Different Ways To Make Your Business More Sustainable
Becoming eco-friendly doesn’t mean sacrificing profits. In fact, it can actually help boost your bottom line by reducing expenses.
You also don’t have to change your business process drastically to become more sustainable. Even simple changes can do so much for your business and the environment.
It just takes conscious effort to make a positive impact.
Simple Ways To Become An Eco-Friendly Business
Use Local And Sustainable Suppliers/Partners
When you use local suppliers and partners, you help keep jobs here at home and support our communities.
Plus, you save money because you avoid shipping costs and transportation fees.
You can also lessen your carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, you can partner with eco-friendly businesses to up your business sustainability even more.
Overall, partnering with local businesses will have a positive social impact as well as economic and environmental impact.
Offer Remote Work
If you’re looking to reduce your carbon footprint, consider offering remote work options.
Offering remote work allows employees to work from anywhere, reducing travel costs and cutting down on fuel consumption. Employees who work remotely tend to be happier and healthier than those who commute.
Remote workers also tend to be more productive because they spend less time commuting and more time working. They can also use the energy they would’ve used to commute to work.
Another benefit of offering remote work is that it reduces your overall operating expenses. Since most businesses use electricity to operate, having employees work remotely means you only pay for these services when they actually need them. This saves you money over the long term.
Offering remote work helps your company become more sustainable. Companies that offer remote work tend to be more environmentally friendly because they aren’t wasting resources transporting employees to and from work daily.
Make Energy-Efficient Upgrades
Invest in appliances that use less electricity. This includes refrigerators, dishwashers, microwaves, air conditioners, heat pumps and any appliance you have in your business.
These appliances consume a lot of electricity when running, so replacing them with newer models that use less electricity. Energy efficiency can even help you cut down on your monthly utility bills and help save energy.
Use Green Web Hosting Services
Green web hosting services use renewable resources to power data centres. This reduces carbon emissions and saves resources.
When selecting a green web host, the most important factor is whether they support renewable energy sources.
Renewable energy includes solar energy, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, and biogas. These forms of energy are sustainable because they’re not dependent on fossil fuels.
Build Sustainable Partnerships With Green Businesses
Partnering with green businesses means working together to achieve common goals.
For example, you may partner with a local restaurant to offer discounts to its patrons who bring reusable bags to eat at your restaurant. Or maybe you work with a local coffee shop to give away free samples of your product.
Partnering with a green business can give you access to resources, expertise, and experience that you wouldn’t otherwise have. It’s a great opportunity to learn from others and grow your business.
Reduce Single-Use Items
One simple way to reduce single-use items is to use reusable containers instead of plastic ones.
Reusable containers are better for the environment because they’re made from recycled material and require less energy to produce than plastic. They also cost less to purchase and maintain.
Encourage your officemates to use tumblers for their coffee. Eliminate single-use cups in your pantry. Give away free mugs that they can use in the office.
Even if you use single-use items or packaging, opt for eco-friendly packaging. There are lots of options available for compostable packagings, like cornstarch packaging.
You can also incorporate this in your product manufacturing. Buy bulks or reusable items. Produce reusable packaging and avoid excessive packaging. You can also incentivize the reuse of your packaging with discounts.
Source Sustainable Materials
Sustainable materials are those that are made from renewable resources, recyclable, and ethically sourced. They’re better for our environment and for us. They may even be cheaper if you know where to get them.
When sourcing sustainable materials, consider the following three questions:
- Where does the raw material come from?
- Is there a local alternative?
- Does the product contain toxic ingredients?
- How was it produced?
Donate What You Don’t Need
If you’ve got extra office supplies lying around, consider donating them to local schools or charitable organizations. Or, if you’ve got some personal clothes that aren’t quite right for your closet, consider donating them to Goodwill.
Organize a donation drive in your office once in a while. You can also include products and other items from your business.
Reduce Your Water Usage
Manufacturing processes require large amounts of water to create finished goods. But there are ways to cut down on this usage.
For example, some manufacturers use recycled water instead of fresh water. They save money by not having to pay for additional water costs.
And since recycling water doesn’t affect quality, they can sell their product at a lower price than competing companies who must purchase expensive water.
Remind people in your office to save water in their own ways, too, by turning off the faucet when not in use while brushing teeth or washing hands.
Lower Your Energy Costs
Cut down on energy consumption through the use of renewable energy sources like solar panels.
Renewable energy sources include solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity, geothermal power, biomass, and biofuels.
These types of energy sources are free and clean, making them ideal for powering our homes and businesses.
You can save energy usage with simple, sustainable business practices even if you don’t upgrade to renewable energy sources. Turn off lights when not in use or utilize natural lights. Turn off appliances when not in use. Unplug cords of turned-off appliances.
Provide Public Transit Commuter Benefits
Public transportation provides benefits beyond just saving fuel. It helps to reduce air pollution, congestion, noise, and accidents. And it makes commuting easier for everyone.
If you live in a city where public transit is available, consider providing public transit benefits to encourage commuters to use public transportation instead of driving alone.
Use Sustainable Products
One of the easiest ways to be more sustainable is to use environmentally friendly products. These include recycled products, those made with organic ingredients, and natural fibres. They may cost slightly more than traditional products, but they’re worth every penny.
Another simple way to become more sustainable is to purchase products from companies that support fair trade.
Fair trade is when producers receive a fair price for their goods, regardless of where they’re produced. This ensures that farmers and labourers are paid fairly and that local communities benefit from the production process.
This involves products that you use in your office and products you use to create your own products.
When buying items for your business, prioritize reusable ones.
Make Use Of Secondhand Finds
Secondhand items are often free or inexpensive. They’re usually used but still in great shape. So when you find them at garage sales, flea markets, thrift stores, or online auctions, use them instead of throwing them away.
Secondhand items are often overlooked because they’re not brand new. But secondhand items can be just as useful as brand new ones.
They may cost less, require fewer resources, and save you time. Plus, many companies offer discounts on used goods.
Use secondhand bins for your papers or secondhand vases for your decors. The possibilities are endless. You can even repurpose or customize them.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
You can incorporate reduce, reuse, and recycle principles in both your office sustainability practices and product manufacturing.
Examples:
You can reduce the use of tape and staples in your office by using clips.
Reuse used papers and printing on the other side for not-so-important things or for labelling purposes.
Incentivize recycling to promote it in your office or purchase recycled papers.
Use recycled materials for your products.
Sustainability is not just about reducing waste; it’s about making our world better for future generations. So when we talk about sustainability, we’re talking about ways to reduce pollution, conserve resources, and recycle materials.
The most obvious way to be sustainable is to use fewer resources. This means buying less paper, plastic, and energy. But you can do many other things to help save the planet.
One of the easiest ways to reduce waste is to reuse items instead of throwing them away. Many companies offer recycling programs where you can return used products for free or at a reduced cost.
Another great way to reduce waste is to repurpose items. Instead of throwing out broken appliances, furniture, clothing, etc., find creative uses for these items.
Some examples include: repurposing a broken appliance as a plant stand, turning clothes into rags, and creating a unique piece of art from discarded wood.
Finally, another simple way to reduce waste is through recycling.
Companies often collect recyclable material and sell it to others who need it. For example, some cities now accept aluminium cans for recycling. Other cities accept glass bottles and newspapers. And still, other cities accept plastics, cardboard, and metal.
Compost
Composting is one of those things you probably know how to do without thinking about it. You throw out food scraps into a bin, wait a few weeks, and voila—you’ve got rich, black dirt.
But there’s a lot more to the process than meets the eye. And while most people don’t think about it, they’re actually doing something good for the environment.
We produce tons of food waste daily that ends up in landfills. This includes everything from fruit peels to eggshells to leftovers. While some of that goes straight into the trash, the rest gets sent to a landfill, where it decomposes and contributes to climate change.
But thanks to composting, we can turn that food waste into nutrient-rich soil that can be used to grow plants. Not only does this reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but it also helps us reduce the amount of garbage in our landfills.
And because composting happens naturally, it doesn’t require any special equipment. You just need a bin, the collected lunch and snack wastes, some crap papers, cardboard from the office, and water.
If you have office plants, you can use your compost to make them even healthier.
Final Words
True sustainability can only be achieved through community efforts, but it’s crucial that individuals do their part.
Being a conscious business is almost a requirement these days to stay competitive.
Remember, our business decisions also impact our planet.
