Businesses have a moral duty to be eco-friendly, but there’s also a business imperative, too. Studies have shown that customers increasingly prefer to give their money to businesses that show care and appreciation for the natural world, and that’s only likely to increase in the years to come. Plus, with governments around the world setting ambitious carbon-zero targets, it’s likely that eco-friendly practices will become essentially mandatory in the near future anyway.
You’ll likely already be turning off unused lights and limiting paper use. They’re tips from two decades ago. In this post, we’ll run through some additional methods for turbocharging your environmental friendliness.
Review Your Suppliers
It’s one thing for your business to be environmentally friendly. However, the good work that you do in that area could become undone if the suppliers that you work with are not also environmentally friendly. It’s best to measure your carbon footprint in terms of your entire contribution, not just the one that happens on location at your business. There will be suppliers who are environmentally-friendly, and ones who will not be. Make sure you’re working with the former. In the process, not only will you be strengthening your eco-credentials, but you’ll be encouraging eco-friendly businesses (like your suppliers) to thrive.
Managing Waste
It doesn’t matter how many earth-benefitting practices you incorporate into your business; it’s inevitable that your business will produce waste. All businesses do. What matters is what you do with that waste. The best policy is to try to recycle and reuse as much as you can. You’ll already know that you should recycle paper and plastic, but what about other, more complicated waste? Working with a scrap yard can ensure that as much of your waste is repurposed as possible. Plus, not only is this approach good for the environment, but it can also be good for your bottom line since these types of businesses typically pay for the metal they take from you.
Encourage Ridesharing
Remember above, when we mentioned how it’s not just what happens at your business that counts, but what happens around it? Well, that includes how your employees get to work. Your earth-boosting practices will be diminished if all of your employees are driving vehicles to work. You can get around this in two ways. One is to allow your employees to work from home, which will essentially remove the issue altogether. If that’s not possible, then encourage your staff to ride share. The earth would be in a much better place if every car had five people inside, rather than just one.
Offsetting Carbon Emissions
Finally, consider offsetting your carbon emissions. This is a great way to not only reduce your impact on the planet but to actually have a positive impact. There are a number of projects you can invest your business’s time, energy, and money. For instance, could you fund a reforestation project? At the bare minimum, look at buying carbon credits — it’s an easy and quick way to offset your impact.