We've noticed that going GREEN is bigger than ever this year. What are people doing to go GREEN? Any ideas or suggestions?

I have replaced as many light bulbs as possible in my lamps to the new energy saving light bulbs. I also made a point to buy plastic bags that can be recycled. If I sell an item that is very small or very large, I ask the customer if they need a bag. Many times they don't want one. I recieve alot of stock that is shipped using way too much paper, etc. I keep the packing and use it to pack up other things to be shipped. I am thinking about carrying some shopping bags that people could take to the grocery store that can be reused, like ones made out of fabric.

Going "GREEN" can mean more of the green stuff in your pocketbook, too. We've always recycled, but reusing items is even better than recycling them. We also save all of our packaging materials--bubble wrap gets sorted by size and put into bins as items are unpacked, kraft paper is uncrumpled, smoothed out, and put on a shelf (after it's been folded neatly)--this keeps us from having to buy a lot of expensive bubble wrap or tissue for fragile items. Packing peanuts are bagged or boxed up so that we can give them to home-based business owners who do a lot of shipping--they appreciate them because they're so expensive if you have to buy them, which helps to build goodwill towards our store.

When we giftwrap, we save the scraps! We hang them on a bath towel rack behind the giftwrap cutter...often we have a piece that will fit the package we're about to wrap. Even smaller pieces are great for wrapping jewelry boxes or ornaments. The paper that we can't reuse gets donated to schools and daycares for art projects, which the teachers really appreciate.

We installed got a programmable thermostat. Instead of turning the heat/air off or down when we leave in the evening, it automatically sets itself to the appropriate temperature, then gradually returns to comfortable shopping level in the 2 hours before we open...so we don't overwork our HVAC unit by ramping it back up all at once. Plus, that way, no one forgets! We're working on installing timers on our lamps so that we don't forget to turn them off--not to mention the convenience factor! (No telling what else my employees could accomplish in that 10 minutes!)

You can also buy a surge protector that doesn't draw electricity when appliances are turned off. Just because it's not "on" doesn't mean power isn't flowing from the socket to the computer/lamp/adding machine/etc...they're a little more expensive, but they pay for themselves in a couple of months.

But my dream "green" goal is to put a green roof on the top of my store some day...which adds another layer of insulation, plus the plants "eat" the CO2 from the car exhaust on the road.

I'd love to hear what everyone else is doing--I'm always looking for new ways to be efficient!

Wow, so many good ideas. I am glad to see other people doing what we do here at our small jewlery store. We save the packing paper and all of the boxes so that we can reuse them. We also use the backside of sheets of paper we get from "junk" mail we receive. I do like the idea of the programable thermostat we will have to look up one of those. Thanks again for sharing such good ideas.