As we prepare to sit down to our annual St. Patty’s Day feast to chow on mounds of corned beef and cabbage and wash it down with a little green ale, I can see from my office that this years table is set with real silverware, not plastic, with a communal roll of paper towels rather than individual napkins, with a stick of butter and a bottle of mustard rather than the individual size packets…and I smile because it is evident that we really are practicing what we preach!

Squeezing 15 people around a lunch table is a challenge, more so is finding the room on the table and in the trash for the instant soup containers, Wheat Thin boxes, potato chip bags, York Peppermint Pattie wrappers, and so on. Thanks to our ever-diligent team of recycling commandos we have a home for every type of container, bag, and wrapper that are conveniently located within throwing distance of the table. And one day Jette will actually make the toss!

While we have a successful laundry list of the green things we do (see list below) we are losing the green battle with the most important liquid in our daily lives – yup – coffee!

Every morning we wait in line holding our little plastic tubs of flavored coffee until it is our turn to plug it into to the Keurig. It is amazing how much love we get from these little

K-cups. But like anything they have their downside – they are not biodegradable or recyclable. We tried tearing one apart to see if we could rinse and recycle it, after the 30 plus minute battle between the mini plastic cup and screwdrivers, kitchen knifes, and yes exact-o blades we gave up.

Having witnessed this defeat, our enviro-friendly office manager did the unthinkable – she unplugged the Keurig and placed it in the storage room. To her credit she was diligent about bringing other makers in to the kitchen that used pods, not plastic. The pods either came in foil, or they tasted horrible, and we weren’t any closer to a greener coffee option. After a few under caffeinated cranky weeks the Keurig made it back to our kitchen. While we don’t feel good about the k-cups we are at least perky and continue to look for other alternatives. So please, if you have any brilliant bean advice, please send suggestions to  liz@kor.com.

Besides the obvious paper recycling bins and ink cartridges here’s what else kor group is doing:

• We conduct paperless production meetings – we view the project spread sheets on a large screen in the conference room.

• We use both sides of paper in the printers.

• Switched to florescent light bulbs. They use less electricity and last five times longer than traditional light bulbs!

• We place our presentations on flash drives instead leaving hardcopies behind for the clients or prospects.

• We stopped using aerosol spray mount over two years ago!

• We shut down all of our computers every night.

• Conduct conference calls whenever possible rather than driving to meetings.

• The Associates ride their bikes to work every day – even in the middle of the winter! And 7 others take public transportation!

• The real recycling commando Brigitte, takes home to recycle everything that the landlord doesn’t – such as ink cartridges, gift baskets, and batteries.

• We no longer accept the free plastic cups from our water delivery company.

• When ordering out we no longer accept the paper plates and plastic utensils.