How Businesses Can Help with Waste Reduction – With the environment a hot topic, businesses are now more than ever feeling the pressure to adapt to how they work for the sake of the planet. As a business owner, it can be hard to find ways of streamlining processes to reduce waste. From printing to plastic bottles and fuel to heating, the footprint we leave behind is a lot larger than we’d like to think. Here are a few ways you can help to reduce the waste your business produces.
Recycling Bins
One of the most effective and easiest ways to reduce waste is to purchase recycling bins for different materials and introduce these to the office (make sure that they are labelled clearly). This can make it easy for employees to recycle materials and will also introduce an eco-conscious atmosphere to the office.
Go Paperless
Printing has become old-fashioned in a digital world and it can also be damaging through the amount of paper that you get through, along with the disposal of ink cartridges. Going paperless where possible can reduce waste whilst also making the office much tidier. If you do need to print, use refillable ink cartridges, print on both sides of the paper and opt for black and white instead of colour.
Reusable Mugs and Cups
Every office has employees that like a hot beverages throughout the day, but if they are using plastic cups this can create a huge amount of unnecessary waste. Instead, encourage staff to bring their own mugs to work with them.
Logistics Services
Logistic services can have a huge impact on the amount of waste that a business produces by streamlining the operation. This could involve using pallet delivery to manage orders and reduce the number of storage materials that are needed.
Reconsider Suppliers
Despite the amount of attention in the media that is dedicated to wasteful packaging, there are still many suppliers that use an unnecessary amount of packaging which can be hard to dispose of. Businesses could look to switch to a supplier that uses less packaging or eco-friendly packaging which could cut down on waste significantly.
It’s important to motivate your staff to be as conscientious as you, the business owner, is so try to make the environment a key topic to your business. With electric cars soon to be the norm and recycling becoming more and more accessible, going green has never been easier. Taking on these few small changes to start with will make the transition to suitability a lot smoother and easier than you would have thought.
Poppy Watt