- Source Sustainable Materials
Every business buys products to ensure the smooth running of the business, ranging from paper for the printer, to cleaning products, to much, much more – these products can be harmful to the environment due to the processes that go into making them. In terms of paper for an office, office managers should try to source products that are made from recycled paper. Recycled products such as paper help maintain a circular economy and reduce overall waste. This is just one example of a sustainable alternative for vital products used in an office, there are many more that every business can adopt to help the environment.
- Offer Remote Work
While this is a lot more popular now because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people working from home actually helps the environment more than you’d imagine. People don’t travel to the office, so emissions from a vehicle is saved. Less people are in the office so the electricity usage is lower. These are just two examples of how working from home contributes to your business becoming more eco-friendly!
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
This is probably the easiest way a business can make themselves more environmentally friendly. By ramping up recycling efforts, pledging to use less single-use plastics and reuse items whenever possible, businesses can not only reduce their impact on the environment, but save money, too. Reducing or reusing is what we should all be aiming for, but when this isn’t possible, recycling is the next best bet. Thankfully, there are plenty of facilities to recycle!
- Use Green Hosting Web Services
This is a more abstract option, but extremely viable nonetheless – all websites have to be hosted on a server, and most of the time these servers are external. These server hosting businesses are usually very harmful to the environment, amassing massive energy usage. More and more eco-conscious server hosting companies are offsetting their energy usage to go carbon neutral; for example, Google has done a lot to decarbonise its data centres and claims that “its cloud services produce zero net carbon emissions” and Amazon, the largest cloud computing provider, has promised to achieve the same by 2040 by using wind and solar farms.
- Donate what you don’t use
When your business decides it’s time to upgrade on appliances, furniture, or electronics, you should consider donating these items to charities rather than disposing of them. It’s more eco-friendly to donate them, as they are reused, but it’s also a nice gesture to donate items to those who can still use them – even if you may not be able to. Electronics that are improperly disposed of and end up in landfills release toxins like mercury and lead.
If you have a business registered under 42 months within the Liverpool City Region or are looking to start a business – Enterprise Hub can support you! Get in touch with us at enterprisehub@thewo.org.uk
