In the words of Kermit the Frog, “It’s not easy being green.” It can be even harder staying green.

If you’ve recently made your business more environmentally friendly, chances are you don’t want your hard work to go to waste. Keeping track of your green initiatives will help prevent you and your team from sliding into old, bad habits.

Following up on your green plan will help motivate you and your staff to keep the office green now and into the future, says Chris Stanley, founder and CEO of Go On Green Eco-Consulting in Calgary.

Following these tips will help you to keep your office environmentally friendly all year long:

1. Remind your team to be green
Keep your office’s environmental policies at the top of everyone’s mind with a green charter.

A green charter is a document that outlines the values of your environmental strategy as well as the rules. For example, it might say: “Remember to turn off your computer before leaving for the day.”

“People are more likely to stick to your ideas and your green path,” says Stanley, “if you have it written out.”

2. Give your office a check-up
Stay green by continuously measuring and evaluating your initiatives throughout the year, Stanley says.

Every six months or less, give your office a little check-up, he says, to make sure everything is working. For example, measure the office’s energy use or evaluate your paper usage by looking at how much paper is being ordered.

Do a more in-depth evaluation once a year, Stanley says, to get a big-picture sense of which initiatives are working and which are not.

3. Stay focused
Make sure team members are still accountable for the business’s green strategy.

When you started making your office more environmentally friendly, Stanley says, you should have created a “green team” to spearhead the business’s various initiatives.

Make sure the “green team” is still meeting regularly and coming up with new plans and initiatives for the business.

4. Review your green plan
Take time each year to look over your green business plan.

Like a regular business plan, Stanley says, a green business plan must to be revisited and revised each year. Look for initiatives that need to be changed or new goals that can be added to the document.

5. Give your team credit
Always recognize your staff for their hard work in making the office more environmentally friendly, Stanley says.

Coffee-shop gift cards, an afternoon off or a monthly bus pass are just a few ways to say “thank you.”