Making your business as environmentally friendly as possible is important, but it can be difficult to know where to start! If you are wondering what changes you can make to your business to become more eco-friendly, here are five suggestions.
1. Recycle as Much as Possible
No list of eco-friendly tips would be complete without mentioning recycling! Although some types of business, such as manufacturing, produce a lot more waste than others, every business produces at least some degree of waste. Whatever the size and structure of your business, make sure that any refuse produced by working operations is sorted into recyclable and non-recyclable waste.
2. Replace Old Appliances with Energy Efficient Ones
As technology advances, appliances often become more energy efficient. Whether it is a small appliance like a kettle, a larger piece of equipment like a photocopier, or even a heavy-duty piece of highly specific machinery, you may be able to replace it with something more energy-efficient.
You may be thinking, “isn’t it expensive and wasteful to replace appliances?” Of course, there are upfront costs of buying new equipment; however, doing so can actually save you money in the long term as energy efficiency reduces your monthly bills and is good for the environment. Even if you are running a manufacturing business that uses a lot of energy every day, companies like Fluent Conveyors can offer highly efficient appliances.
3. Only Use Eco-Friendly Suppliers
There isn’t much point in making your own business as eco-friendly as possible if other businesses are not doing the same. After all, saving the planet is a team effort! Using the services of suppliers who have environmentally destructive practices is only enabling and financially supporting future destruction. If you want to reduce the carbon footprint of your business, why not do some research and carry out an audit of your suppliers?
If you find that a supplier is not meeting your requirements for eco-friendly practices, why not let them know that this is a cause of concern? They may even decide to change their practices in order to keep your custom and that of other environmentally conscious customers!
4. Set Up a Carpool
Transport makes up one-fifth of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, and a huge chunk of transport is due to people commuting to and from workplaces. Just imagine how much carbon is being emitted from a busy highway during rush hour!
Encouraging your employees to share transport via carpools is one way to reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion as a result of your business. You could even start a carpooling scheme where fuel expenses are covered by the company in order to incentivize workers to share cars.
5. Consider Adopting a Home Working Model
Another way to cut down on cars on the roads is to eliminate the need for commuting at all! Of course, not every business can do this; if you are in hospitality, manufacturing, construction, etc., this may not be possible. However, if your daily working processes are largely based around using computers or phones, it may be possible to have your employees work from home. Although transitioning to a fully working-from-home model is difficult, why not try setting certain days a week where employees work from home?
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