It’s easy to be worried about the looming impact of climate change—but harder, often, to know what to do about it. Laura Fenton, a writer on home design and sustainable lifestyle, has tapped industry experts to share concrete tips for making your design business more environmentally friendly, through changes in product specifications or office workflow.
Among the pandemic’s silver linings for the design industry was a universal push forward with digital workflows. Interior design firms still struggle to give up paper even after working remotely for three years. Caleb Anderson, partner at the New York firm Drake/Anderson, says it’s worth the effort. “It doesn’t have to be perfect,” says Anderson. “Decide what’s realistic. Ask, ‘Can we cut it by 50 percent?’ That’s more realistic than saying, ‘We’re going completely paperless this year.’”
Cutting down on paper use might seem like small potatoes in the grand scope of the design industry’s waste issues, but this is one piece of the process that your firm can control completely, so it’s a great place to start. Plus, the pulp-and-paper industry is one of the five most energy intensive industries in the world, accounting for around 6 percent. And those trees that don’t get cut down to become paper? They actively absorb carbon.
To help your firm reduce paper waste, we talked to Anderson and other design pros about how they’ve cut back. Here’s what you need to know.
Begin with a paper-based audit
In order to effectively reduce paper usage, you’ll first need to know how much you’re using. To determine how much paper is being used, make a list of every time your company produces a piece of paper. Anderson used his firm’s printer as a guide, checking the log of printed pages for a calendar year and setting a goal to reduce that by half in a year’s time. If your printer doesn’t have an easily accessible log, you might go back and tally how many reams of paper you ordered in a given year instead.
Reject unwanted junk mail
Pay a $4 fee to the Data & Marketing Association to stop most (but not all) promotional mail for a period of 10 years. A service provided through OptOutPrescreen allows you to refuse credit card and insurance offers that often plague individuals, but it won’t stop the offers for your business; for that, you can try reaching out to Experian’s small business division by email and provide your business name, address and a brief explanation of why you’re opting out of business marketing.
Politely decline paper materials—even from brands you adore
When brands come to your office, it’s OK to politely refuse any paper flyers, says Anderson, whose firm prefers to use digital catalogs and look books anyway because they simply don’t have space to store paper assets. Even better, let your rep know before they get to your office—with enough of those requests, brands may eventually decide to limit their print runs, saving paper everywhere.
Move to digital mood boards
Despite turning down marketing materials, Anderson admits that his firm’s biggest paper use was in the team’s design process. “We printed tear sheets for everything,” he says. Sounds familiar? Start storing your options digitally instead if printing each item is part of your decision-making process. “It’s really an exercise in mindfulness,” says Anderson. “Ask yourself, ‘Do I really need to print this?’ When we get so busy, it’s hard to break that habit or routine, but it can be done.” Many designers say that while there’s still no perfect mood board software, they have turned to Google Slides or PowerPoint as an alternative for now.
You can adjust your printer settings
Set your printer’s default setting to two-sided printing to halve your page count. Some printers will even add the document into a queue before printing it, but only print the page after you enter your pin code. Train yourself (and your staff) to preview before you click “print,” checking which pages you really need and then selecting only those to print. Save any paper with only one side. You can either put it through again, or use those pages for notes.
Opt for eco-friendlier paper
Unless you are printing something for a client presentation (we’ll get to that in a moment), use recycled paper instead of premium virgin-pulp paper. Recycling paper is less energy-intensive and emits fewer greenhouse gases. This also helps to save forests. If you can find anything made from postconsumer recycled material, which means it’s sourced from office or curbside recycling programs (not the factory’s own castoffs), that’s even better.
Present digitally
The majority of designers said that clients are comfortable with receiving digital proposals and presentations. Anderson’s team presents on a screen in the firm’s conference room, and they are designing their new offices to make this even easier. Kate Smith of K. Smith X – a construction management firm and design company in Fish Creek Wisconsin – shares her designs either directly on a computer screen or by sending a link to remote clients. Whether you’re using Dropbox, Google Drive or another service, clear and consistent file naming and organization is key.
Send contracts online
You’ve probably already moved to digital contracts, but if you haven’t, consider signing up for DocuSign, which makes it easy to send, sign and countersign your agreements. Smith says it’s well-worth the $300 a year because it also keeps everything streamlined in one central place.
Find a GC with digital savvy
Challenge the professionals around you to use paper with the same mindfulness. “When you start to work with a GC, find out where they stand with paper,” says Cassandra Cymbal, founder and principal designer at Bless This Place, a design firm in Southern California. You may be pleasantly surprised at how willing they are to break from the norm. “Ask what [documentation] they expect on-site, and work together with them to reduce paper waste.”
Worksite Papers to be Chipped
Interior design’s final phase is the most difficult to eliminate paper waste. Tradespeople often aren’t ready to move fully digital. Spec books may have hundreds of page and can be very long. Smith’s solution is to offer two versions of her spec book: One with all the info, and a second snapshot spec packet with only the most pertinent pages. “It’s up to them on how they want to manage it, but we encourage them only to print the snapshot,” says Smith.
Enjoy free Wi-Fi at your venue
Both Smith and Cymbal have seen other firms using QR codes to access the spec book on the job site, but as Smith points out, “The guys I work with laughed at that idea. Many of the places [we work in] are remote, so cell service is dodgy.” However, if you do want to go paperless and try to institute QR codes on-site, you’re going to need Wi-Fi there during the construction phase. If you’ve got cell service at a job site, but your crew is burning through data, consider a dedicated Wi-Fi hot spot; most models can connect five devices at once.
Reuse of the spec book
Cymbal notes that you don’t need to create a whole new binder for the homeowner upon project completion: Just reuse the spec book as the clients’ care, maintenance and warranty package. Her company also gives clients a USB stick containing digital files.
Donate your design materials
It’s possible that the old catalogs and design magazines headed to be recycled can have another life. “I save anything that could be good for decoupage and send an email to the local art school when I have a stack,” says Smith. (She’s onto something: This writer’s son’s preschool teacher was elated to receive a box of interior design magazines for class projects.)
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