As society is becoming more and more eco-conscious, businesses all over the world are recognizing the need to be more environmentally friendly. Some of them are trying to minimize the negative impact their respective industries have by limiting their carbon footprint, among other things. Here is a list of steps that you could take to make your business more eco-friendly.
1. Devise a concrete plan
In order to make your business more sustainable, it’s wise to have a comprehensive plan first. By jotting down your ideas, you will have a clear picture of how your “newly green” business would operate. Then, you’ll be able to review the plan and revise any weak points and think of more feasible solutions. You may not be able to implement all changes at once. Therefore, it’s advisable to make a list which you then order according to priority. Even making small changes at first is a great first step in fighting for this cause. Later on, you can introduce more changes as it becomes possible.
2. Educate the employees on eco-friendliness
Once you have a concrete plan regarding how you’ll transform the business to be more eco-friendly, it’s time to educate your employees on the topic. Since they are an integral part of the company, your plan won’t work unless you have them on board. Apart from informing them about the changes in the way your business operates, you should also encourage them to translate eco-friendly behavior to their home life as well. For example, you could tell them about the importance of recycling and how it helps the planet. Additionally, you could offer remote work to the employees who travel to work by car, which would result in less commute and subsequently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If you need the employees to work on site, you could encourage them to take public transport instead of commuting by car.
3. Decrease the amount of waste
Improper waste management leads to air and water pollution, and contributes to climate change. Putting measures in place to reduce the amount of waste is essential for sustainability. First of all, you should make sure that you order the exact amount of supplies that you’re going to need for production whenever possible. Since producing waste can’t be fully avoided, you could also improve your waste management. Sorting waste so that it can be recycled is one great solution. In addition to that, you can install waste chutes in front of the office building or construction site, depending on what kind of business you run. Garbage chutes are good for the environment as they contribute to less air pollution.
4. Use sustainable materials
Using sustainable materials when running a business is a huge step in the right direction when aiming to be more environmentally friendly. If your company makes products, using natural and recycled materials is essential. For example, artificial fibers, such as polyester, nylon aren’t biodegradable, which can have devastating consequences on the environment. What is more, when these fabrics are washed in the washing machine, they release toxins into the waters, thus harming aquatic life. Even some natural fabrics can cause harm to the environment. For example, cotton is usually treated with pesticides which can be hazardous as they contaminate air, water, and soil. For that reason, choosing organic cotton is a far better option, since in that case such harmful substances aren’t used. Therefore, natural fibers, such as wool, organic cotton, and recycled materials are a more eco-friendly option.
5. Digitalize your business
Digitalizing your business can be the perfect option, as not only will it help your business be more sustainable, but it comes with other perks as well. Digitalization increases productivity, improves customer service, and allows for more advanced data collection. When it comes to the environmental impact, by keeping documents on the computer, you wouldn’t have to use as much paper as you normally would. Also, since the data would be digital, it allows for quicker and more accurate analysis. Analyzing data this way would enable you to calculate the amount of supplies you require, and in turn, reduce waste.
6. Conduct meetings virtually
Apart from making working from home an option, another way to be more sustainable is by conducting meetings virtually, through a video conferencing platform, such as Zoom. On the other hand, if you find that face-to-face meetings are unavoidable, you can schedule them either during the working hours, or as soon as the shift is over, while the employees are still at the premises. Both of these options would reduce the overall commute.
Wrapping up
All in all, there is a number of steps a business needs to take in order to be eco-friendly. These steps include reducing waste, using sustainable materials, incorporating digitization, introducing remote work and virtual meetings, and so on. All of these steps can help lessen the negative effects businesses and people in general have on the environment.
