The world seems to be turning Green these days, with more and more people becoming eco-conscious. This means that if you choose to make your business more environmentally friendly not only is this good for the planet, it could also be good for your business.
Research shows that consumers prefer to use sustainable businesses, and will make purchasing decisions based on this criteria. Therefore, being green is great PR and can give you an edge over your competitors.
With all that in mind, here are 8 easy steps you can take to make your business more eco-friendly.
1. Reduce Your Energy Consumption
One of the biggest environmental impacts by businesses is due to energy consumption, mostly lighting, heating and IT equipment/appliances. Lighting and heating can be made more eco-friendly by moving to energy-saving equipment, as well as investing in good insulation for your premises. You can reduce the energy use of your appliances and computer equipment by simply turning them off when you’re not using them. A few simple steps like these will make all the difference, which you’ll notice on your energy bill too!
2. Choose Low-Carbon Transport Options
Another big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions by businesses is transport, either for activities directly related to business operations, or getting to and from work. If you or your staff need to travel for work, try to choose the most eco-friendly option, such as taking the train rather than flying. Also replace travel with teleconferences wherever possible. Having team members car pool, or use eco-friendly ways of getting to work such as public transport or cycling can make a big difference too.
3. Eliminate Single-Use Plastics
Single-use plastics are truly one of the biggest environmental disasters of our time. The world uses a staggering amount of disposable plastics – over 1 trillion plastic bags alone are produced every year – and much of this ends up in landfill and the ocean. Reduce plastic waste in your business by choosing suppliers who use little or no plastic, and using sustainable alternatives for your customers and internally whenever possible.
4. Eliminate Paper Receipts
Although small, receipts can add up to a lot of unnecessary waste and use of resources when you consider how many transactions you process every day. You can take payments on PDQ machines which have physical receipts as optional, so that you’re not automatically printing reams of paper which most people never look at again. You can save on printing receipts at your end by maintaining electronic records and reconciling them against the credit card machine reports.
5. Go Paperless in Your Administration Too
Receipts are not the only area where your business is probably wasting large amounts of paper unnecessarily. Administration, reports and most other documents can all be handled electronically, saving the need for printing off reams of paper which ultimately causes deforestation, not to mention chemical pollution in the paper production process. As a good start, move your receipts, invoices and newsletters to electronic versions and ask your suppliers to do the same.
6. Source Supplies Locally
Buying supplies from far away, even the other side of the globe is not uncommon in our modern globalised world. However, even if this is cheaper, it costs our planet dearly, being a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Go green by sourcing your supplies locally as much as possible. As an added bonus you’ll be supporting the locally economy, and may even make some valuable connections!
7. Use Eco Cleaning Products
It’s something we don’t think about often, but the cleaning product we use often can contain chemicals which are detrimental to the environment. Of course, every business wants to maintain sparkling clean premises for their staff and customers, however this doesn’t need to mean poisoning the environment at the same time. There are plenty of natural cleaning products now available which are just as effective as the traditional ones. These are also non-toxic, meaning they are better for everyone’s health.
8. Encourage Your Team to Go Green
One of the best ways to have a positive impact on the environment as a business is to spread the word. Encourage your staff to adopt eco-friendly habits, providing them with ideas and perhaps even rewards for doing so. You also have the opportunity to educate your suppliers and customers on the matter: in all of your eco activities, explain to others why you are making a particular choice, whether it is using reusable dishware or eliminating paper receipts. This may very well cause them to think about their own habits and encourage them to make more environmentally-sustainable choices. And, of course, it’s good PR too!
By taking a few, mostly simple steps your business can make a big difference in reducing your impact on the environment and being more eco-friendly, serving as an example to others and probably gaining some more eco-conscious customers along the way!
