Looking after the planet is now more important than ever. It’s our responsibility as citizens of this earth to practice greener and more sustainable practices, not just in our personal lives, but at work too.
Making environmentally friendly office is especially important for business owners. As the person in charge who wields the power of change, it’s your duty to enforce new rules and regulations that make your business more sustainable in its operations. You might be surprised at how rewarding sustainability can be for your business and your employees, both financially and ethically. So open your eyes to a greener and brighter future. You know what they say…the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side.
So, let’s look at 6 super simple and easy ways you can reduce your business’s impact on the environment.
Listen up! It’s critical.
1. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
The earth’s raw resources are being depleted at unprecedented rates. So ensure your business has an efficient commercial recycling system in place to use minimal resources. Assess the waste that your business produces and make sure you have easy-to-use recycling bins to segregate the recyclable materials from the non-recyclable. It’s all about using less wherever and whenever possible. And if you have excess or old IT equipment that your business does not use anymore, you can sell it to a company that recycles used electronics.
2. Watch Your Energy Use
The energy that your business uses should be minimized, and this includes electricity, gas, and water. Preferably you should switch to cleaner renewable energy sources like solar power. There’s actually a variety of government incentives available that make green energy even more worthwhile, not just for the health of the planet, but for you as a business owner too.
3. Go Paperless
One of the best ways to use fewer resources is to go paperless. Switching to digital processes instead of ink and paper is such a simple move, but the environmental benefits can be huge, especially if you’re an office that uses high quantities of paper materials. Instead, you should consider turning to iCloud storage.
4. Source Resources Locally
Your business’s resources should be sourced as local as possible, especially if you’re a business that sources masses of goods and materials each week, like the manufacturing industry. Finding local suppliers means less fuel consumption will be used in the transportation of your goods, and thus your carbon footprint will reduce.
5. Allow More Remote Working
Another worthwhile way of reducing your carbon footprint is allowing your employees to work remotely, even if it’s once or twice a week. With your employees commuting less to work, the less your business will be contributing to local air pollution. You should also encourage your team to use public transport or carsharing services more.
6. Educate Your Employees
Being environmentally conscious has a knock-on effect, so be open-minded as a leader and your team will follow suit. Enforcing new greener rules is one thing, but making sure your employees follow these rules is another. Set an example as the top boss and educate your team on why you’ve made the changes. Shifting people’s attitudes on environmental issues is what will ultimately help change and improve behaviors and habits in the long run.