Now that we’ve gone green here at 622, I was thinking, what can we do here at PostOp beyond what’s expected?  To be honest, I’ve been waiting to write this missive for quite sometime, but now with ME’s move to green, I feel compelled to finally get this down on paper, aahhh…I mean blog.

So beyond recycling of bottles, cans and white paper, what can we do?  Here are my ideas:

1.  If you don’t use it, turn it off, If you do use it, turn it off when you’re done.  I shut down my system every night along with the rack that holds the decks.  On Fridays, I shut down the client iMac and the decks in the rack in the hallway, along with the NTSC monitor.  If you’re the last to leave for the night or the weekend, take a look around and turn off any lights or equipment that doesn’t need to be on overnight.

2. Before you burn that CD/DVD, make sure the client won’t accept a digital file. Often times quicktimes or mpeg files can be copied to the drop box for viewing or sending. If they don’t know how to get on the drop box, show them.  If they still want the disc, have them check your work before burning.  How many times do we burn a disc only to have to burn again because the client made a change or god forbid we made a mistake.  If I’m authoring a DVD with a menu, I’ll send a still image of the menu to the client to get approval before burning.  This helps to avoid unnecessary burns.  If you do have a disc that’s no good for whatever reason, don’t throw it out.  Save it and give it to me.  I’ve been collecting all my “coasters” to send off to be recycled.

3. Think before you print.  Do you really need to print out that email or script or can you forward it or just keep it open in a window and refer to it when needed during the job?

4. Save your extra plasticware, napkins, chopsticks from all the lunch and dinner deliveries.  Don’t just throw away unused stuff into the trash.  Best choice would be to bring your own silverware or plasticware and reuse each time.  Did your food come in plastic containers?  Consider taking home to reuse with you or cleaning and putting in recycling bin.

5. Reuse any white paper for notes or scrap paper.  There’s usually a whole other side out there!  Once both sides are used, then throw it into the recycle bin.

6. Keep the sliding glass doors in the hallways closed along with the dub room door.  Think you’ve heard this one before but not from this perspective.

7. Print labels?  Well we know we can’t print to just one label or print to previously printed label sheets, so if you only need 1 DVD label, make sure you’re not printing to the other 2 labels on the page.  This way you won’t waste the other 2 labels.  You can always use the remaining blank labels for handwritten labels.

I’m sure there are other ways we can save the world here at PostOp. What are your thoughts and ideas?