We all have heard people talk about win-win strategies and have
all probably used the term ourselves in conversation. Think for a
moment about a real estate transaction in which a landlord is
negotiating with a prospective tenant to operate a restaurant the
landlord owns. The landlord may be interested in a long-term
tenancy in order to avoid future vacancies, while the tenant may be
solely interested in reduced rent. By negotiating for a long-term,
lower-rent lease, both parties to the transaction come out as
winners.
We all have heard people talk about win-win strategies and have all probably used the term ourselves in conversation. Think for a moment about a real estate transaction in which a landlord is negotiating with a prospective tenant to operate a restaurant the landlord owns. The landlord may be interested in a long-term tenancy in order to avoid future vacancies, while the tenant may be solely interested in reduced rent. By negotiating for a long-term, lower-rent lease, both parties to the transaction come out as winners.
Win-sin strategies in the environmental field are common. Dishwashers serve as a prime example. Washing a full load of dirty dishes in the dishwasher saves water, saves energy and saves work. It’s a win-win-win all around. Similarly, solar panels produce the most electricity when the sun peaks and the demand for electricity is also at its peak.
Another eco-strategy that usually results in win-win solutions is waste prevention. Waste prevention is the term for practices that reduce or eliminate the generation of a waste product. A prime example is printing on both sides of a piece of paper. By using one-half as much paper, there is one-half as much to recycle, one-half as many trees are consumed, and one-half as much shelf space will be dedicated to storing the record. Relying on electronic data storage and not printing out files has the potential to eliminate paper water and tree consumption entirely.
There are many, many simple ways to practice waste prevention. Here are three key ideas:
Think before you print or copy: Before printing or copying something, ask yourself the following two questions: 1) Do I really need a hard copy of this? 2) Should this be double-sided? By carefully considering these two questions, you can dramatically cut down on your paper use and expense.
Seek out less packaging: There are really two key ideas here. First, when shopping, look for products that have less packaging with them. This both eliminates your need to deal with the packaging and sends a economic message to manufacturers that products with less packaging are selling better. Second, if your place of business ships out a product, think about ways to reduce the packaging involved and use only easily-recyclable packaging like newspaper.
Look at the waste created: Both at home and at work, look at the waste created and think about ways to reduce the amount next time. Waste represents wasted resources and wasted money. If a manufacturing process creates a lot of waste, it is obviously inefficient. Asking a simple question like, “Are the raw materials available in a different shape?” could eliminate the need to trim the raw material and dramatically reduce the waste produced in the process.
Similarly in the home, buying only as much as you need while shopping for food is an excellent strategy for reducing your food waste generation. While all of these waste prevention ideas require a little bit of thought and creativity, they all have the potential to reduce your waste and save you money. So think a little bit today and save money tomorrow.
Eco-Fact of the Week: Waste prevention frequently saves money. Think about it, the less paper you use, the less paper you buy.
Eco-Web Pages of the Week: Believe it or not, the California IntegratedWaste Management Board actually has a web page entitled “Waste Prevention World.” Now if that isn’t made-to-order for this week’s column, I don’t know what is. Check it out at www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WPW.
Anthony Eulo is a program administrator for the City of Morgan Hill who rarely prints out e-mails. He welcomes your questions, comments, and thoughts and can be reached at en*****@************ca.gov or 779-7247.
