There are a great many reasons for a business to strive to be sustainable and environmentally friendly. In addition to creating a better working relationship with the planet, embracing green methods can result in a higher rate of efficiency. It can also help to create a stronger relationship between your business and consumers.
Everyone can agree that going green can be a positive step for any business to take. However, applying green-minded tactics at a large scale can be a difficult task. Many business owners are unsure of where to even start and require a few sustainability tips to move forward.
Do you find that you’re in the same boat? Read on and we’ll walk you through what you need to know about integrating sustainability practices in business.
1. It Can’t Be All About Convenience
It likely doesn’t surprise you to hear that Americans produce a great deal of trash and refuse. While companies aren’t responsible for the full brunt of this trash onslaught, they have a big hand in it.
Why all this trash? Part of the reason is that we’ve become addicted to convenience as a society. Breaking free of our less than green habits is going to involve removing a little convenience from the day to day office life.
This will be the hardest hurdle to get over, which is why it’s at the very top of our list of tips. If you can re-wire the little day to day habits of yourself and your co-workers, you’ll have broken through a barrier. Anything might be possible now.
Single-use products are likely the biggest offending issue in your office. Single-cup coffee makers are a good example of this issue, and you likely even have on in your own office. Each time someone wants to make coffee, some trash is produced.
A tin of coffee from the store, on the other hand, could make hundreds of cups of coffee before any trash needs to be produced. See the difference? It’s little changes like this that can end up creating huge results at the end of the day.
Creating an office culture where people bring in their reusable water bottles and coffee mugs can also help to cut down on all the disposable trash you’ll end up creating. If you want to take it to the next level, you could even introduce a composting system in your office kitchen as opposed to just throwing excess food in the trash.
It might be even worth applying this way of thinking to your product packaging. It might be worth looking into things like this sustainable packaging guide if you hope to create an environmentally friendly product that consumers will respond to.
2. Reduce Water Usage
How much water does your business use? The answer will likely depend on what kind of industry you work in and how much H2O ends up playing a part in it. However, almost any business can take a few steps to help limit the amount of water they use in their daily operations.
Reducing water usage doesn’t have to be about big changes either. It can be as simple as keeping an eye out for leaks, drips, and other wasteful plumbing issues. Getting these issues resolved quickly and efficiently can help to ensure that water isn’t being wasted.
When it comes to cleaning, using higher efficiency methods like pressure washing can help to save water over using something like a standard hose.
Drought and a lack of water have the potential to do great harm to the environment and local economies. Businesses doing their part to help limit water use will end up helping everyone.
3. Recycle Old Electronics
You likely have recycling bins out for your employees to use for plastic and paper products. If you don’t, then that should be your first move (that’s a basic one!). However, even if you are on top of your recycling at the workplace, you might be forgetting to recycle one essential element—your old electronics.
Keeping electronic items out of landfills is one of the best moves any business can make to help the environment. E-waste is a growing trend and these tech devices do have the potential to be put to better use.
Old computers and devices can be donated to schools or low-income families if they are still in decent working order. Even if they’re not, many companies will take old electronics and break them apart and salvage individual parts.
If you look up e-waste recycling outputs in your area, you might be surprised to find just how many options are out there. There might even be an outpost that accepts old electronics in the same neighborhood as your business.
Just make sure to wipe all valuable information off these devices before handing them over to new owners!
Transitioning to Cloud Computing
Another way to tackle the e-waste problem at your business would be to switch to a cloud computing system. The more information and data you can keep ‘on the cloud,’ the less you’ll need to store on physical hard drives and devices.
In addition to reducing the number of electronic products you’ll need to purchase, cloud systems allow easier access to information for all of your employees. It can even help to cut down on travel costs.
While it can take some time to make such a transition, it can benefit the environment and your work efficiency in equal measure.
Sustainability Tips for Green-Minded Business
If you’re attempting to understand how your business can be more sustainable, the above sustainability tips can certainly point you in the right direction. The integration of these simple practices can produce hugely helpful results.
Need more advice for the workplace? Keep scrolling our blog for more.
You must be logged in to post a comment.