Who says you need to be a Fortune 500 company to afford making your business environmentally friendly?
Going green is not a luxury. On the contrary, not only are you cleaning up your business but you’re also saving money that you could be using for other stuff, like creating a mobile version of your site or creating better widgets or apps. Doesn’t that sound appealing?
Here are some great ways to “green up” your business and save money at the same time.
1 – Unwanted equipment
We are hungry for new technology but what we don’t realise is that this creates 4,000 tons of electronic waste an hour, according to Greenpeace. Can we do something to minimise e-waste which often ends up on dead-hardware mountains in China, India or Africa? Of course! Just have your company enter a take-back program. You can return old technology (computers, phones, etc) that you no longer use to the manufacturers who then recycle the parts to make new devices.
2 – Let there be less light!
Is the light always on in the kitchen area or in the conference rooms although no one’s there? If you don’t need to use it, don’t light it. In the hallways or other spaces your employees infrequently use you could be saving up by installing dimmer switches or sensors. When motion is detected, the light is turned on.
There are also other solutions. For example, an energy audit at the Hong Kong headquarters of Star TV, News Corp.’s Asian broadcasting subsidiary, revealed that by removing one out of every three fluorescent tube lights (around 1,300 in total) it would decrease the CO2 emissions by 18,000 pounds a year. A small step with a big impact.
3 – Use an energy efficient hosting service
These days, almost any serious business has an online presence. If you want to go green, ensure that you’re using an energy efficient hosting service. Many web hosting providers combine the latest in climate control and server technology to save energy without any compromise. Switching to a more efficient hosting service can make your company much more envrionmentally friendly.
4 – Consider the lifecycle of office products
Do you really need to print that 100-page document? If so, can you print on both sides of the paper to cut it down to 50 pages? These are the kinds of question all your employees should be asking themselves.
Why? Because a typical office disposes of 350 pounds of waste paper per employee, per year.
That’s a lot of tree.
If you can encourage employees to reduce waste on office products consumptions, you’ll also save some money in the process.
For instance, you can ask them to save files in digital format instead of printing them, or proper cups for coffee instead of plastic or paper ones.
This is a good opportunity to have your employees use those awesome branded mugs you’ve got knocking around.
5 – Reduce, reuse, recycle to be environmentally friendly
Teach your employees to be environmentally friendly as well. Label your bins so they know what each container is for and where and what they should trash. Your business will be cleaner, more organised, you won’t send as much content to the landfill which will reduce your environmental impact.
Remember, even the smallest step can help and taking action now can help you save money immediately.
License: Creative Commons image source
Guest post by Alex Gavril, part of the Webfusion UK hosting blog team.