The general population is becoming more conscious of the need to adopt a sustainable way of living for their health as well as for the environment. In other words, today’s businesses can no longer afford to turn their heads away from adopting eco-friendly measures.
Below, we have compiled some easy ways for businesses to start operating in a more environmentally-conscious way.
Create Awareness Within the Organization
Unless you are running your business single-handedly, adopting an eco-friendly strategy requires everybody in your organization to get involved. And if everybody working in your company is not on board, you might have a challenging time becoming a fully eco-friendly version.
As such, the first step is to engage with people around you regarding sustainable measures. This not only includes the stakeholders and co-workers but even suppliers and clients. Every person involved can offer you some ideas on how your company can become greener.
Conduct an Energy Audit
In order to find ways for you to increase your sustainability, you should first be aware of your carbon footprint. If you are simply looking to learn about eco-friendly measures, then you can easily pay someone to write my paper on EssayPro about green steps that you can adopt. But implementing them in a business is going to be a whole other thing.
The best way to do this is to do an energy audit, which will appeal to not only the eco-conscious staff but also the budget-conscious parties. An energy audit often includes recommendations on how you can make things more efficient in your organization, which can also offer measures for cutting the costs over time.
Reduce the Use of Paper
This would certainly sound simple, and you might be thinking that you already barely rely on paper. However, we would also suggest that you become more conscious of paper usage in all areas of your business.
For instance, do you give your clients an option to receive invoices via email? This will eliminate the need for you to print out invoices unless requested by the client. Similarly, you can also include return slips digitally with emails. These simple steps can avoid the need for you to use paper that often goes to waste. You can reduce the use of paper not only in communications but also when dealing with clients. And whenever possible, try to use recycled paper that would reduce the burden on the planet.
Come up With a Reward System
It can be not easy to hold all the employees to high standards when it comes to being eco-conscious. To promote sustainability, you can also come up with a simple yet effective reward system.
For instance, to ensure that everybody in your office complies with the paperless rule – you can also reduce the number of printers in the office.
- You can then track the number of employee printouts and use a public scoreboard
- Reward the employees who print less
Finally, you can also reduce the stationery items such as notepads and pens available in the office. At the same time, also be sure to offer and promote digital tools such as tablets.
Choose Green Partners
Another eco-friendly choice you can make is to adopt suppliers who can provide green products. One area where this is possible is in terms of your energy supplier. There are many that generate power from renewable sources such as solar, wind, and hydro. You can work out a unique plan for your company to arrive at a cost that works for everybody.
On top of this, you can also do sustainability research and partner up with other eco-conscious companies when possible. This includes choosing sustainable raw-material suppliers and even eco-friendly web hosts. If you are committed to a sustainable cause, you will find that there are plenty of options available.
Launch an Eco-Friendly Line
If your business is already well-established, it could take several years to completely switch to using eco-friendly raw materials, if at all it’s possible. In this case, what you can try to do is launch a line of products that focuses on sustainability and execute the shift gradually.
This will also help spread awareness to your consumers that you are taking steps to move in the right direction.
Recycle and Upcycle
If you are thinking of going green, one of the first changes to implement is to promote recycling and reusing in your office space. For instance, you can make sure that there are recycling bins available within the office space that will promote the best eco practice.
On the other hand, if you are a retail business, you can also avoid plastic packaging and switch to paper bags. If you want to get creative, you can also sell branded reusable products such as cloth shopping bags and coffee containers.
(Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-person-using-recycling-app-on-smartphone-against-coffee-7262405/ )
Encourage Employees to Adopt Eco-Friendly Habits
While you cannot control every aspect of how employees act within the organization, it is indeed possible to bring in changes with the right kind of encouragement. Here are some steps that you can try:
- Encourage employees to switch to reusable lunch packages. You can even provide them with branded bento-style lunch boxes. These will also come in handy when they want to get takeaway from restaurants.
- Run initiatives to reduce food waste within the office. You could try selling leftover cafeteria food or keep track of short-dated produce for employees to share instead of having to throw it away.
- You can also encourage your employees to take eco-friendly transport to work, such as public transportation or even biking. You can try partnering with other companies to get a good deal for your employees to purchase bikes.
- If your employees take many business trips, you can also have a guide for them to adopt eco-friendly traveling habits.
Apart from these, you can also organize community-based recycling schemes with non-profit organizations. Such initiatives would be great for the environment as well as for marketing.
Donate What You Don’t Use
When your organization replaces appliances, furniture, or any other electronics, consider donating these to charitable organizations. In some places, you can even arrange with the local authorities to come to pick up bulky items, which they then repair and recycle.
When not disposed of properly, electronic items can end up in landfills and release toxins such as arsenic, mercury, and lead into the environment. Plus, your goodwill to donate will also help your business receive a deduction in taxes.
Head Towards Becoming a B Corp
A “B corporation” is a company that has been certified by the non-profit B Lab as one having a positive effect on its employees, environment, community, and customers. While it might not be your organization’s goal to pursue a B Corp certification, reviewing the requirements and application process can give you a lot of insight into how you can improve.
It will also help you assess where your company stands and consider suggestions that help you target the scope for improvement.
Takeaway
As you can see, it is not necessary for an organization to turn around completely to become greener. Implementing simple yet effective practices can go a long way when it comes to promoting sustainability.
Lastly, it might not be a bad idea to let your clients know about your sustainability efforts too. Apart from the goodwill you are spreading it will also be great PR for your company.