How To Make Your Business More Eco-Friendly

When considering how to make your business more eco-friendly, it’s not often that we ‘go to the end’ (of the earth), then work backward? Yet, it is estimated that there are only 29 years left of the world’s support systems before life on this planet begins to change dramatically for the worse. It is clear that it is everyone on this planet’s responsibility to do something to fix the mess that we are in.

However, if you are a business owner, you could be in a position to be of more assistance. As a business owner, the actions that you take can reach a wider audience; that of your customer base and of your employees. It is therefore essential that you lead by example and start a ripple effect with your actions. Here’s how you can alter your company’s carbon footprint for the better.

How To Make Your Business More Eco-Friendly

Stop Cutting Down Trees & Go Paperless!

One of the biggest steps that you can take to reduce the carbon footprint of your business is to get rid of paper. The deforestation of our trees for paper is one of the worst things we can do for the earth. Simply put, the fewer trees we have, the less oxygen we get. And the less C02 that’s absorbed by the trees, the more damage there is to the environment.

Eliminating paper completely from your office and going digital, would help reduce deforestation. And the more businesses that do it, the bigger the impact it will have globally. Below are three steps to take with your business, as you prepare to go paperless:

Get software such as Filecenterdms.com
Put systems and procedures in place for managing your paperless office
Educate your employees on new policies and procedures.

Stop Wasting Energy & Make Your Own!

Many businesses get into the habit of leaving every computer and every light on overnight, even when there’s no one working. Start off by carrying out a full audit of your energy usage. Then, look having motion sensors fitted to control the light switches in every room.

Reducing your energy consumption is one thing, but the biggest changes can be made in evaluating where your power comes from. If you have an energy supplier that does not supply 100% energy, you should switch to a green provider that does. If you are able to, you could look at producing your own energy.

There are several ways that you could do this. One of the most common ways would be to have solar panels fitted to the roof of your premises. You could also use wind turbines, or micro-hydroelectric to power your workplace. If you struggle to get enough power using just one of these renewable sources, you could use a combination of different methods.

Start an Eco-Trend & Get Your Team Involved

First, tell your team how they can all get involved in making the business more eco-friendly. The best way to do this is by teaching them to take action towards becoming more eco-friendly at the office. For example, most offices around the world have a recycling bin next to each trash bin. Of course, it took a lot of work to train everyone to use the recycling bins properly and eventually get them installed all over, throughout urban cities in the world.

1995 – Recycling (all the labeled bins!) Was Born

But over time (25 years to be exact!) it’s become the norm to see a recycling bin next to the trash bin in most offices, homes, schools, hospitals, etc. People come to expect the option to recycle whenever they throw something away.

Nearly anywhere you go in urban areas of the world, knowing how to recycle and separate your recycling is second nature. Nowadays there are several color-coded recycling bins all over, designed to let you know exactly what needs to go, where.

Glass/plastic/aluminum bottles went into three different sections of one bin, while paper and cardboard went into another. And anything marked “biodegradable” means that you should only place organic waste products (i.e., dead food) such as fruit, meat, bones, pasta, bread, eggshells, coffee grinds, etc.

Share Your Ideas w/Your Customers Too

Once being eco-friendly at work is a habit with your team, they’ll start to show off at home! But what about an even further reach that you have? By sharing your ideas and experiences with your customers, you’re giving them a chance to decide whether they care about what you’re doing.

Then, by sharing your personal message about how you plan to make your business more eco-friendly, your customers will know how and why they want to get involved! Not only will your team benefit from seeing what you’re doing for the environment but your customers could also learn a lot from your efforts as well.

Be sure to share your experiences, along with your personal message about what you’re doing and why. Show your customers how they can be eco-friendly at their jobs, in their homes, and if applicable, while using your product!

Jessica Rose Adams