What is your company doing to help the planet?
As a business, you have a responsibility to lead the way in reducing the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses are some of the biggest polluters on the planet, including in the plastic they produce and the emissions they release into the atmosphere.
But it isn’t always easy knowing where to start. If you’re struggling with how to be more environmentally friendly, we’ve got some top tips to help.
Read on to find out more!
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Switch to Renewable Energy
Green businesses should be working to reduce their carbon footprint, and a great way to do that is by switching to renewable energy. From looking into Commercial Solar and having your own panels fitted, to switching to an energy supplier that provides 100% renewable electricity, there are lots of ways you can make a change! Even once you’ve made the switch, you should still be focusing on where you can reduce your electricity usage by turning off items rather than putting them on stand-by and ensuring you and all your staff turn off lights when leaving the room.
Offer Remote Working
If you have a team that works for you, part of your carbon footprint will come from their travel to and from work. If you have a lot of staff, that will add up quickly and instantly make you less of an eco-friendly business. There are a couple of ways to work around this, including encouraging staff to take pubic transport with incentives and taking part in schemes like Cycle to Work.
But one of the biggest ways to reduce the impact of staff commutes is by cutting them down altogether. By offering remote working capabilities, your staff can work from home rather than coming into the office and your carbon footprint will be drastically reduced! They don’t have to work from home every day of the week if they can’t, but even doing one or two days of remote working will help the planet.
Switch to Sustainable Supplies
If you’re wondering how to go green, take an inventory of all of the current supplies you’re buying. If you have an office, this could be everything from pencils to coffee in the staff room. If you have a smaller, product-based business, this could be the packaging supplies you’re ordering and the labels you use on your products.
Once you’ve created your inventory, start working through it and research more sustainable options for each product. Eco-friendly companies don’t just create sustainable products, they live by their ethos! If you can stock your workplace with supplies that are less damaging to the planet, you’re well on your way to becoming a green business.
Ditch Single-Use Plastic
Did you know that if the world’s consumption of plastic doesn’t change, the amount of plastic in our oceans is going to triple in less than 20 years? There’s no denying that our species has a problem with plastic. Most people use plastic products every day, and a lot of those are single-use.
As a business, if you don’t actively try to cut down you could end up being one of the bigger contributors of plastic pollution. From this moment on, start your journey to ditch single-use plastic completely. If you’re packaging products in plastic find an alternative, like cardboard or paper, and stock your staff kitchen with food from zero-waste companies.
There are so many companies out there now selling alternatives to plastic for just about anything, so there really is no excuse!
Reduce Your Consumption
Caring for the environment is about more than being mindful of the materials you use. It’s also about cutting down on consumption, period. If you can stop buying so much stuff you’ll quickly reduce your impact on the planet and your businesses carbon footprint will drop.
If you don’t really need to package products in three layers of tissue paper, stop! If your office could do without magazines in the waiting room, stop buying them! Look at everything you’re currently buying and ask yourself if your business really needs it or whether there’s an alternative that could cut down on your consumption.
Start a Composting Scheme
If you have an office, start encouraging composting. With lots of staff eating food every day and plenty of waste, an office is the perfect spot to compost! When you throw food waste into a compost rather than to a landfill, you prevent harmful methane from being released during the decaying process and instead turn the food quickly into useful soil.
Invest in a good compost bin for your kitchen that will keep smells safely hidden away. Make sure all of your staff know what can and can’t be put in, and then find a way to use the waste. You may be able to compost the food in your own garden or there could be a local green scheme nearby who will be happy to do it for you.
Keep Learning How to be More Environmentally Friendly
Becoming a green business and reducing your carbon footprint isn’t an easy task, but it’s one that’s essential and is very rewarding! This is just the start of your journey and once you’ve begun implementing some of these ideas, it’s keep you keep learning how to be more environmentally friendly. Education is going to be critical when it comes to saving our planet, so be sure to spread the word and let everyone know how you’re making a difference!
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