Making your office greener can be as simple as skipping your next visit to Staples or Office Depot. Instead, head on over to The Green Office, which is as close as your keyboard (www.thegreenoffice.com).

This online retailer sells calendars, briefcases and pens, batteries, printers, phones, calculators, ink and toner, furniture, cleaning supplies, cups, snacks and utensils. In other words, they have everything that your local office supplier has. And they specialize in recycled, environmentally-friendly and sustainable business supplies

In this store each product is rated on a variety of key indicators of social and environmental responsibility: recycled content; biodegradability or compostability; number of reductions met in chemical content; and if it is third-party certified. There is even an indicator if a product is simply a conventional product and doesn’t meet any special green standards. This category is included since—unfortunate as it is—it is simply impossible to be 100 percent green. And this way you don’t have to shop more than one place.

So, next time you go office supply shopping, head to your computer and pick the certified nontoxic pencils; water-based ink pens; acid-free, recycled paper; bowls made from sugar cane; and shelves made from post-consumer recycled steel content.