Responsibility for the environment lies with every individual and business. Therefore, it is so important to introduce environmental rules and habits into your daily life. Contrary to popular belief, this is not necessarily expensive or burdensome. Here are three simple ways to make your business greener.
Switch to remote work
Going remote is one of the best ways to make your business more sustainable. This significantly reduces energy consumption and also saves on utility bills. In addition, your team will no longer have to spend time on the road to work.
However, in some cases, the nature of the work requires employees to be in the office for a certain part of the time. A partial transition to remote work will also bring significant benefits. To implement this, create a shift schedule for your team, dividing work time between home and office. This way you will save energy by limiting the number of people in the room.
If a partial transition to remote work is not possible and your team needs to be in the office every day, there is still an opportunity to reduce energy consumption. Ask colleagues to turn off lights when no one is in the room and turn off heating and cooling systems and unused electronics whenever possible. This will help not only save energy but also extend its service life.
Reduce paper and plastic consumption
It’s no secret that paper and plastic pollute the environment. However, in the office, these materials cannot be dispensed with. Paperwork is still an essential part of a business, but that doesn’t mean it has to be included in every process.
Explore the digital world. Resources such as cloud storage, Google Drive, and similar platforms can significantly reduce paperwork. In addition, some tools provide digital signatures, such as DocuSign. They allow you to work with electronic documents on a secure platform, reducing the need for printing.
And while paper and plastic will still be present in the office to some extent, you can still motivate employees to reduce their use. If you have a shared kitchen, stock it with reusable utensils and utensils that can be easily cleaned. You can buy reusable bottles for the whole team: one such bottle replaces up to 167 plastic ones a year.
Recycle electronics
Unfortunately, many people are rather casual about the disposal of electronics. It can stand indoors for several days and even months, and then it will end up in a local dump. And while it could seem like a single discarded appliance won’t do much harm, many of them contain toxic elements that can end up in landfills.
There are many ways to get rid of old technology. Most companies offer buyback or trade-in programs for old products. You will receive some money and your electronics will be recycled. Caring for devices is just as important: it will extend their life and thus reduce the number of new purchases.
Article written by Amelia Rochala
Amelia Rochala is a creative writer and consultant for Cvmaker Europe. She likes to help young people to progress their careers and also dedicates her time to green activism events.
