10 Ways to Reduce Your Business’ Carbon Footprint

Julie Starr • Jun 05, 2020



As a business owner, sometimes it’s easy to get carried away trying to increase sales and profits. In fact, it’s so easy that you miss the opportunity to go green. Going green as a business essentially involves reducing the amount of carbon dioxide produced in your office, and it’s actually great because it helps the environment while saving you money. 

Additionally, it ensures that consumers view you in a whole new light as (an environmentally friendly company) which can in turn, positively affect your customer loyalty and sales. To get you started on the right path to going green, here are 10 ways to reduce your business’ carbon footprint. 

  1. Recycle your waste

In an office environment, it’s is not uncommon to regularly produce a significant amount of waste, especially when there’s a lot of employees in the mix. One way your business can reduce its carbon footprint is by taking up recycling . Simply placing several recycle bins for specific types of material (eg plastic, paper, glass, and metal) around the office, will encourage your employees to recycle some certain materials instead of throwing them in the actual trash. 

  1. Switch off appliances

Here’s a very simple way for your business to reduce its carbon footprint, switch off appliances at the end of the day. Most times in offices, you’ll find that people forget to switch off computers, printers, and other devices before closing for the day. By enforcing a policy that requires every employee to switch off appliances when they aren’t in use, your business can take a step in the right direction.

  1. Switch to LED lights

One of the great things about LED lights is that they are one of the most energy-efficient lighting options available on the market. This lighting choice has been reported to consume up to 15 times less energy than regular halogen lights. So, making the switch to LEDs is a good way for your business to reduce its carbon footprint. 

  1. Reduce paper usage

Paper is the number one waste material in offices and can leave a heavy carbon footprint on the environment. Consider adopting a paperless approach in your business, or at least significantly reduce the paper usage in the office. It’s not hard in this time and day, simply convert to using digital files instead. This way, you’ll end up helping your office adopt a more environmentally friendly approach. 

  1. Laptops instead of desktops

One thing most people aren’t aware of is that desktops use up 80 percent more power than a laptop computer. One effective way to reduce energy usage is by encouraging the use of laptops over desktops in the office. Some laptops are more energy-efficient than others, so you can also do some research on that. 

  1. Buy recycled products

Recycling office materials is a good way to reduce the production and release of carbon dioxide in your office space and in the environment. However, you can take things up a notch by actually purchasing products and materials that are equally recycled. The great this is that you can even use this as an angle when marketing your business, with the help of an eCommerce agency . 

  1. Read online newspapers

Although some companies adopt a paperless approach in their operations, they fail to consider that reading physical newspapers can also affect their carbon footprint. In your office, as you try to reduce your paper consumption, also try to ensure that physical newspapers are consumed less as well. Reading online newspapers allow you to be up to date on the news without contributing to your paper waste. 

  1. Make use of fans instead of air conditioners

Air conditioners are well known for consuming ridiculous amounts of energy just to function. Sure, it is effective in cooling down your office space, but it’s not exactly environmentally friendly. One way to reduce your carbon footprint is by making the switch to fans which consume less energy. 

  1. Unplug phone and laptop chargers 

Sometimes in an office setting, people tend to leave phones and laptops plugged in long after these devices have been fully charged. This only contributes to energy wastage, so encourage your employees to unplug their phones and laptops as soon as they are fully charged as a way of conserving energy. 

  1. Allow working from home

With all the advances in the telecommunications industry, working from home is no longer something that is difficult to handle. Encourage your employees to observe a couple of work from home day, as this can save a significant amount of energy that would otherwise have been consumed in the office.

Fresh Content: Can You Make Your Business More Eco Friendly Without Struggling To Get There?

By Julie Starr • 12 Apr, 2024
Can you make your business more eco friendly without struggling to get to this point? It’s an important question, and one that you need to know the answer to as a business owner. The good news is that there are ways that you can achieve this goal, and it doesn’t have to be too tough to do so. If you’re not quite sure about where to start, you’ve come to the right place as this is exactly what we’re going to be looking at. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more. Go Paperless The first thing that you should consider doing is going paperless . Now, ideally, you should have done this already, or done this to an extent as most companies have. It’s not always going to be possible to go completely paperless depending on what kind of business you run, but you can do your best. There isn’t much that can’t be done online, and there’s really not much reason for any business to be using a massive amount of paper these days. If you need some advice on how to do this efficiently, then you can look into this online. A little research and you should have a whole list of ideas that you can use to take your business paperless without much of a fuss. Change Your Packaging Another thing that you should be doing is changing your packaging. If you have the standard plastic packaging for your product that has been the norm for the last few decades, we recommend taking a look at alternative options. Look into choices that are biodegradable and recyclable to do your part for the planet. This might mean a quick Google search into folding carton manufacturers near me to get an idea of how much this is going to cost, and the practicalities of making such a change. Improve Your Energy Efficiency Last but not least, you should look into improving your energy efficiency as a business. The world’s resources that we are all using are finite, and we need to start conserving that and coming up with new ways to generate our energy. If you’re a business that is in a stable enough position to look into alternative forms of energy , then we strongly urge you to do so. Solar and wind are great options to look at if you want an idea of where to begin. We’re not saying that you should make the switch completely if you’re unable, but even half the time will help dramatically. We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the ways that you can make your business more eco friendly without massively struggling to get there. The last thing that anyone needs is to constantly be struggling with making changes in their business, especially ones that are for the greater good because if they cause too much stress, businesses will give up on them. So, if you try out these things, you will be doing your part for the environment, without creating problems for yourself.

Sowing the Seeds of Sustainable Brand Development

By Julie Starr • 12 Apr, 2024
Sustainable brand development is an ongoing but core part of modern business. Owing to customer expectations and changing world regulations, your company can’t afford to ignore eco-consciousness. From finding the right audience to transparency, here are some ideas. Partner with the Right Promo Service Every brand needs some kind of promotion. How else would people know about your business? There are numerous ways you can do this these days beyond traditional print media like magazines, TV, and radio. The internet is a great example. However, people love merchandise and official products. Promotional products like sustainable business cards and reusable water bottles will help reduce waste. For paper, in the US alone, this is 85 million tonnes per year. Target Eco-Conscious Consumers Finding the right audience is perhaps the most significant part of any branding strategy. The tactics you use to do this can vary. Online ads, SEO, and digital marketing are among the top ones for a modern business. Using web tools such as social media, you can laser-focus your branding efforts on the people most likely to engage. This saves time and money. However, it also means you won’t necessarily waste resources such as paper on unnecessary branding. Commit to Sustainable Brand Development Any company can state they will become greener. But as we have seen in the past, false promises are made. Known as “ greenwashing ,” some businesses actively lie about their commitment to sustainable practices and are proven to contradict what they say: Claiming things like bottles are made from recycled materials. Lying about the exact amount of carbon your business emits. Using sustainable materials but still contributing to deforestation. Not committing to what you say is a waste since over 80% of people want their favorite brands to become more sustainable. Therefore, in practice, sustainability would have a major impact on future customer retention. It also elevates your brand above competitors who aren’t green. Be Open and Authentic About It It’s all well and good stating that your business will strive to be more sustainable. But words are empty until actions are taken. You can establish a better rapport with the audience by detailing the actions you are taking and informing them when you do. An open and authentic blog post can be all it takes to bridge the gap. When people see you are making an active contribution to your green statements, they will respond with whole hearted support for your brand moving on. Encourage Customer Contribution There is no business without customers. It always helps to include them in the brand in some way. This can be taking polls, sending out newsletters and surveys. The feedback you get from customers will tell you how they really feel and this makes it easier to implement changes. However, 42% of businesses actually don’t bother using feedback tactics . Yet this can work in your favor when you consider that the competition might not be using this valuable data. Summary Partnering with green services for things like promotional materials will help as part of your sustainable brand development program. However, you must actively commit to your initiative and show customers you are making changes. You can make decisions based on feedback.
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