Combine and conquer

One way to cut costs by saving paper is to merge related handouts. Brent Dickinson, business manager at Dickinson-McNeill, PA Veterinary Clinic in Chesterfield, N.J., first started combining client handouts when he noticed how much white space each had. "After a pet was spayed or neutered, we used to hand a client two sheets of paper, one for at-home care instructions and one for the township certificate our city issues," Dickinson says. "Now we hand them one."

The top part of the clients' form includes instructions, and the bottom part features the certificate that clients can cut off for the township. This merger alone saves the clinic a couple hundred sheets of paper a year and helps meet its publicized eco-friendly goals. (See related reading for entire list of goals.) To further their environmental efforts, team members also strive to:

• Use all possible pieces of scrap paper, such as shredding it to replace litter for feline overnight cases.

• Car pool in the company-owned hybrid vehicle, if not walking or riding a bike to work.

• Reduce energy wasted through overseas shipping and purchase goods made in the United States.