The environment is a hot topic these days and many consumers and business owners see the merit in a commercial enterprise that is eco-friendly. There are many sound reasons to go green. It can be due a personal or corporate philosophy, and it can be for the simple reason that being environmentally responsible can save your business money. A business or commercial space that advertises itself as being environmentally friendly can be very attractive to potential clients or customers.
Economic Reasons to be Eco-Friendly
Here’s a few reasons why you should give some serious thoughts to becoming more green:
• You can significantly reduce your costs by consuming less which reduces your overhead.
• You can make more money on your bottom line simply by re-using or re-cycling your materials internally which saves money because you don’t have to buy new materials.
• Going green improves your public image to your customers and makes your business appear more attractive and responsible. Taking this approach can even give your company a more competitive advantage.
• Going green will make your company more attractive as a recruitment tool for younger recruits.
How to Start Making your Business More Eco-Friendly
It’s always best to draw a plan to achieve both short range and long term plans to make yourself more environmentally friendly. You should involve all your staff to get some suggestions and even create a team to develop a guideline to implement your plan.
You should also know that that there are many incentive programs provided at both the provincial and federal levels where you can get grants to help you achieve your goals, especially for more ambitious projects.
Your next step is to clearly identify your level of consumption to determine how energy, water, and waste which is produced. You also need a way to measure your performance and progress. By setting clearly identified and reasonable goals, you might be surprised at the savings and the progress you can achieve.
Eco-Friendly Projects for Your Business
Here are few steps you can begin work at right now
1. Save Energy During Off Hours
If your not using it then turn it off. Even if you’re using energy efficient lighting, which you should already be using, you’d be surprised at how you could save simply by turning off a switch if you aren’t using it. If you leaving you office or a boardroom, get in the habit of turning off the computer and the lights.
Turn off the HVAC if nobody is going to working at night or on the weekend, and make sure that the last person who leaves turn off any lights before they lock up.
2. Lessen the Waste
Use recycling bins and designate them for appropriate material. Some material can even be re-sold so if this applies to you then why just recycle it when you can re-sell it? You should also identify any materials which can be re-used either over again or for some other purpose.
You can also reduce paper material if you send more information electronically such as memos, or use online order forms. Also, you can reduce your printouts and other printed material by going as paperless as possible.
3. Reduce Water Consumption
Far too many people are drinking those small bottles of water at work. Set up a fund where the staff can access bottled water coolers and instead of using disposable paper cups, have the staff provide their drinking vessels. The water cooler can also be affixed to a timer so that it’s not running during night time and weekends.
Meetings are a great way to spend a lot needless money on travel and expenses. Maybe it’s time to think hard about using video conferencing instead of those energy wasting trips to have company meetings. It will save you both time and energy. Maybe you can also encourage car pooling and even come up with incentives for employees to use public transportation.
These are just simple basic ideas but there are plenty of ways that you can significantly reduce your costs and make your business more environmentally friendly.
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