Creating a Greener Business: Three Alterations Companies Can Make
A “greener” business is an enterprise that has minimal negative impact or potentially a positive effect on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy. The incentives for businesses to go green in 2022 are huge – from improved employee satisfaction to the competitive advantage of an eco-friendly brand image, going greener is a no-brainer for companies.
It allows you to make a difference to the planet in the face of stark warnings around global warming. For many organisations, it can be difficult to implement greener changes for a variety of reasons, especially if some employees are not as environmentally conscious as others. However, there are some changes that can make within your company to go green that are easy for everyone to adapt to.
Start Tracking Your Energy Usage
A good starting point when it comes to creating a greener business is to track what your energy usage actually looks like, to find out which areas of your company are energy efficient, and which could do with some improvement. If you are wasting energy through your heating system, for instance, knowing what you need to upgrade can be a huge help when going greener, and ensures that the efforts of your co-workers or employees to undertake energy saving measures aren’t being undermined by something out of their control.
You can find a range of business energy efficiency grants and loans that are available to support businesses in the push to go greener, so it’s worth checking your company’s eligibility, as some of the support available centres around energy monitoring systems that can help you to pinpoint exactly what your energy usage looks like.
Improve Energy Efficiency in the Office
Once you know where your energy wastage is coming from, one of the easiest steps you can take to go greener is to look for ways you can improve the energy efficiency of the office. You can start with simple things like monitoring lighting and technology usage to see how often things are being left on while not in use, but you can also implement some changes to the lighting and heating systems that power your building.
For example, swapping your standard light bulbs to energy saving LED bulbs is proven to reduce energy wastage – LED bulbs convert 95% of their energy into light, compared to the 5% light conversion of conventional bulbs, and making the switch will have a highly positive environmental impact as you waste less power.
Opt for Sustainable Polythene
Finally, an often-overlooked factor in company management is how sustainable polythene can be utilised to go green. While it’s important for your business to meet packaging regulation obligations, going above and beyond and using eco friendly polythene can make a big difference to your carbon footprint and enhance your company image.
If you’re looking to take the leap and invest in recycled polythene, then Polythene UK offers some great solutions that can revolutionise your business, including their eco polythene bags which are available in their Polylite™ material. These bags are multi-layered while remaining lightweight, and so can reduce the weight of your polythene consumption by 20%.
Creating a greener business doesn’t come easy, but it is worth it. By taking the time to research where you can improve, and investing in eco-friendly solutions around lighting and packaging, you can drive your business into a new, eco-friendly chapter.