law firm

Does your office recycle? If not, you might want to think about starting a program. Recycling is not only good for the environment but is also good for business in a variety of ways.

Recycling Saves Money

Recycling can minimize garbage disposal costs and potentially earn revenue for your business. Recycling reduces the amount of trash in your dumpster, as well as the frequency of trash pick-ups. You may even be able to negotiate your waste contracts to reduce the cost of trash collections. On average, it costs more for businesses to dispose of waste than to recycle the same amount of items. In fact, recycling is less expensive than land-filling since materials are being reused instead of occupying more space in landfills.

Recycling Can Save Office Space

Recycling paper files and scanning them into digital files will save a considerable amount of space in your office. After receiving documents, scan the necessary paperwork into a digital file and recycle your paper (or up-cycle it as printer paper or note paper). Not only does this save space in the office, but it saves money spent on file cabinets and paper as well. While this can benefit any office, it will be particularly space efficient for law firms whose work product is mostly contained on paper.

How To Start A Recycling Program

1. Start Small

If your office has never had a recycling program before, it is a good idea to start small, recycling only one or two categories of items. For instance, you may decide to start with paper and aluminum soda cans. Starting small allows you to more easily make decisions on how to begin. It will also allow you to make adjustments to the program as you deem necessary.

2. Appoint a Recycling Director

Any new initiative needs a leader to help design and implement the program. Find an employee who is already interested in recycling and will be a good advocate for the recycling program. Depending on the size of your law firm, you may need more than one director on the team.

3. Find a Collection Service

Before you begin collecting recyclables, it is a good idea to find and engage the recycling service. They may have rules that you need to be aware of, such as the types of bins with which you will be collecting recyclables. Contact a service before you make any decisions about how the program will be implemented so that you can include practices that fit their requirements.

4. Begin Collecting Recyclables

Once you decide which service you will be using, ask if they provide containers. If they do not, ask if they have a suggestion for what types of containers you should purchase. Once you have acquired containers, explain the program thoroughly to all staff and begin collecting.

Recycling is good for the environment and good for your firm. Your law firm can save money and save storage space in the office. You also may have some clients who are enthusiastic about recycling and will appreciate your effort to keep our world green.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also like “How Can Law Firms Recycle Computers and Electronics?”

Many law firms are beginning to do their part to save the environment by implementing recycling programs and other strategies. Even the smallest changes can mean big results. For law firms, reducing the amount of paper used during the course of business is a large area in which they can decrease their carbon footprint. There are several ways your court reporter can help you reduce your paper use.

Order a Copy Transcript

When you order a transcript, the ordering party will traditionally receive an original transcript that is sealed in a paper envelope and a copy of the transcript for your use. The sealed transcript is necessary at the time of trial when you need to file the original transcript with the court. However, many lawsuits settle before making it to trial. One way to save paper is to have the copy printed for your use when you order the transcript, but you can ask that the original not be printed and sent until you request it at the time of trial. You can imagine how much paper this would save if everyone used this practice.

Electronic Transcripts

You may also consider receiving your copy of the transcript in electronic format instead of hard copy. Ordering electronic transcripts to be emailed to you again allows you to hold off on printing the transcript unless and until the time you actually need the testimony in paper form. You may also decide to only print out a partial transcript or a condensed transcript from your electronic copy in your office. Transcripts that are emailed to you can be saved to your firms’ client folders and can also be accessed at any time.

Electronic Exhibits

Not only can you order electronic transcripts, but you can order electronic exhibits as well. Your court reporter can take the exhibits and have them scanned into digital form to include with your transcript. At O’Brien and Bails Court Reporting, we are able to digitally link your electronic exhibit to the pages in the transcript where the exhibit is mentioned. This makes it easy for you to refer to the exhibit while you are reading the transcript. Ask your court reporter if this is a service they can provide.

Paperless Saves

Conserving on paper by requesting electronic transcripts not only saves the environment, but using less paper can also save you money in a couple different ways.

Saving Space

You will save on space at your firm or storage facility by having less paper to keep in active files and closed files. This can also save you money because you will need to purchase less storage space for files.

Saving Money

Ordering electronic transcripts saves you money in postage. Your court reporter will incur less in postage expenses because less paper will be sent through the mail. It is likely that your court reporter will pass that savings on to you.

Green Discounts

Using these green strategies means your court reporter will be using less resources to produce your transcripts. Some court reporting firms pass that savings on to you in the form of a green discount. For instance, at O’Brien and Bails Reporting, we offer a 5% discount if you order transcripts in these forms that use less paper. We want to help you in your efforts to reduce your carbon footprint. Not all court reporters offer this green discount, so be sure to ask the next time you hire a court reporter.

Reducing your carbon footprint can be accomplished in a lot of different ways. Reducing the amount of paper your firm consumes is a good idea for you and for the environment. Try out these creative ways in which your court reporter can help your law firm in its effort to go paperless.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to sign up for our free guide, “How Much Should I Expect to Pay For Court Reporting Services?”

Starting a Recycling Program in Your Law Firm