend there help provide jobs for people who need them most.

If thrifting isn't your style, try consignment shops or other local resale stores. I've been looking for a new purse for a while (I'm extremely picky about my purses) and the other day I found a London Fog satchel purse (new retail would be between $125 and $200) in fantastic condition for $18 at local Columbus resale store Rag-O-Rama.  Amazon.com and Craig's List also have a variety of used goods available for purchase.

3) Opt for larger containers as opposed to single serving containers. I know the single serving containers are convenient, but they generate a ton of trash and you usually end up paying more for them. 

• Get a Brita or similar water filter and a reusable water bottle so you can stop buying water bottles. If you use your bottle to drink water, you don't even have to wash it frequently. I really like Klean Kanteen's bottles because they're easy to clean and I like to mix up protein shakes in my water bottles. They're also extremely safe and don't let strange flavors seep into your drink. You can also use the bottle for juice, soda, whatever it is that you drink regularly.

• Instead of buying juice boxes for your kids, buy your child a small waterbottle or, if they're younger, this sippy from Klean Kanteen

• Invest in some good, dishwasher safe reusable food containers and stop buying disposable ones. Preserve also makes these from recycled yogurt cups.

4) Wherever you have a trashcan in your house, put a small can next to it for recyclables. This takes the inconvenience out of throwing things away, and you can pick up inexpensive trashcans at stores like WalMart and Target.  

5) If you don't have curbside pick-up, use therecyclingcenterinfo.com to find a recycling center near you. Pair your recycling drop-off with another weekly errand, like going to the grocery store. That way you don't have to try to remember to make a special trip.

Have other tips I didn't mention? Leave a comment below! I'd love to hear them.

For ways Optimum Companies, Optimum System Products, and Optimum Print Solutions are going green, visit http://www.optimumcompanies.com/ProEnvironmentPolicy.html

Blood Drive!

This Wednesday, June 23, we will be holding our quarterly blood drive here at Optimum (5061 Freeway Dr East, Columbus, OH).  We would love for you to come join us!  I know that giving blood can be intimidating for many, but the fact is that enduring just a couple minutes of discomfort can save someone's life.  Each individual donation is vital, especially in light of recent crises in countries like Haiti.  Type O blood is especially in high demand, as the Red Cross's supply is running low.  If you want to give blood, leave a comment below or call 800-869-0632 so we can schedule a time for you and you don't have to waste time waiting around. 

Give blood--save lives. :-)

IRS Form 1099 Is Changing

According to AnnArbor.com, a small section in the recently enacted healthcare bill will implement changes in the way reporting via 1099 forms is done. According to the new law, more information will need to be provided on these forms, meaning that the purchase of tangible good (e.g. office supplies) will now need to be reported. You can read more here: http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/changes-to-irs-form-1099-reporting/

With all the regulatory changes for both banks and small businesses, it is becoming increasingly important to outsource as much as possible so these companies can focus on their core competencies. A lot of small businesses are hesitant to outsource because they think it would be less expensive to do tasks in house; however, this is not always the case. Because companies with specialties have been able to streamline the process, they are often able to offer competitive pricing and better quality and thus free up your employees to focus on customers and your business's core competency.

What do you think of the new legislation? Leave me a comment below!

On the World Cup and World Peace

Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows that of late I've been obsessed with the World Cup (speaking of which, for live updates and a look at the standings so far, check out http://nytimes.stats.com/worldcup/standings.asp). Now, even though I really like soccer, I'm not exactly what you would call a die-hard fan. I don't have a favorite team, I don't know who the best players are, and I don't even watch many, if any, games during the rest of the year. Nevertheless, when the FIFA World Cup comes around, I'm glued to the computer to get all the latest updates, watching as the cream rises to the top as we get closer and closer to that final game.

The thing I love most about the World Cup, though, has nothing to do with the sport itself. It's the community the sport creates. It's the fact that countries who are at any other time heated enemies can manage to come together and organize a non-violent competition (I mean, North Korea even has a team--that's pretty cool) and that the citizens of those participating countries can rise above their petty internal conflicts to support their nation's team. I know it's a little cliched, but events like the World Cup and the Olympics always give me a tiny speck of hope that maybe world peace isn't such a silly, far-off dream after all.

Just some food for thought--hope you all have a fantastic Monday and that your weeks are getting off to a good start.

Farewell to Ember

There's a little bit of sadness here at Optimum this week as our very own Ember has decided to make a career change and go back to school so that she can teach. In 2008, Ember was voted Employee of the Year, and the things said about her then are still true now:

 

"1. A great Team Player.

2. Always positive with me and great help with any problems.

3. Takes everything in stride.

4. Truly genuine and has Optimum’s success at heart.

5. She has won people over with her actions and work ethic.

6. Has become a driving POSITIVE force within her department but throughout Optimum. It is a pleasure to work with her on a daily basis.

7. I have always admired her composure in any situation. I’ve always wanted to be like her.

8. What a difference this young lady has made in the way she handles the Client Service department and her interactions with the other departments. She wants to learn everything and has a good demeanor about her.

9. She has many qualities of the award plus has taken on many hats effectively in her first year at Optimum. She goes above and beyond on a daily basis and is not afraid of challenges.

10. She has served a s the team leader in a great fashion. Does more than is expected and has made the customer service department function as a whole.

11. The way she treats customer service and the rest of the family is an excellent example for the rest of the team.

12. She has done so much in such a short time and will go above and beyond to do her specific job duties. She is the epitome of what Optimum represents!"

I know for me, having Ember here when I first came to Optimum has been great. She was friendly, personable, understanding, approachable, and did a great job of showing me the ropes. We will all miss her a great deal and we wish her well in her future endeavors.

What do you think?

I love watching videos from RSA Animate. I'm a pretty visual person, and I love the way that they tie together images and speeches so you're not just watching some guy talk for an extended period of time. Its very engaging and creative.

So, today I was watching a video on empathy. The speaker was talking about mirror neurons.Mirror neurons were first discovered in monkeys; when one monkey watched a person cracking and eating a nut, the same neurons fired in the monkey's brain as would have fired if the monkey itself were cracking and eating the nut. Humans have these same neurons and we label the emotion that they cause us to feel "empathy."

What was most interesting to me was this: If we're all soft-wired with these mirror neurons, why do some people do such horrible things to others? Do we have to have had an experience to be able to really feel those same feelings? In other words, I'm wondering if the monkey's same neurons fired because the monkey had cracked and eaten a nut before, but if the monkey were watching someone do something like talk on a cell phone, the monkey may not have been able to "empathize" because it doesn't know what it's like to talk on a cell phone. Or, perhaps mirror neurons are rather weak in some people and can be overpowered by other sociobiological factors....

Anyway, just some food for thought. Would love to hear what you think!

Environmental Follow-up

After my Environmental Tips blog, Dorothy was kind enough to give me some more material about Optimum's environmentally friendly practices. Optimum is working to become a certified Sustainable Green Printing Partnership Printer, a process that takes about a year to complete. According to SGP's website, their mission is "to encourage and promote participation in the worldwide movement to reduce environmental impact and increase social responsibility of the print and graphic communications industry through sustainable green printing practices." In our efforts to become more environmentally sustainable, we have signed SGP's Guiding Principles document. In brief, this means that we have committed to proactively observe all applicable environmental laws, to whenever possible use materials derived from renewable resources, to maximize recycling efforts, to attempt to use raw materials that do not harm the environment, to inform the community about sustainability and to focus on all aspects of sustainability, including social, environmental and economic.

It's been really encouraging to me since arriving at Optimum to see how socially responsible the company is. I've always thought that, beyond providing quality products at good prices, every company has the responsibility to give back to the community. Sadly, a lot of corporations care more about generating a profit than about maintaining ethical practices. It's great to see Optimum can do both.

We're pretty much awesome.

Ok, so the title's a little facetious. But Optimum Print Solutions DID just win another Print Excellence Best of Category Award from Printing Industries of Ohio and N Kentucky (PIANKO) for stationery that we printed for Kids 'n Kamp.

I work entirely on the marketing end of things here and I'm always amazed by the variety and quality of materials that the Print Solutions people create. They're always so crisp and beautifully done. The award is definitely much deserved for all of their hard work.

One of the best videos I've seen in ages...

The surprising truth about what motivates us from RSA Animate: Turns out that, whenever even rudimentary thought is involved, financial incentives do NOT do a good job of motivating us--sure, everyone needs money to eat and provide for themselves, but the key is actually to give people enough money to take money off the table for them so they don't have to worry about it and can focus on their work...beyond that, what really motivates us is purpose. Check it out:

Save the Environment (AND some money!)

Environmental issues have increasingly been at the forefront of political, economic, personal and corporate discussions.  However, if you're like me, it's hard to find affordable, realistic ways to be more environmentally sustainable.  I want to buy sustainable fashion, convert to more efficient appliances and participate in sustainable agriculture by growing my own foods, but as a college student I have to be careful with my money, I typically don't own the building I live in, and apartments and dorm rooms don't exactly lend themselves to growing vine-ripe tomatoes.

However, I recently read this book that I really appreciated. It's called New Day Revolution and was a quick read that had a lot of simple tips I plan to use (and no, no one's paying me to say good things about it :-). I just really enjoyed it and found it helpful--plus it's only $5). Here are some of my favorites:

• Shorten your shower by 60 seconds each day to save 5 gallons of water a day and more than 1,825 gallons a year (on top of $11 in utility bills)
• Ensuring that your tires are fully inflated saves on precious fuel
• Roll down your windows when driving in traffic and turn off the air conditioning to save fuel; on the highway do the opposite--having your windows open on the highway reduces gas mileage up to 10 percent
• Take your roof rack off when you're not using it (the rack adds drag and hurts your fuel efficiency)
• Go inside instead of going through the drive thru: this will reduce CO2 emissions. Also, pulling forward in a parking space so you don't have to back out saves gas.
• Buy organic, fair trade coffee: this ensure that growers are being paid a fair wage and organic coffee is more sustainably produced and better for the environment than other types
• Use your own mug instead of a disposable paper cup and you'll save a tree all by yourself
• Eat a cold meal. Doing so will "save about $1 and keep two pounds of coal in the ground." Turning one meal that you would normally eat meat at into a meatless meal will also save energy.
• Unplug your charger when it's not in use to save $30 a year in electricity costs. (The "average household uses 450 pounds of coal a year just to keep DVD players and computers plugged in").
• Switch your five most used light fixtures to energy saving incandescent bulbs
• Don't flush your medicine: It's bad for the environment. On the other hand, throwing old medications away can be dangerous as well. Instead, take your out-of-date bottles to a local pharmacy for disposal.
• Recycle batteries (which can burst open) and used printer cartridges--or, refill the printer cartridges to save money!

Hope these helped and you heard something new! If you have tips of your own please post a comment below--I'm always looking for good ideas.

For ways Optimum tries to take care of the environment, click here or copy and paste this URL into your web browser: http://www.optimumcompanies.com/ProEnvironmentPolicy.html