Tips For Creating An Eco-Friendly Business

tips creating eco-friendly business

Environmental responsibility has become a more pressing concern for both businesses and consumers alike in recent years. Every business has the capacity to be harmful to the environment or to engage in more sustainable practices to reduce waste and lessen emissions of greenhouse gases. While being eco-friendly is the morally right thing to do, it also makes business sense. Customers are interested in being loyal to brands that they can trust and consider to be upstanding corporate citizens. If your company has a serious commitment to helping the environment, it tells consumers that they can feel good about patronizing your business. Let's go over four easy tips to create an eco-friendly business. 

Audit Your Environmental Practices

A good first step when you're going green is to examine all of your existing practices and procedures. This can often best be done by enlisting outside help. A fresh and objective perspective from an expert can give you the road map you need to revamp your business, if necessary. Hiring someone with a background in marketing strategy, brand development, and global logistics like Jason Wong can pay huge dividends when they help you build a new business plan. There are plenty of easy fixes that can be implemented in your practices—even something as simple as switching to reusable cups and containers. 

Think About Your Energy Consumption

Switching to LED-based lighting is a great way to reduce your electric bill, but there are a lot of ways to change your energy consumption habits. For example, there is a biodiesel company in Portland, OR that is refining cooking oil into biodiesel fuel. If your business uses cooking oil, they'll even coordinate a pick-up schedule with you. Look into whether any of your offices can be powered with alternative energies like wind and solar power, too. 

Purchase Reusable Products And Supplies

According to the EPA, Americans dispose of over 1.6 billion pens every year. Think about how much waste could be reduced just by businesses switching over to reusable pens that can be refilled with fresh ink. Sticky pads can be replaced by an electronic note system, and you can make sure that all the products in your kitchen are environmentally friendly and reusable. 

You should think about what tasks your employees do most frequently that generate waste, and evaluate any possible changes. There are no tweaks that are too small to make an impact over time. Consider using bio-based carbon neutral polythene products, which are 100% recyclable and are designed to break down naturally after use so there’s no need for them to be recycled. "

Consider Green Web Hosting

Servers need to be up and running at all times for reliable business and energy consumption, which creates a lot of environmental damage. Using green web hosting means that at least a portion of the energy being used to power your website comes from renewable sources. This can often also save money since the reduced energy cost to the provider is often passed on to the consumer in the form of lower rates. You can keep your business online while building trust with your customers and helping the environment at the same time. 

Creating an eco-friendly business involves change at both the micro and macro levels. You can start small by changing out your office supplies and work your way up to more comprehensive measures like bringing in an outside consultant or revamping your energy consumption practices. The important thing is that going green is both an ethically sound way to do business and a way to increase your profitability and consumer trust. There are new innovations in green technology that are coming out every day, including unique energy solutions like turning cooking oil into biodiesel fuel. Even though the amount of change can seem daunting, the rewards for becoming a sustainable and trusted business are well worth the investment.

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