There are more and more start-ups appearing in the business world, but these days there are more things to think about as part of that than just the bottom line. Increasingly, business owners are looking at how they can work effectively with sustainability in mind, particularly from the very beginning. This shows the ethics and social consciousness of your business and can come with a huge range of benefits besides the obvious.
So, how do you get your start-up off the ground in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way? Here, Nick Mills, General Manager at Ansini, specialists in vacuum forming, take a look at some of the great opportunities and ideas that are out there to keep your business green in as many aspects as possible.
Why should your business be green?
There are many reasons to build elements of sustainability into your business, and one of the biggest is in order to think about the impact that you are having on the environment. Generally, businesses want to make the world a better place in one way or another, so it is important to minimise any damage that you might have on it as a result. This can be done by thinking about the materials that you use, the way that your transport your goods and how you package them.
You also need to take into consideration the feelings of your customers. A growing number of people are trying to be more mindful in their purchases and are tending to spend their money with businesses that reflect their own values. Being green is great for attracting customers that think likewise, whilst managing not to alienate or put off anyone who does not have this as a priority.
Business premises
One way to be sustainable is by thinking about where your business will be based. Using a modern building gives you more options to be eco-friendly in everything that you do and minimising the space that you use also helps to keep your carbon footprint at a minimum. These modern buildings are often more energy efficient and may even be able to offer you the chance to make use of solar panels and other sustainable form of energy. By locating your business near to public transport links makes it easier for both customers and staff to make their way to you without using their car.
Recycling
Recycling should now be a fundamental part of every business. You can install bins for all types of materials and arrange collections for responsible disposal. Don’t forget, it’s not just paper and card than can be recycled, you can also look at compost options or even recycling your water.
In a post-Covid world, we have all become used to single-use items, so exploring ways in which you can hygienically replace these with reusable options will have a big impact.
Packaging
Packaging has typically been associated with plastic in recent years, so choosing more sustainable packaging is a great way to be green. Plastic waste is incredibly damaging to the environment both in the way that it is made and the fact that it can take hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of years for it to degrade.
It is possible to offer more sustainable packaging by making sure that all the materials that are used are recyclable. Whilst plastic is not ideal, if you must use it, try and incorporate recycled plastic instead of making more.
There are other forms of packaging that you can switch to replace plastic, such as paper cushioning instead of air cushions and paper-based tape. Even thinking about the type of ink that you use in your printing can have a huge effect on your environmental impact.
Keeping your packaging streamlined and light is also beneficial when it comes to transportation. If more can be carried in each lorry or train, then less fuel is being burnt to move it around. Energy is also important to consider when thinking about how the packing is made – if you are using processes that require less energy, you can reduce your carbon footprint even further.
Remote working
Thanks to the global pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, many more of us have become used to working from home. This shift towards remote working seems set to stay and can reduce the need for physical office space and the associated heating and lighting, and commuter traffic. Allowing employees to work from home where possible benefits the environment and also helps support your employees in having a healthy work-life balance.
Carbon offsets
As hard as we might try, there will always be elements of a business that are not as green as we would like them to be, and that is where carbon offsets come in. It is now possible to use carbon marketplaces to calculate their emissions and find ways to offset them in order of offer some form of carbon neutrality.
Regulations
Every local authority will have its own recycling schemes and sustainability plans that it will want businesses in the area to stick to, and there is a temptation to think that by going along with this your business is doing its bit. Instead, by thinking of these guidelines and regulations as the bare minimum that needs to be achieved, you can strive to do even better and push your business to be even more sustainable. You never know, you might even set the trend for other local businesses and be the benchmark that others want to reach.
Making sustainability part of your business culture from the start makes it easier to maintain, and will help you to forge an environmentally responsible image amongst your customer base. It gives you new marketing angles, a wide potential audience and the peace of mind that you are doing right by the planet whilst making a profit. Some time ago, sustainability was seen as an expensive luxury and that having a conscience cost money, however, these days it is not only the ethical route but a far more cost effective one as well.
