Most people have taken at least a few steps to go green at home. Whether you’re recycling more, switching to organic food, using CFL or LED light bulbs, or cleaning with non-toxic products, you’re probably doing something. But what about going green when you’re NOT at home?

While it may be difficult to control the major parts of your daily work life - after all, at large office complexes, the HVAC and lighting are often centrally controlled - there are plenty of small changes that make a difference. And with Earth Day approaching on April 22, it’s a perfect time to go green at work! Here are 10 easy ways to get started greening your workday.

10. Unsubscribe from paper mailing lists. Make it a point to be taken off paper mailing lists from conferences, trade publications, and business reading. If you still want to hear from them, opt for electronic delivery instead. Easy ways to remove yourself from paper mailings include CatalogChoice.org for consumer catalogs and the Direct Marketing Association, which is responsible for 75 percent of all national junk mail. Otherwise, simply call the organization responsible for the mailing directly - make sure you have the mailer handy to provide them with subscription details.

9. Be the last person out. When you attend a meeting in a conference room or shared space, try to be the last person out so you can shut off the lights and electronic equipment like computers, projectors, and sound systems. Everyone assumes someone else will do these things, so they often get left on, wasting energy when no one’s around. Consider yourself the Lights Fairy and be the last person out.

8. Treat yourself to an office plant. Purchase or grow office plants to offset volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon emissions. Varieties like Peace Lilies, Philodendrons, Chrysanthemums, Bamboo Palms, and Ficus trees are especially good at reducing indoor air pollution and removing toxic chemicals in the air. And they’re incredibly easy to care for, so you can go green without needing a green thumb.

7. Reduce or eliminate your paper usage. Print on both sides of paper. Recycle every scrap you might otherwise throw away. Utilize file-sharing websites like DropBox or Google Docs rather than printing paper files to share and maintain. Or use your company’s network, or cd-roms, zip drives, and external hard-drives to store documents you’d otherwise print and file.

6. Opt for flextime. Try adjusting your work hours to be before or after the peak commute times. For example, if the busiest commute times in your town are between 8:00 and 9:00am and 5:00 and 7:00pm, try commuting to work around 7:00am and commuting home around 4:00pm.  By making this shift, you will reduce the time you sit in traffic, wasting gas and causing additional pollution. A bonus to flextime: a recent study shows that employees with flexible jobs have better health and well-being than those without. So this action is good for the environment AND you!

5. Turn off electrical appliances when you’re not using them. Most computers allow you to easily put the computer into sleep mode when you step away from your desk for meetings or lunch for more than 20 minutes. Before you leave for the day, turn everything off. To make this step easier, plug all of your electronics into power strips which you can easily turn off at the end of the day. If all 68 million computers in commercial buildings in the U.S. were all turned off at the end of the work day, we’d save 5.8 billion watts of power (85 watts per computer).

4. Don’t travel for meetings. Whenever possible, try to use video or web conferencing services instead of traveling for meetings, even if the meeting is just across town. There are a number free and inexpensive web-based conference call management systems to try. Or, if an in-person meeting is required, schedule several different meetings for the same day, so you can combine your trips and reduce your pollution.

3. Say “Happy Holidays” with an e-card. For the holidays, forgo the traditional business holiday card and send e-cards instead. They can be animated, include music and video, and be more lively (and more green!) than their traditional paper counterparts.

2. Skip your commute altogether and telecommute. Give up your long, tedious, polluting commute for a one minute trip to your home office. If you commute 30 minutes to work each way Monday through Friday, you’ll find five free hours each week by telecommuting - that’s 260 free hours each year!  And even if you only telecommute one day a week, you’ll be removing your car from the road and reducing your gas consumption, oil use, and carbon emissions by 20%. Many more companies are offering options to telecommute so if yours doesn’t, you can research thousands of ones that do with this Guide to the Best Companies for Flexible Jobs.

1. Turn off the tap while you wash your hands. Probably the easiest change on the entire list, this one packs a powerful punch. The average faucet emits two gallons of water every minute. Even if you only wash your hands for 15 to 30 seconds, you can save a half or a whole gallon of water by shutting off the tap while you suds up.

This Earth Day, take a fresh approach to going green by committing to these environmentally friendly changes at work. One of the best reasons to go green at work is that, unlike being green at home by yourself, at work you have the chance to influence lots of other people to take up a green work style as you lead by example. Happy Earth Day!