With the recent heatwaves in the UK and the prospect of hotter summers in the future, many businesses will be wondering how they can become more environmentally friendly to help tackle climate change.
Yet talk of Net Zero by 2050 and decarbonising sectors can leave many small business owners thinking they need to make wholesale changes to become environmentally friendly, such as buying an electric van or switching to green energy suppliers, all the while wondering if they can afford to use more expensive eco-friendly options.
In fact, it’s often small changes that can make a massive difference to how your business operates in a more environmentally friendly way, from reviewing the cleaning equipment to shifting to hybrid work patterns.
We’ve listed our top tips for small businesses to become more environmentally friendly below:
1. Turn it off
Turning off equipment when it isn’t being used can save up to 50% of the energy being used at the end of each day. Saving energy on your equipment will increase its lifespan, meaning your technology will work better for longer, and it will mean your bills will be lower as you aren’t wasting energy you don’t need.
Laptop chargers are one of the main culprits for energy wastage. Remind your employees to turn off their laptop charger once it reaches 100%.
Make sure you have a smart meter installed in your business so you can monitor the amount of energy you and your team use each day. This will help you to further clean up any wastage you might be causing and reduce expenses.
2. Clean up your act
Use biodegradable cleaning equipment for every aspect of your office cleaning, from washing up liquid to surface sprays, including personal cleaning products such as hand washes. You will be removing the use of harsh chemicals and toxins that your staff are exposed to and reduce the number of chemicals you are putting back into the environment as the products are used.
Almost all biodegradable products come in biodegradable or recycled packaging, too, meaning you are also reducing the amount of waste you send to send to land fill sites.
On top of this, almost all eco-friendly products have a greener production and distribution chain than alternatives, meaning you’ll be reducing your emissions through your purchases.
3. Encourage work from home (WFH)
While many larger corporations are asking their workforce to come back into the office four times a week, small businesses can make themselves not only a more appealing workplace but also more environmentally friendly by maintaining a hybrid work model if it’s viable for them.
Unless your employees walk or cycle to work, they will contribute carbon emissions either by driving or taking certain types of public transport.
By increasing the amount of days employees can work from home (WFH) you will reduce greenhouse emissions linked to your business and potentially boost productivity. You’ll also save energy in the office, such as the kettle being boiled fewer times over the course of the day.
4. Recycle
You might already have recycling facilities set up for paper and plastic, but why not think creatively and look into purchasing recycled furniture for your office? Second-hand furniture is both cheaper than new products and often made of higher quality materials, meaning that the recycled products you last in will be cost efficient and better for the environment as they won’t require destructive processes in their manufacturing.
Charities such as Dorothy House, a hospice that offers free palliative and end of life care across Bath and North East Somerset, often have furniture shops that might be worth investigating.
