Sustainability In Your Start-Up

*Collaborative post

Sustainability in your start-up

The topic of sustainability is increasingly becoming at the forefront of people’s minds. It’s incredibly important to implement a sustainability strategy in your business.

An environmentally aware business shows your customers that you care about your impact on society and the planet overall. This guide will identify ways in which you can make your start-up more sustainable.

Use sustainable materials

Choosing to use sustainable materials throughout your business will significantly reduce your impact on the environment, ensuring you play your part.

With more customers incorporating eco-friendly choices into their lifestyle, using sustainable materials throughout your business can be an excellent way of appealing to a broader market. For example, handing out business cards sourced from recycled materials can advertise your services whilst simultaneously advocating your business’s sustainability.

What’s more, looking for ways of optimising your packaging so that it weighs less and uses less material will enable you to save on transport and storage costs whilst also reducing your carbon footprint.

Review your processes

It’s always good to take a step back and review your internal processes from time to time. Think to yourself: what can we do to make a change in the workplace and reduce our energy consumption? Not only does it help kickstart a greener business, but helps you to save on your utility bills too.

Ensure to turn off any lights, computers and other equipment if they’re not being used. Additionally, turning down heating, recycling waste and holding online meetings are all simple yet effective ways of doing our bit for the environment.

Online shopping over the past few years has seen an influx in deliveries and various transporting methods across the country. Are there ways in which you can make your deliveries more sustainable by grouping multiple orders or by offering bulk deliveries?

Upcycling

Recycling our waste should be common knowledge in the workplace. However, why not think outside the box and use recycled materials around the office?

Ask your staff for any donations of furniture that they no longer use. Upcycling certainly has its benefits – it can give an old chair or table a new lease of life, as well as helping you save on those expensive office furniture costs!

Hybrid and remote working

The pandemic not only provided us with a new way of working, but it gave hope to the environment offering us opportunities to help save our planet.

Transportation is proven to be one of the main contributors to greenhouse gases, many of which are a result of daily working commutes. The introduction of remote and hybrid working since the pandemic significantly reduced the number of daily commuters, subsequently cutting down our carbon emissions.

Incorporating remote or hybrid working contracts into your business will help to encourage individuals to reduce their own carbon footprint, by minimising the need to travel on a daily basis.

The Bottom Line

Not only is sustainability becoming increasingly important for the sake of our planet but is also a strong and attractive marketing tool. By incorporating greener practices into your business, not only will you be helping to protect the environment but you may also be appealing to a larger target market.