How To Become A More Sustainable Business

Julie Starr • June 22, 2021



As a business owner and company, part of your responsibility is to help make the world and environment a better place. You may have the desire to but are unsure of where to start or what to do to achieve this goal.

Be glad to know there are several ways and steps you can take that will help you become a more sustainable business that you can be proud of. Take it one small step at a time and track your progress so you can see how you’re doing as you go and what you may need to work on and focus on in the future.

Set Goals & Communicate the Initiative

One way to become a more sustainable business is to outline goals for what you want to accomplish in this area. Figure out a game plan and strategy for becoming greener and improving your current practices. For instance, it may be that you want to work with more sustainable businesses or use less energy at your office. Write down your goals and review them often so you can monitor how you’re doing along the way. Once you have a plan in place you should communicate your initiative and objectives to your company and employees so they can help you find success with the ideas you have in place.

Create A Green Team

You may struggle to become a more sustainable business if you’re the only one doing the work. Therefore, consider creating a green team of employees who are passionate about the cause and can help you reach your goals. Let them take charge and figure out how to get more people at your company involved. Give them some direction but then allow them to lead the way and come up with strategies to implement your plan and ensure your business follows through on this important initiative. Brainstorm ways to improve and then work together as a team to turn your ideas into reality.

Do Your Homework

One reason you may be struggling to be more sustainable is that you’re unsure of how to go about it. In this case, it’s best to do your homework and research so you can get some additional ideas and strategies. Study your competitors and find out what other businesses are doing in this area so you can follow suit or come up with other innovative and creative ways to do a better job with this project. Learn from their mistakes and successes and figure out how they’re running a more eco-friendly business and come up with your own model for success.

Bring Your Products & Marketing Online

Another way to become a more sustainable business is to change what you’re doing and how you’re operating. Consider bringing your products and marketing online so you’re using technology and less energy, actual waste, and physical items to run your business. Use your website to market your business instead of printing off flyers and signs. Make sure your website is a success and your message gets out by working with a company like Unravelseo.com that knows how to get you higher up in the search results.

Offer Remote Work

Think about offering remote work at your company to make it more sustainable. This way you don’t have to operate a physical office as much or as frequently and can save money not having to stock, light, and heat your building. You can save on energy and your employees can work at home instead of having to take their cars to work. Having fewer cars on the road is good for the environment and will save your employees time. You may also want to offer public transit commuter benefits for when they do have to come into the office, which is the greenest way to get around. It provides your workers with more flexibility and an opportunity to complete more tasks online and through technology. Make energy-efficient upgrades to your office for the days you do have to spend and work in it.

Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

You should also commit to reducing, reusing, and recycling as a business if you want to run a more sustainable operation. Make sure you have the right tools and set up to see the results you desire and do what’s in your power so you’re not always creating more waste. Make sure you have recycling bins around your office, print less and use technology more, and rethink your packaging and use of plastic. Once you get in the habit it’ll soon become second nature and you won’t have to think so hard to follow through with these practices. Make it a point to use stainable products in and around the office so you’re practicing what you’re preaching. It can be anything from the rolls of toilet paper you buy to the cleaning products that you use. You may also want to consider how you decorate your office and choose to shop and buy second-hand and consignment décor and furniture.

Reward Effort

You can do what’s in your power as a business owner to turn your company around for the better but you may struggle to succeed unless your employees stand behind you and support you. Become a more sustainable business by rewarding any and all effort that’s made by your team and those you work with. Make sure that they know you’re watching and monitoring their actions and hard work. Reward their behaviors as a way to offer positive reinforcement and get them to stick with it in the future.

Conclusion

These tips will help ensure you can become a more sustainable business over time and can thrive in this area. Be patient because it’ll take time to change habits and behaviors and get everyone on board with what you’re trying to achieve. Let these ideas provide you with a starting point for knowing where to begin and how to succeed in this area. Be proud of yourself for making an effort and getting your company on the right track to helping the environment and making the world a better place.

By Julie Starr August 9, 2025
Running an online business can feel like a constant balancing act. You’re trying to grow, keep customers happy, and still have time for yourself. The trick to making it all work long-term is to build habits and systems that last. You don’t need a complicated plan or endless resources to do it either. Here are five straightforward ways to make your business more sustainable without overcomplicating things. Focus on long-term customer relationships If you want your business to last, you need customers who keep coming back. That doesn’t just happen because you’ve got a good product or service. It’s about making people feel valued every time they interact with you. Simple things like remembering their name, following up after a purchase, or sending a quick thank-you email can make a huge difference. People are far more likely to support a business they feel connected to, so keep those relationships personal and genuine rather than purely transactional. Make your marketing work smarter A big part of sustainability is making sure your marketing isn’t draining your time or money. You want it to be efficient and get results. This is where working with seo consultants can help. They know how to make sure people can find your business online without you throwing cash at random ads. Even if you can’t hire someone right now, you can start by focusing on keywords, improving your website’s loading speed, and posting valuable content that answers the questions your customers are already asking. Streamline your products or services It’s tempting to try to offer everything to everyone, but that’s rarely a good idea. The more you offer, the more time, money, and resources you’ll end up using. Instead, focus on the things you do best and make them as good as they can be. When you streamline what you’re selling, you can put all your energy into perfecting it, which makes it easier to maintain quality over time. Customers notice when you consistently deliver something great, and they’ll trust you more for it. Keep an eye on your finances No matter how much you enjoy the creative or customer side of your business, the numbers are what will keep you going long-term. That means knowing what’s coming in, what’s going out, and where you can cut costs without cutting quality. Set yourself a monthly check-in to look at your spending and profits. If you spot something that’s not working financially, don’t leave it for months, hoping it will improve. Tackle it early and you’ll avoid bigger problems down the road. Look after yourself You can’t run a sustainable business if you’re running yourself into the ground. Burnout isn’t just bad for you, it’s bad for your customers and your bottom line. Make sure you’re setting boundaries, taking breaks, and switching off when you can. That might mean scheduling a full day without work every week or turning your phone off after a certain time. The more balanced you are, the better decisions you’ll make, and the easier it will be to keep your business moving forward without constantly feeling like you’re in survival mode. Sustainability in business isn’t about doing one big thing; it’s about making intelligent, consistent choices that build over time. Start small, keep checking in on your progress, and before you know it, your business will feel a lot steadier and more future-proof than it did before.
By Julie Starr August 8, 2025
Are you hoping to build a heavy industry business? It’s the kind of company that can have globally sweeping positive and negative effects. On the one hand, you’re contributing to the industry, ensuring there’s enough supply to meet demand, and you can do your best to operate in a sustainable way that prioritizes the environment. But on the other hand, the heavy industry has long been the most significant business polluter in the world. Despite advancements in industry technology and usage, their ranking relative to other sectors, such as food and beverage , and shipping and logistics, has remained unchanged as of 2025. Requiring extensive use of large, heavy, and expensive machinery, the fumes produced by heavy-duty factories in sectors like mining, aerospace, nautical, and metal production regularly cause harm to both human and animal life. It’s why anyone interested in investing or scaling within an industry like this needs to focus on their company’s carbon footprint. There are various ways to ensure you’re limiting your harmful output and waste, and you’ll want to use as many as possible within your operation. Check out our recommendations below. Work with Green Suppliers No matter what stage you sit at in the hypothetical supply chain, you’re likely to source at least part of your overall production material from a supplier. If that’s not the case, you’ll still need to work with companies that provide machinery and equipment, as well as replacement parts for these industrial items. All in all, to make as sustainable a choice as possible, you’ll want to commit to working with a ‘green’ supplier who makes eco-conscious choices at every step. Eco-friendly suppliers will strive to both implement sustainable practices within their production line, as well as provide sustainably made and/or extracted materials. The products and/or parts they send out are likely to be recyclable when they reach their end-of-life period, or they’ll run a scheme where you can send old or broken parts back to them. Offset Your Carbon Emissions Offsetting carbon emissions converts the waste output from your operations into something more positive. If you’re interested in programs like this , you can use official government platforms or climate charity websites to contribute. You’ll be able to find a variety of projects that have been undertaken to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and they’ll be located in various regions across the world. You can choose to patronise as many of them as you wish, but if you want to focus on specific types, you’ll also be able to do so. When approaching a program like this, it’s usually best to offset month by month, as this helps you stay on top of your carbon footprint. Be sure to invest in as much carbon removal per tonne as your business has potentially contributed to the atmosphere in the last month. But before you go any further, there’s one thing you need to keep in mind here: Carbon offsetting is just one sustainable practice you can turn to, but it’s not the only one your business will ever need to use. Yes, it’s one of the most sustainable practices a heavy industry business can invest in. But that’s only true when it’s partnered with real-time carbon-lowering efficiencies within day-to-day operations. Repair, Rather Than Throw Away Repairing is the best option if a repair is possible. This should be the first step when evaluating old or broken-down equipment. If it can be salvaged, it should be. Otherwise, you’ll have to replace the equipment in question. Not only is that expensive, but it also means more waste to manage. And not all heavy industry tech can be recycled. Sometimes it’s potentially hazardous and needs to be disposed of carefully, and this could have harsh impacts on the surrounding environment. Repairing is your best bet, at least 80% of the time. You can get back up and running faster, and you don’t need to account for a large investment at short notice. And more equipment can be repaired than you might think. It’s not just small, singular parts that can be pulled out. Entire internal systems in even large vehicles, such as freighter ships, can be replaced by secondary parts. A marine logistics provider or deep-sea fishing operator would save a lot of money just by ordering a Cummins Rebuild Kit for one of their vessels. Deciding to put the ship out of commission and eventually scrapping it will contribute to the large-scale waste common in companies like this. Aiming to repair and limit environmental damage will get that same boat back onto the waters in seaworthy condition. Operate with Lower Emission Logistics Shipping your products to businesses and markets always generates a carbon footprint. Unless you’re operating only within the local area and you’re able to transport products back and forth on foot, this is an unavoidable issue. And seeing as you’re a heavy industry business, that’s not very likely. But some shipping options are better than others. Indeed, there are low-emission choices to be made, and you’ll want to look into these logistic partners only. You’ll likely find that air travel is a total no-go zone. Alternatives to this are long-haul road transportation or a traditional shipping company that operates via sea. Yes, even trucking your products over land generates a lot less carbon waste that can damage the environment than flying something! Staying Green as a Heavy Industry Player Working sustainably within the heavy industry is a career-long project. You’ll need to continually make moves to consider what could be streamlined into something greener and less consuming next. In the end, this can help your long-term costs decrease and stay low. Fewer risky investments, fewer fees from environmental bodies, and more productive time within your business. So, it’s not going to be easy, but it will be worth it