Seven Ways Your Business Can Be More Sustainable

Photo by Luis Villasmil

Originally Posted On: https://nancy-rubin.com/2020/06/03/seven-ways-your-business-can-be-more-sustainable/

We all have to do our bit for the environment, and businesses are a part of that. There are many things that businesses can do to be a little kinder on the environment but to also be more sustainable as a company. Being eco-friendly and sustainable nowadays is beyond simply recycling plastic. It’s much more than that, and if every business would spend a little more time on helping the environment, climate change would not be as damaging as it currently is. Here are seven ways your business can be more sustainable.

It’s good to take a look at the companies you work with when it comes to your suppliers because knowing where everything comes from that goes into your product or business impacts the environment. Whether it’s the packaging, where you can learn more about being sustainable, or the travel that’s involved with shipping your goods. The greener you can go, the better, and that can start with the suppliers you’re involved with. Look at your current suppliers and see how they’re making the changes necessary to be more sustainable and nicer on the environment.

If they’re not, then there are plenty of companies out there that can do just as good a job and are much kinder to the environment. Attitudes will only change when others take action and provide that leadership. So why not be a leader for suppliers you work with and other companies within your industry. Be the change and start working with greener suppliers where possible.

There’s so much use of technology in businesses nowadays that there doesn’t seem to be much need for paper. And so as a result, many companies are choosing to go paperless or to at least trial it out in their organization. It might not be possible to completely get rid of printing, but there can be a lot of paper that can be saved by reducing it within the workplace. Anything that doesn’t need to be kept in a physical copy should be kept in a digital format. It’s also likely to be more secure if it’s saved digitally than if it were simply printed out and filed away. Not only does going paperless have its benefits for the environment, but it also helps your business to save money. Imagine all the money you can save on printing, whether that be from the paper itself to the ink and the relevant stationery costs that come out of the business every week or month.

It’s worth giving a go, even if it’s something that you can’t sustain fully. You might be surprised by just how much you can do paperless when it comes to the business.

There are lots of ways that you can be sustainable but sometimes putting money where your mouth is, can certainly help. Sustainable causes are readily available to donate to throughout the country and the world. It’s important that you do your part within the workplace, but donating can also help greatly. It can be helpful to be part of these charities that are trying to help create a healthier world day by day. They might also be able to offer you guidance as a business, on how to be greener and more sustainable.

The more you can give to charity the better, and it’s worth donating that money you saved by going paperless, right?

When it comes to sustainable causes, it’s worth also looking closer to home and within your organization’s local community. What could you do as a business to help drive more sustainable initiatives and to help as a company? There might be certain projects that you can help with and to provide services to where needed, whether that’s through financial contributions or having staff help out. There are always community initiatives ongoing to help protect the environment, so keep your eyes peeled for anything that might be going on. As well as it is good for the environment, it can also be helpful in raising your profile as a business.

Remote working is one way that you can help the environment because when it comes to a business, the running costs can be substantial. Not only that, but that can certainly be a factor in the damage caused to the environment as a whole. Some companies leave their lights on within a building that might be several floors tall for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The more that can be done by businesses to reduce this carbon footprint, the better. Remote working means that employees can have the flexibility to work from home and in other locations, rather than just the office. This can help provide some much-needed work-life balance but it’s going to reduce running costs when there’s fewer staff in the building. That’s fewer workstations turned on and less trash generated over the course of a day.

If you can offer remote working, then it’s worth doing, and it’s especially so since there might be occasions where businesses have to work from home.

Your staff can also play an integral part to being more sustainable, and you can help them as their employer. Offering various incentives and perks can be a good way to help motivate them to be more sustainable and to be more aware of what they’re contributing to the world when it comes to waste. There are plenty of companies that offer cycling to work schemes in order to help encourage more people to cycle or walk to work where possible and to avoid taking public transport. It’s definitely things like this that can help reduce the impact that’s being made on the climate and to help them save money themselves in the process. Educating them on how to be better in their own homes and within the workplace can also be beneficial and easily done.

Try to find ways that you can teach your staff to be more green and create incentives or rewards for those staff members who make the biggest contributions to sustainability.

Recycling is something that we’ve been taught to do for a while now, especially when it comes to plastic. Plastic is one of the materials that can take years to break down, and companies are now taking more action in what they use when it comes to their packaging. Plastics are certainly used a lot less nowadays, but they’re still in circulation. For that reason, it’s good to help continue driving the recycling schemes that are active in your area. There are also lots of things nowadays that can be recycled such as old IT equipment and ink cartridges. Try to recycle as much as you can when it comes to your business and avoid throwing away too much when it comes to waste. That also can include old office furniture too. There are plenty of companies out there and services that will likely be happy to take it off your hands, especially if you’re simply wanting to dispose of it.

Being more sustainable is important for the environment, and the more you can do as a business, the better. Try using some of these ideas to take the steps needed to be more eco-friendly and practice a greener attitude. The more sustainable you are, the greater influence you’ll have on the world and its health for future generations.