All businesses hold a responsibility to do what they can to reduce their carbon footprint on the rest of the world. With the growing concern over climate change, anything that you can do as a business to reduce waste or energy usage in different ways is helpful.
More businesses that take an active effort in reducing their business carbon footprint, will greatly impact the health of the earth and hopefully allow many more generations to benefit from the wonderful place we all live on for a limited amount of time.
With that being said, if you’re looking to help reduce your business’s carbon footprint this year, here are some top tips that will help your business in becoming more eco-friendly.
Cut down on your energy usage
Firstly, what are you able to do when it comes to cutting down on the energy usage of your business? You may run multiple locations, which each have its own contribution to energy usage each month. Or it might simply be that you have one office that uses up a lot of energy each month.
Take a look at your energy usage as a business and consider what areas of the business are using up the most. Perhaps you’ve got some warehouses that need to minimize their energy usage a lot more or it could be that you could find ways to reduce your energy usage in the office environment.
Pinpointing and identifying those hot areas for energy usage will certainly help you to cut down. Not only does this benefit carbon emissions but it also greatly benefits your bank balance, where you’re spending a lot of money each month on energy costs.
Encourage flexible and remote working
When it comes to your company’s carbon footprint, a good way of reducing energy usage is through flexible working and remote working. With the pandemic forcing most businesses into working from home, it meant that the flexibility and ability to do remote work was the norm. Since the pandemic has subsided, a lot of remote working has remained.
If you’re looking to reduce your energy usage, you can always encourage more flexible working and remote working within your business. By only having so many people working in the office on a daily basis, you’re likely going to reduce the amount of energy being used.
Alternatively, if you’re a company that could manage remote working on a permanent basis, then it might be something worth considering. Not only could you save on energy bills but there are a lot of great benefits to not having the expense of a business venue and all the costs that come with it too.
Upgrade your equipment to be more energy-efficient
If you’re looking to improve the energy efficiency of your business then a lot of that change lies in the equipment you’re using. The quality and age of your equipment can influence how much carbon is being used as a business.
For example, newer equipment that was only bought within the last year or so is likely to be performing more efficiently and without the use of a lot of energy than older equipment is.
If some of your equipment is hitting that five or ten-year age, then it may be worth looking at its performance when it comes to energy usage. Is it using a lot of energy to power it or is it still running efficiently enough?
By assessing all of your equipment, you can make any necessary upgrades and updates that are needed.
Maximize your waste removal and recycling services
Waste removal and recycling is something that every business has a certain volume of. Depending on your own business usage, you may be lacking in the initiative when it comes to removing waste properly and recycling all of your waste in the right manner.
For example, there are waste and recycling services for IT equipment and other goods that you wouldn’t simply throw in the trash or within your recycling unit. Taking a look at a waste baler or considering specialist recycling services is something that could help improve the part you play when getting rid of company waste.
The more you can minimize the waste you’re throwing out straight into the trash, the better. There are lots of advancements in technology and engineering that allows for more of your general waste, to be reduced and reused in different ways. Take a look at what you could be improving upon in this regard.
Work with suppliers who are eco-conscious
In order to impact the world in a positive way, sometimes you need to take the lead. With climate change, the impact on our environment is only going to improve if more people take the lead on being more eco-conscious. You may find that your current suppliers are underperforming in relation to eco-friendliness and sustainability.
If that’s the case, then you don’t need to look far in order to find suppliers who are more than willing to offer sustainable and eco-friendly processes and materials that are better for the environment in general.
Look at working with these suppliers, even if the deals they offer are perhaps not as good as the ones you have currently. That slight increase in costs is often going to be minimal in relation to the difference you could make to the environment’s health and well-being.
Review your current suppliers and if it’s possible to switch, then now is the time to do it for the benefit of the earth!
Be wary of your production rates and the volume you create
What are your production rates and how much volume do you create in produce or products? Every business is different when it comes to the amount they create and that, therefore, impacts the environment.
While volume isn’t always the issue if the business is selling all of its goods, it’s those who generate too much stock and therefore have a lot of waste to throw out.
Are you wasting too much stock? It might not be having a great impact on your finances but the volume of waste you’re creating in this area of business might be doing a lot more damage than you think. Especially, if it’s not being reused or recycled.
If you’re able to reduce your production rates, then less wasted stock means more money in the bank as a business. What’s not to like?
Create more sustainable products
As a business, the products you create are something that you want to create an impact with. Whether that’s on a small scale or a large, global scale, the products you develop are influential to your carbon footprint.
Nowadays, there’s really no excuse to find new ways to create more sustainable products. From the materials you use for the product itself, to all of the packing you use to ship it out to your customers.
By being proactive with your creation of sustainable products, it can make a big difference to your business. Not only does it win you customers who are conscious of sustainability but it also helps the environment further.
Go paperless
Going paperless is a wonderful change to your business that not only helps the environment but it also clears up your business premises in the process. If you’re looking to improve upon your business and its impact on the environment, why not remove all paper?
You could save yourself a lot of money in the process and with so many people using digital devices, is there much need for paper anymore in your organization? Some business types may still need to use paper but there’s likely many companies still using an excess amount of paper for no reason.
Encourage employees to be eco-friendly with their daily activities
There are lots of ways to improve your eco-friendliness on the environment but your employees can be encouraged to do so too. From cycling to work instead of using public transport or their own vehicles, to being proactive when recycling their own waste within the business.
Find ways to educate and inspire your employees to be eco-friendly when it comes to their workplace activities. You could always reward these efforts where possible and highlight those successes through your company newsletter. That in turn, may inspire others to make the effort in return for the perks offered.
Support local green initiatives and organizations
Finally, if you’re looking to impress those around you with your green efforts, then look at supporting any local green initiatives and organizations. There are plenty of programs and organizations out there that are looking for corporate and small business support, so if you’re able to offer it, then it won’t go underappreciated.
These local green initiatives are all making big efforts and impacts to reduce carbon emissions, so join in!
Reducing your carbon emission footprint is something to be proactive about this year before it’s too late. Start implementing these tips and find other ways to become more eco-efficient within the workplace.
