Having an eco-friendly business is a great way to help grow your business and help the planet while doing so. Customers prefer buying from businesses who make an effort to be sustainable and value the environment. The reasons for protecting the environment are self explanatory. 33% of customers chose an environmentally friendly option, over a regular option. Therefore, supporting the environment is also useful for your business.
Here are 9 ways to make your business more sustainable:
- Use eco-friendly packaging. Steer away from styrofoam and plastic and instead opt for paper. If you must use plastic, use recyclable plastic. A great option for packaging is cellulose. It is made from hemp, wood, and cotton which are biodegradable making it a better option than plastic.
- Make sure your materials are sourced sustainably. Are your products made in ethical conditions? Do the employees who make the product get paid a fair wage and work reasonable hours? These are all great questions to ask to be sure each part of your business is ethical. It’s also important to find recyclable and renewable materials for your products. It may seem like a small detail, but customers care about each aspect of your business when it comes to sustainability.
- Extend your sustainability to storage. Consider choosing storage facilities that run by solar panels to save on energy. If you have any inventory you need to get rid of, donating them is a much better option than throwing them out!
- Cut down on paperwork and billing. Your aim is to be as close to paperless as possible. This will also cut down on office clutter so it’s a win-win situation. If you do need to use some paper, try a recyclable option. Paychecks can also be done through direct deposit which can eliminate paper trails. Paperwork can all be done virtually.
- Make a donation to charity or partner with a non-profit. You can set up a certain system where you donate a portion of your sales to an eco-friendly charity. You can also be proactive and plant a tree for every 100 products bought.
- Be vocal about your efforts. Share your initiatives with your customers! There’s no reason to keep it a secret. The more you get the word out the better. Sharing your efforts in your marketing or public relations initiatives is an easy way to share with the public.
- Practice ethical habits within your own company. You want to practice what you preach and lead a good example within your own company. Your workers deserve fair treatment and pay. Be sure to pay your employees fairly no matter what race or gender they are. Also, make sure there is a range of diversity to the people you hire.
- Give your employees an option to work from home. If this is possible, it’s a great way to save on gas and reduce carbon emissions.
- Stay up to date on research on how to be sustainable. Practices continue to change as society grows and evolves.
There are many different ways to have a sustainable business. As you can see, there are many different aspects of business that can all use sustainability. There’s no need to make huge changes, rather start out slow. Slowly changing your practices leads to longer lasting changes.