Posts

Quick Eco-Friendly Alterations You Can Make To Your Business

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Eco-Friendly|Quick Eco-Friendly Alterations You Can Make To Your BusinessWith finite resources, a polluted sea, and the greenhouse effect looming over, the world needs saving – and fast!

Thankfully some people are starting to adapt and make changes in their lives to support the planet. Moreover, multiple governments worldwide are setting new goals to reach to reduce carbon emissions. With that, businesses are taking a stance to reduce their carbon footprint too. However, while every effort helps, there’s always room for improvement.

If you’re looking for new tips to add to your existing eco-friendly business processes, this post can help give you a few ideas.

Recycle Cooking Oil

Would you believe businesses out there are prepared to purchase and recycle your leftover oil to save it from going to waste?

From vegetable oil to soya bean oil, used cooking oils recycling by GF commodities provides various oils a new life lease. If you’re in the food industry, this is a great way to manage waste and support the environment.

Switch It off

The amount of devices, PCs, lights, and so forth we’re guilty of intentionally and unintentionally leaving on in the workplace is phenomenal.

Wasted energy is bad for the environment, not to mention costly for the business. And so, from now on, if you or any of your employees aren’t using an electronic device at work, or light, for instance, encourage each other to switch it off.

Switching equipment off at work is particularly crucial at the end of the day when workers are likely to keep their PCs on standby or forget to turn off machinery in the factory.

While some laptops, PCs, printers, and other workplace machinery may take a while to power up the following morning, it’s much better than leaving a range of computers on all night to drain power.

Switch To Recycled Paper

If there’s anything mostly all companies are guilty of using too much of, it’s paper! Numerous trees are chopped down for businesses to scribble down food orders, draft architectural designs, and write out to-do lists for the day.

While paper may be necessary, newly processed paper isn’t especially when you can get recycled paper instead! By using recycled paper, your business can help to reduce the number of trees that need to be cut down for paper.

Renewable Energy Sources

Another way to protect the environment is to switch energy providers. Multiple energy providers today are using renewable energy to cater to an environmentally conscious world.

It may be something you haven’t yet thought about, but it’s quick and easy to do. You just need to find a suitable provider and ask to switch!

Your new supplier usually contacts your old supplier for you, so you won’t have to do much else.

The best way to begin making sustainable business changes is to start small and slowly integrate new eco-friendly practices as you go along. In doing so, the pressure to make your company completely green is less disruptive and overwhelming, and much more easy to do.

3 Sustainable Switches Your Business Can Make Today

/in /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Sustainable Business|3 Sustainable Switches Your Business Can Make Today We should all be doing our bit to head into a more sustainable future. There is some intense debate swirling about what is best for our futures with the threat of climate change. Many companies are trying to combat this with switches to more sustainable supplies or practices. Here are some of the best switches you can make today.

Plastic Pallets

We automatically think that plastic is not sustainable. However, in the right circumstances it is a brilliant option for all sorts of business. Plastic pallets are one of the best choices that you make. They are sturdy, meaning they can handle heavier loads without breaking.

Due to this, they should also last longer, so an initial investment will play out over a greater length of time compared to the repeated buying of an inferior product. If you want to make this switch, this is the largest plastic pallet inventory that you could choose to buy from, and their products are a brilliant step for any company who wants to make a sustainable switch.

Reusable Water Bottles

If your company provides bottled water for employees, you could be generating an awful lot of plastic or glass waste each year. Even if you choose to recycle this (as you should) you are still going to be producing a lot of waste.

Instead, it might be a better idea to include a reusable water bottle in employees’ welcome packs – in addition to rolling them out amongst existing members of staff. Employees can then fill them up as they choose either from the tap or from a drinking fountain you might provide. This easily solves the issue of providing water to employees in a sustainable manner.

Go Paperless

Paperless offices are the way forward. While the switch itself can be a real headache, it can also ensure that you are not producing massive amounts of waste in terms of old documents and scrap pieces of paper. To get the most out of a paperless office, you need to make sure that the transition to digital data is swift and efficient. You might keep some documents as physical copies instead of digital ones, and these need to be secured away somewhere they will be properly protected.

Another fantastic advantage of the paperless office is the neatness. If you feel like you have a perpetually messy office and you are concerned about the effect it could be having on employee productivity, this sort of switch might be just what everyone needs.

These are just three of the many sustainable switches that your business could make. We all need to make sure that we are playing our part, no matter what that might look like. Whether we are at home or in the office, choosing to make a small sustainable change will have a knock-on effect that can help a lot further down the line. Take stock of what is currently happening in your office. Making quick and easy sustainable changes might be far easier than you think!

How to Further Reduce Your Company’s Carbon Footprint

/in /by

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Carbon Footprint|How to Further Reduce Your Company’s Carbon FootprintThere’s no denying that we all have to look at making changes if we’re going to overcome the problems that climate change poses to the world and the people in it. While there are things that individuals can do to have a more positive impact on the natural world, the truth is that the most important changes will be the ones that companies make. They are disproportionately responsible for causing damage to the environment — indeed, only twenty firms are responsible for a third of all emissions. If you’re a company owner, then it will, of course, be nowhere nearly as impactful, but it’s still important that you’re taking steps to make your company greener. It’ll be better for the environment, and for your business, especially as consumers are increasingly likely to avoid companies that cause harm to the environment.

But how can you do this? We take a look at a few helpful tips below.

Find Your Flaws

First thing’s first: you’ll need to find your flaws. You won’t be able to figure out how you can improve things until you know where you’re going wrong. Begin by taking a look at your current operations and identify the practices that are causing environmental damage. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, then you can hire an outside expert to do it for you. It might be that you have one especially bad practice that is severely harming your company’s green credentials.

Working From Home

There are many benefits to initiating a ‘work from home’ program at your company — it can boost employee happiness and productivity, and it’s also better for the environment. How so? Well, it takes a lot of energy to have people in the office. Apart from the energy for lighting and electricity and so on, there’s also the impact of having all of your staff members driving to work. If your staff can work from home, you’ll reduce your carbon footprint, and your company’s finances will receive a boost too.

Green Initiatives

If it’s not possible to have staff working from home, then take a look at starting initiatives such as cycle to work and ridesharing programs. It’s much better to have four people riding together in one car, rather than in four cars!

Reduced Packaging

Even companies that are generally green can run into problems. Take, for example, the packaging for their products. This is normally a secondary concern for most companies, and, because of this, is where many fall down. To ensure you’re not using more materials than necessary for your packaging, take a look at the services that product packaging companies can provide. They’ll help to make your packaging more efficient.

Reviews and Updates

Finally, remember that your move towards having a greener company is never finished. There are always ways to improve! The best way to do this is to periodically review and update your operations, so that they eventually move to become carbon positive — that is, they have a positive impact on the world!

Should Your Business Be Thinking About Making Sustainable Choices?

/in , /by

StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Sustainability|Should Your Business Be Thinking About Making Sustainable Choices?You can feel the wind of change in business and you only have to witness the growing numbers of CEO’s who are pledging their support for climate change and promising action to realize that sustainability is topic that is very much on-trend.

With that in mind the question is should your business be embracing the idea of making sustainable choices and what strategies should you be considering to make a difference?

There are so many options when it comes to the subject of sustainability and that extends to finance too, so when you contact Commerce Trust, for instance, they can tell you all about sustainable investments.

It is hard to argue against the view that sustainable initiatives are not just good for the planet but they are good for business as well. Here are some pointers on how to make sustainability an integral part of your business.

Making sustainability the new normal

A good starting point would be to work on ways of incorporating sustainability into your company culture and making it something that everyone in the business is greatly aware of and committed to.

Some of the major corporations around the world are already investing in environmental stewardship initiatives and many of these organizations have subsequently managed to take actions that go above and beyond the basic requirements laid out by governments.

Whether it is sourcing a reliable form of green energy to power your production line or seeking out suppliers with similar green credentials, it is clear that embracing a culture of sustainability within your business is going to be good for the planet and promotes your company as one that cares about what their customers and suppliers think about them.

Start with some easy changes

When you start to embrace sustainability it can soon become obvious that there are so many practices that you can adopt, some that you can implement immediately and others that might take a little longer before you feel the benefit.

One of your first tasks could be to make some basic changes to the way you do things in your office and figure out some initiatives that help you achieve the goal of achieving a good level of sustainability.

A simple but effective action would be to change your old light bulbs in your building and replace them with some LED alternatives.

This move is a real no-brainer as LED’s use less energy than a halogen or incandescent bulb and their lifespan is expected to be in the region of 25% longer than halogen or incandescent options.

You will pay more for a LED bulb but it lasts a lot longer than its counterparts and the amount of energy they use is substantially less than an old-fashioned bulb, meaning some noticeable cost savings are eminently deliverable.

Ditch the plastic bottles

Thankfully, there is greater awareness than ever before about the damage that plastic is doing to our planet and millions of tons of plastic waste are generated each and every year around the globe.

A simple solution that will boost your business’s green credentials would be to encourage a ban on plastic water bottles in your office and install a water filtration system that will help keep everyone hydrated without the waste associated with discarded plastic bottles.

Your supply partners should be a reflection of your own sustainability credentials

If you choose your supply partners with care and ask lots of searching sustainability questions when appointing a new supplier this should ensure that you develop a relationship with like-minded organizations.

Some major companies won’t even use certain suppliers if their green credentials are not up to standard and you can follow suit by using companies who use energy efficient vehicles and seem to be constantly working hard to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Become a recycle champion

There are already tons of waste being sent to landfill sites every week and there is bound to be a percentage of that waste that could be recycled and reused rather than being buried under the surface.

Encourage everyone in your business to adopt a culture of recycle and reuse, which means thinking carefully about what is being put into the trash bin.

As well as recycling what you can of your own waste you can also do your bit for the planet by committing to using recycled paper products and buying recycled ink that has already been around the block rather than end up in a landfill.

Keeping it clean

You will quickly discover that turning green often involves making a number of small incremental changes to the way you do things that all add up over time to make a big difference.

With that in mind, simple suggestions such as switching to some green cleaning products that tick all the right environmental boxes will create a more eco-friendly culture. Using these items will keep your work environment sparkling and clean without harming the planet and is just one example of a sustainable choice.

Sustainable development simply cannot be achieved alone by an individual or some smaller businesses. It is a matter of collective responsibility, but that is not to say that you can’t lead the way in encouraging others to come around to your way of thinking.

Gain a competitive edge

There is nothing wrong with wanting something to show for your efforts of keeping everything in your business as green as possible and when you boost your green credentials it can give your company a competitive edge.

If customers and suppliers know you are championing the the cause for making sustainable choices you could find that customers with similar ideals are more likely to give their business to you rather than to a rival who doesn’t seem to have the same set of impressive green credentials.

The argument seems clear. If you develop a company culture which is centered around making sustainable choices there is a fair chance that you will be rewarded with a better bottom line performance as well as enjoying a clearer conscience that you are doing your bit for the planet.

Is Your Business As Eco Friendly As It Could Be?

/in /by

Running your own business can be incredibly tough. When it comes to acting as the leader, all the responsibility is put on you, and sometimes you can doubt your ability to handle it. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it! There’s no need for you to worry, there’s a lot of advice out there about how to operate best as a self owned business, and how to take your company higher and higher in today’s world.

And if you want to keep on operating for the world of tomorrow, you’re going to have to make sure you’re working with the future in mind. In other words, it’s time to be as eco friendly as possible. But that doesn’t have to be as hard as you might think! Here’s some tips on making sure you’re as operating as energy efficiently as possible.

Change How the Office Works

Changing how the office operates is a lot easier than you might think, and implementing new rules bit by bit is going to allow people to adjust smoothly. So first of all, start buying reusable items to use at your desk, such as pens whose ink can be refilled, and a recycling bin underneath every station to make sure the waste is thrown away in the right place.

At the same time, try to send everything digitally, and only print when it’s absolutely necessary for someone to have a hard copy of a record. You can keep all of your own records on the cloud on a secure server, and thus it’s going to be rare you’ll actually need to use the printer. Cut down on both wasted paper and the couple hundred dollars you can lose on ink each month.

Make Use of Your Waste

Depending on the kind of business you’re running, you’re going to have different waste products by the end of the working week. But if you’re in the agriculture or hospitality sector, there’s a lot of waste you can reuse to help fire up your machinery if you have the right tools to do so. And as a small business, you have a better chance of implementing these energy saving techniques than the bigger companies out there.

If you’ve got both a lot of waste stuck at the bottom of the trash by the end of the day, and manufacturing or cooking equipment in the kitchen, it’s time to invest in a Briquette press. You can easily break down everything you throw away at the end of the day and then make it into a recyclable energy source when you’ve got the machine to do so, and it’s a lot more cost effective than tipping everything into a skip at the end of the day.

Your business can become a lot more eco friendly when you look into the different ways to optimize your operations. Don’t worry, these kinds of investments always pay off, and make your carbon footprint a lot smaller at the same time. Change today.