The kitchen can be a huge carbon footprint! Listed below are some areas of where you can save money in the kitchen with the added benefit helping the environment. 

Refrigerator: 

• The refrigerator is the single biggest energy-consuming kitchen appliance. 

What it cost: 

• Opening and closing the door costs between $30-$60.00 per year

What you can do:

• Regularly clean coils of office refrigerator and defrost if needed.
• Keep refrigerator full to operate better. If empty fill with water bottles
• Buy Energy-Star appliances
• Downsize appliances if you can

Water 

What it Cost 

• Water costs (depending on where you live) about $.01 a gallon 
• Americans through out over 35 billion plastic water bottles every year

What you can do 

• Stop buying bottled water
• Install a water filter system or use a Brita Filter System 
• Don’t run water unnecessarily 
• Don’t pre-rinse your dishes. 
• When washing hands, turn water on a fraction of volume 
• Store water in refrigerator for consistent cold water 

Resources: http//www.emagazine.com/view/?1125

Paper/Napkins/Utensils 

What it cost

• Depending on what you provide, could cost several hundred dollars per year. 

What you can do

• Stop using plastic and paper plates, utensils, napkins. Bring your own. 
• Stop using paper towels.
• Provide cloth napkins, towels for clean up (Assign someone to launder) 
• Bring your own utensils and mugs to work. 
• store food in glass porcelain containers. Fewer chemicals will likely leach from the contains into the food. 

Microwave

What you can Do

• Keep Microwave clean and maximize it’s energy

Cost: 

• It costs ten cents to cook 1 item in a microwave, cooking the same item in an oven would cost 48 cents.

Eliminate Vending Machines Waste:

Why?

• A typical refrigerated vending machine consumers 400 Watts about an annual operating cost of $225.00.

Cost:

• Delamping vending machines can save $100 per year.

Plastic Bags

What you can do

• Use leftover paper or plastic bags as liners for your trash cans
• Don’t empty trash with only a few items, either consolidate into 1 bag or empty when full. 
• Don’t even use a liner. You probably would have no need if you composted! 

Cost: 

• Average cost of 20 kitchen trash bags is $5.00. 

Coffee Machines

What you can do

• Use recycled coffee filters
• Turn Coffee Machine off when not in use
• Buy only Fair Trade Coffee 

And of course have several recycling bins labeled for easy disposal. If large companies can do it, certainly any office can set up and recycle.  

Estimated Total Savings per year over $1,000.