Ask any business owner and they will tell you that the first year of operation is a scary one. Why? Because the first thing you are told, the moment you’ve signed on that dotted line, is that nearly half of all new business start-ups fail in the first year. This is however untrue, in reality, it’s only around 20%.
So, how could you introduce a few eco-friendly changes to your business to help you along the way? Below are just a few measures you can take to help you stay out of the dreaded 20%.
Assign an energy hero
A great idea for any business is to just get one, maybe two members of your team to be extra vigilant. Make it a part of their job role to check switches, lights and even something as small as dripping taps. Although it may seem ridiculous, a dripping tap can, over a year, leak 66000 litres of water. This for your business is quite literally money down the drain.
Print your own money
In an ideal world, you would of course, be able to print your own money. Unfortunately, this is now and probably always will be illegal. You can however still technically print your own money. One of the most common things found in an office is the one of the items you can make a little money back from. All of those toner cartridges that make their way to the bin, why not sell them on and make a little money back, plus you’ll be recycling them too.
Clean up the electricity
Why not walk in the footsteps of a giant? After all some of the biggest companies on earth are now cleaning up their electricity. Ikea, for example, is taking to completely covering some of the roofs of their stores in solar panels. Not only is this an incredible move environmentally for any business. It also makes financial sense for the business long term.
Stay as digital as possible
Although it may sound obvious, printing as little as possible can save huge amounts. An average office can use around 10,000 sheets of paper per year, this number gets concerning when you take into account that 40-45% of this paper ends up in the waste paper basket by the end of the day.
Create your environmental policy
Once you have started to make these small changes and have noticed that, a little bit of eco can equate to quite a large yearly saving. You now may want to put together an environmental policy. The environmental policy can grow year by year and what’s more, the more it grows and the more you add, the more you save. One thing to always remember with going green in your business, it isn’t just a great way to save some money and help keep your head above water. As we move forward, being an eco-friendly business is also what the consumer wants. So maybe a few little changes could mean something quite substantial for the future of your business.
