The world is slowly burning to a crisp and if we don't stop it all our businesses will burn with it.
Quite melodramatic, we know, but the truth is making your business eco-friendly really is that important in this day and age. If we all don't make a conscious effort to change things, then we may very well run out of time.
But it's all well and good to simply say our businesses should be eco-friendly, its far harder to go green in practice. Many business owners don't know the best ways to go green in their sector, or what changes they should make.
That's why we've listed the following 9 ways to be sustainable. These ideas can work for almost every business and can be your first steps on the road to fully green trading and company sustainability in the future.
1. Ways To Be Sustainable: Greenify Your Cleaning
Almost every business has to involve outsourced cleaning services at some stage. A retailer needs to have their space looking clean to entice buyers, whilst nobody can work optimally in an unclean office.
What many businesses don't know is that outsourcing cleaning services to a green alternative are one major way of saving the environment.
When it comes to commercial disinfectant products, there are now many on the market that positively affect the environment. Not only that, but they're still great for cleaning your working space!
Sourcing the right cleaning options can be the first major way in which your business goes green, but there are many more.
2. Consider Your Packaging
One of the most common ways in which businesses fail to go green is in packaging their products.
It's no good working hard to make your actual product environmentally friendly, then wrapping them in non-recyclable packaging. There are now more ways than ever to package products, and it's something businesses must now make more of a conscious effort in.
You should communicate with your packaging supplier to see if they have greener alternatives. Or, consider how you can lessen the quantity of packaging, rather than changing the material entirely.
These small changes go a long way to making your business green.
3. Reduce Your Usage
When it comes to being green-friendly, businesses need to consider their energy and water usage.
This can be hard to do for businesses who rent premises, but in these situations, you should discuss emission concerns with your landlord. Or, contact external consultants who can help you to reduce your emissions.
If you own your premises though, this is even easier to accomplish; look into net-zero construction. This way, not only will your business be better for the environment, but you'll also be saving money by not wasting water or energy.
4. Consider Transport
Do all your employees need to come to work by car every day? Consider modifying your premises to accommodate for more travel routes.
Maybe you can install bike racks and create incentives for employees to bike into work. Or, maybe more of your employees could work from home on certain days of the week.
This way, not only do you reduce carbon emissions from employee travel, you could increase employee satisfaction. Today more than ever people are finding themselves working from home, and it can be a real benefit to certain businesses.
5. Do You Need To Print That?
Today more offices and businesses than ever have advanced digital solutions to data sharing. Think about meeting minutes and sharing information with your colleagues. Back in the day, you'd need to print several copies of everything.
As we all know, that's no longer the case. You should only print documents when you absolutely need to. Consider how you could make your business more technology-reliant.
Maybe meetings can be given using a projector, with the information shared via email afterwards. Or instead of printing leaflets to advertise your business, you could design a social media campaign.
6. Donate
If you're already doing everything you can in-house when it comes to sustainability business ideas, you could always make a difference elsewhere. There are hundreds of charities both in the U.S. and worldwide who are working hard to positively impact the environment.
It may not be a big impact on your company's finances, but any regular donation to these causes can go a long way to helping save the environment for everyone.
7. Think About Your Supplies
When it comes to office management there are hundreds of different examples of office supplies that are needed for the day-to-day running of a business.
Often, many of these supplies have a greener alternative that you can be purchased instead. Maybe you can start to buy recycle stationary, or switch to solar battery or USB chargers.
It might seem like an easy switch, but these changes can significantly impact the environment in the long run. To add to that, it's now easier than ever to find greener alternatives to essential supplies!
8. Think About Distribution
When it comes to retailers or companies selling products, they need to find their way from the manufacturer to end-user. If you're a large company, think about how you could make your distribution process greener.
Maybe you could invest in vehicles with lower carbon emissions or even electric vehicles. Or, consider how your bulk orders could be delivered in larger quantities to save on emissions.
Yet again this is something that could end up both saving your business money and saving the environment.
9. It's All About Attitude
Most importantly, going green as a business is all about setting the right attitude. You need to communicate your dedication to being green not just to customers, but to employees.
Consider new mission statements, or starting new green initiatives with your employees. This way, your business will be a more inclusive environment to work in, and everyone will do their built to save the environment.
More Ideas To Strengthen Sustainability
If you need more green ideas when it comes to ways to be sustainable in business or any other business assistance, we're here to help your company be more eco-friendly.
Make sure you take a look through some of our previous blog posts which are all in aid of business sustainability. We have plenty of other great articles for businesses on ways to be sustainable. With enough time dedicated to reading, you'll be an expert on eco-friendly and sustainable business before you know it!
