How Your Business Can Fight Its Throwaway Culture

Julie Starr • December 15, 2020



There’s no doubt that we live in a throwaway culture. If anything, the problem is getting worse, not better. For bosses and entrepreneurs, it creates nasty side-effects because failing to exploit goods and services only leads to waste. And, the more wastage you have in the workplace, the more money you’ll leave on the table.

As a leader, it’s your job to improve efficiency throughout the office. Of course, it’s challenging when your routine is full of bad habits and the business is stuck in a rut. Plus, you might not think that fighting your brand’s throwaway culture is necessary at the moment.

Just remember that without eco-friendly efficiency, not only are the odds of blowing your budget higher, but the chances of appealing to new customers are lower. In short, you have to do something if you want to reach your long-term goals. Here are four options at your disposal.

Buy Cheap, Buy Twice

Buying multiple times is expensive, and it’s bad for the environment. When you increase the demand, it results in additional goods and services being made, which means essential resources are depleted. The worst part is, this isn’t necessary if you do your research and opt for quality items.

When you buy cheap, you buy twice since the quality is much lower. Therefore, it’s smarter to purchase more expensive hardware and software for the office to ensure it lasts longer. Yes, price and standards don’t always go hand in hand, so you should be careful before heading to the virtual checkout. Still, as a rule, the best products won’t be offered at bargain rates.

If you are in doubt, you should opt for brands you can rely on, ones that are synonymous with maintaining high standards. Then, you can almost guarantee that nothing will be thrown away for a long time.

Provide Work Devices

Not providing work devices is a way to reduce expenses. It’s usually a last resort when money is tight and the budget is bare. Unfortunately, some bosses are obsessed with liquidity, so you might be tempted to avoid investments if they appear too costly or pricey. It’s a massive mistake.

Firstly, there are security concerns you should address. Secondly, from a sustainability perspective, letting people use personal devices to conduct business will affect the supply chain. When the supply chain becomes too complicated to understand and manage, you can expect plenty of wastage.

Ensuring your staff has the latest Android devices with Android Zero-touch capabilities makes large-scale deployment seamless. As a result, errors shouldn’t occur that exacerbate the throwaway culture, such as overbuying materials with short expiration dates.

Recycle

It’s a cliche, but that doesn’t mean recycling isn’t a useful tool in the fight against waste. A recycling program is about as simple and powerful as it gets because you can guarantee that your garbage isn’t harming the planet.

Food is obvious since meals and drinks come in plastic containers and metal cans. But, there’s a lot more in the office you can recycle, including your old appliances. A printer is hard to get rid of, which is why you are tempted to take it to the dump. However, you can trade it in, scrap it for parts, or donate it to charity.

The latter is an excellent hack if you’re struggling to find a solution that doesn’t involve throwing it away. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, which is why Goodwill stores will gladly accept donations to help the less fortunate.

Invest In A Lifestyle

Your focus will be on the business as a whole, but at some stage, you need to recognize that the effectiveness of your strategy relies on your employees. If they don’t get on board and invest in the new policies, the plan will fail quickly. After all, you rely on your workers to implement procedures, and this is no different.

With that in mind, you need to show them that a throwaway culture is bad and exists outside of the office. Should you hit this target, they’ll start making decisions for the good of health and wellbeing, and the company will benefit. Driving less is a prime example. Highlighting the emissions of a standard commute and the money they spend on gas could encourage them to walk more.

Or, they might cycle to work if you develop a scheme that makes owning or renting a bike accessible and affordable.

The key is to realize that you have a throwaway culture. Then, you can concentrate on tweaking your approach.

5 Simple Ways to Make Your Online Business More Sustainable

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.

Sustainable Choices That Heavy Industry Businesses Can Easily Make

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