How To Start Your Sustainability Podcast

Julie Starr • December 6, 2021



The number of people listening to podcasts across the world is continuing to increase. In the UK, it is estimated that 20 million people will be listening to podcasts by 2024. That’s a huge potential audience. But there are a lot of podcasts out there too, fighting for people’s attention. 

A podcast can be a great way to get your message out to people and really create and engage in conversation. But if you’ve never been involved in a podcast before, you may not know where to start. 

Buying the right kit

You can get started in podcasting with just a few pieces of equipment in addition to your laptop or pc. Your basic equipment should include: 

  • A microphone
  • Headphones 
  • Audio recording software
  • Editing software 

As with most AV equipment and software, entry prices can be extremely low, but it is best to look at reviews in order to find the best balance of price and quality for your budget. The best microphone for streaming or editing software can be hard to find if you don’t have any experience. 

Decide on your identity and audience 

Rather than just jumping into producing a podcast, you first need to get a few things straight, as this will inform your strategy. For example, will you cover sustainability as a wide concept or a specific niche? Who will be your target audience ? How often will you be producing content? 

Defining your target audience is hugely important as it will allow you to focus your content, as well as inform your promotional strategy too. 

Name your podcast

There are a number of different routes you can take when naming your podcast. For example, you could use something descriptive that tells a listener exactly what to expect. Or you could choose a clever name or play on words. As long as your show notes and keywords give an idea of the content, it shouldn’t make too much of a difference to how you are found on the various podcast platforms. 

Plan your format and first episodes

If you approach everything in an unfocused way, podcasts have the habit of sucking up a lot of time and resources. The best way to avoid this is to plan ahead. Decide what the format of your podcast will be, what the running order will be, guests and any other sections you want to include. Create a running order for each episode and plan at least the first 3-5 to be recorded in advance of launch. This gives you extra breathing room to keep creating content at a manageable pace. Unless your podcast is time-sensitive (for example you cover news events), then you should be recording in advance. 

Editing

Editing a podcast can be very time-consuming, especially if you haven’t done it before. There are many podcast editing software options out there, some you can even use from your smartphone. Many people choose to outsource this part of the podcast process to a freelancer or company that can do it to a high standard very quickly. 

Art work

All podcasts need cover art. You need to create something that is professional-looking and eye-catching. If someone is scrolling through a lot of podcasts, you want them to stop at yours. Again this is something you can outsource, or there are a lot of great templates you can use on platforms such as Canva . 

Show notes

Once you’ve published your podcast onto the various hosting services, you’ll need to show notes to go with it. Show notes are the calling card for your podcast, like a movie trailer. They give people information about your podcast and entice them to listen. Each podcast episode will also have its own separate description and resources. 

Don’t neglect your show notes as they are very important for attracting new listeners, both on a podcasting platform and through search engines. 

Promotional plan

Producing a great sustainability podcast is one thing but then you have to go out there and find your audience. This can be done in a number of ways such as email, social media, display advertising and PR. It may take some time for your profile and listener numbers to build, but keep consistent in your marketing efforts. 

Takeaways

Podcasts are going from strength to strength and remain one of the best ways to attract a loyal audience, but they do take a good deal of planning and promotion to do well. There are so many great resources out there to help you every step of the way. 

Smart Sensors, Smarter Supply Chains: Enhancing Traceability in Food & Beverage

By Julie Starr • June 20, 2025
In today’s competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape, traceability is no longer a compliance checkbox—it’s a differentiator. The ability to track every step of a product’s journey, from origin to shelf, is vital for regulatory accuracy and to ensure brand integrity, supply chain agility, and consumer trust. Add smart sensors to the mix: the quiet, tireless observers revolutionizing supply chain intelligence. Traceability Has a Data Problem Despite digitization across many F&B operations, most traceability systems still rely on fragmented or manual data inputs. Batch numbers, barcodes, and handwritten logs often stand between a supplier and clarity when things go wrong. This approach struggles with latency and scale. When contamination or delays occur, root cause analysis is slow, costly, and damaging. Smart sensors shift this paradigm by embedding real-time, contextual intelligence into every stage of the supply chain . Whether monitoring humidity in transit or recording fill-level precision in bottling plants, they remove the guesswork by turning physical conditions into structured, time-stamped data. From Passive Monitoring to Active Optimization Sensors used to be reactive tools, alerting operators to anomalies. But smart sensors now play a proactive role in process control. They measure, and they interpret. For example, temperature sensors embedded in cold chain logistics can dynamically adjust cooling systems or flag threshold breaches before spoilage occurs. These advancements reduce waste and loss at a systemic level. In a production facility, smart sensors integrated with PLCs can enforce recipe compliance, verify clean-in-place processes, and detect micro-stoppages in real-time. This enables operations to pivot faster and isolate inefficiencies before they cascade downstream. Trust is Built on Transparency Consumers are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. They’re looking beyond labels, expecting visibility into how ingredients are sourced, processed, and handled. Smart sensors make this level of transparency achievable —without burdening manufacturers with excessive manual oversight. By capturing metadata throughout production and distribution, these sensors create a digital footprint that’s tamper-resistant and instantly accessible. When this data is integrated with a central platform, brands can respond confidently to audits, recalls, and quality assurance challenges with a level of precision that would be impossible through legacy systems. Intelligence Without Infrastructure Overhaul One common misconception is that adding smart sensors requires a top-down reinvention of supply chain infrastructure. In reality, companies can deploy edge sensors in a modular, scalable way. Many modern solutions offer plug-and-play functionality, allowing for fast integration with existing machinery and MES systems. This is where suppliers like alps-machine.com are reshaping expectations. Rather than pushing proprietary ecosystems, they design sensor-ready equipment with interoperability in mind. This future-proofs investment and keeps businesses nimble in the face of regulatory or market shifts. Designing for Data Longevity Sensors are only as powerful as the context they capture. A smart implementation ensures the data collected can be standardized, stored securely, and accessed meaningfully across departments. This means moving beyond local dashboards toward centralized, queryable datasets that inform everything from supplier contracts to marketing claims. As AI and predictive analytics become more accessible, these data-rich environments will unlock new capabilities—such as predicting demand spikes based on real-time freshness indicators or adjusting production schedules dynamically based on in-transit sensor feedback. Final Thoughts: Smarter Isn’t Optional Traceability isn’t solved by more paperwork—it’s solved by embedded intelligence. Smart sensors don’t just help businesses know what happened; they help prevent the wrong things from happening at all. For companies in the food and beverage sector, adopting smart sensors is less about chasing innovation and more about enabling resilience, speed, and confidence in every decision.

Eco-Friendly Garden Prep: Summer Tips for a Greener Business Space

By Julie Starr • June 5, 2025
If you're lucky enough to have a garden as part of your business, taking some time to set it up for summer is a great investment of your energy. Not only will it be ready for your customers to spend time in, but you can also incorporate some eco-friendly elements into it. Many people just think about the property and what eco-friendly updates they can make , but there are plenty that you can implement in your garden. This gives you the best of both worlds. You own a sacred and beautiful place for your customers to spend their summer, and at the same time, you can do your part for a better planet. If this is the route you want to take, then you also need to consider how to do this with the different seasons. To help you on your journey, here are some top tips for preparing your garden for summer. Plant trees and flowers Planting trees and flowers in your garden is a must. It will make a beautiful scene of nature for everyone to enjoy. Trees will provide people and animals with shade, as well as provide a habitat for wildlife. More trees are needed in the world because they purify the air that we breathe. Flowers, especially if you plant with pollinators in mind, can be an excellent way to attract bees and butterflies, which contribute largely to the earth. Use natural pest control When preparing your garden for summer, you can do this more sustainably and kindly by using natural pest control. Simply by planting trees and flowers, you are likely to attract lots of different wildlife, some of which may destroy your efforts. While all wildlife should be considered, you may need to take measures. Some better and more eco-friendly ways you can do this, as opposed to spraying toxic chemicals onto your plants and into the air, you can implement companion planting, using protective nets over your crops, choosing resilient plants, using natural repellents, and encouraging natural predators so nature can do its thing. Maintain your garden Maintaining your garden in itself can make it more eco-friendly. Composting your garden waste regularly, and kitchen waste can help you to reduce overall waste and create nutrient-rich soil. This is a great cycle of sustainability. You can also keep on top of things that need cleaning and replacing, so you can recycle the materials for other garden structures and projects, and repurpose things around your garden before they become waste. If you have features in your garden like a swimming pool, then a regular pool maintenance service is going to be vital in keeping your water consumption to a minimum, as when it is cleaned and maintained, it will need to be drained and refilled less as well as using less energy. You could also consider how you can use natural purification methods to reduce chemical usage and support biodiversity right in your backyard. Your garden is just an eco-friendly project waiting to be built. Use these top tips to help you get started.