Making your business eco-friendlier can reduce your costs and attract more customers.
Making little changes is easy and benefits your business and the planet.
What is being environmentally friendly in business?
A sustainable business means trying to reduce your impact on our planet and trying to be zero carbon. Zero carbon means for all your carbon emissions you do something which counteracts that.
Why being an eco-friendly business matters
Businesses produce around 11.2 billion tonnes of waste globally, 37.2 million tonnes of which was generated in England.
Waste leads to higher levels of carbon dioxide which has seen a record high of 36.7 billion metric tons.
Increasing carbon emissions leads to global warming and extreme weather states. Even locally in Liverpool we have felt the impact of this, such as the flash floods that hit Merseyside in 2021. The rainfall caused streets in Liscard, Wallasey, to look like canals and there was travel disruption to Bootle Strand Bus Station.
Businesses can help reduce their CO2 emissions to reduce further impact of these types of events.
Benefits of environmentally friendly business
Attracting more customers, reducing staff turnover, and decreasing sickness absence are all benefits you could see with being sustainable.
All of this lowers your costs and has the potential to see your business earn more and grow.
- Attract more customers
Consumers are increasingly choosing brands that are eco-friendly with 66% of global consumers willing to pay more for sustainable products.
Showing your customers that you are considerate about your businesses impact on the planet could attract more customers.
- Less sickness absence
A dirty office can causes stress, decreased productivity, and higher sickness absence.
Items such as door handles had 30 times more bacteria than a toilet seat which can increase infections in your workplace and increase sickness absence.
In offices with a higher carbon dioxide level there was decreased performance and a loss of 30.4 days of productivity.
- Reduce staff turnover
Staff that are proud to work for you will stay with you leading to lower labour costs. A study found 65% of workers said they would be more likely to work for a company with robust environmental policies.
At a time when lots of people are reassessing and quitting their jobs, it’s important to do everything you can to attract candidates.
- Reduce costs
Often sustainable products and services are better value for money. For example recycling your waste costs less than sending it to landfill.
How to make your business more environmentally friendly
There are lots of little things you can do to make your business sustainable, and you can start right now.
- Ask your employees and customers
Bryony Salter from Positive Planet, which provide sustainability solutions to businesses, says, “People are much more likely to buy-in to change and adapt their behaviour if they are well-informed and contribute their own ideas.”
- Go digital
This means reducing the amount of paper in your workplace. Do you really need to print documents out? Do you need to send a letter when an email would do?
- Choose sustainable suppliers
Whether you are choosing products or companies, make sure they also use sustainable practices. At Central Waste, we recycle all food waste locally in Liverpool to make gas.
At SC Johnson they teamed up with Liverpool FC for a plastic recycling initiative. They collect the 500,000 plastic bottles from Anfield each year and repurpose them to make trigger bottles for one of their brands Mr Muscle.
- Have green initiatives
Encourage initiatives such as car sharing or cycling to work. Or go further and let people work from home. This could not only save you money but make your staff more satisfied to have flexibility.
- Save energy
Most business use from 15,000 to 25,000 kWh of energy a year. Gas can cost £530 to £1,860 per year and electric can cost from £1,834 to £6,705 per year.
Bryony says, “There are some easy-wins for most businesses at the start of their journey, including switching to a renewable energy provider.”
There are government grants that can help you with this which will ultimately save you money in the long-term.
Dispose of waste without harming the environment
Eco-friendly waste management is the managing and disposing of your waste in an environmentally friendly way.
Your business has a legal requirement to reduce, reuse, and recycle their waste otherwise you could face fines.
Instead of throwing everything into general waste to be taken to landfill, assess your waste and how you can reduce it.
Reduce packaging and plastics, recycling whatever you can, and choose a responsible waste management company to dispose of it.
Your waste management company should be able to provide different bins and collections to dispose of most materials.
Bryony from Positive Planet says, “If you have business premises with significant waste, find a local waste management company that aligns to your sustainability values. Look for companies that avoid sending waste to landfill, recycle as much as possible and create other products from waste such as biofuel or biogas.”
At Central Waste we can recycle glass, food waste, paper and cardboard, plastics, tin, oil, and metal.
We can provide bins for food waste, cardboard, dry mixed recycling, and glass. We also offer bulky plastic collections for larger items to be disposed of responsibly.
It costs less to recycle items than it does to send them to landfill. For instance recycling your glass with Central Waste can save you an average of 10 to 15%.
Many organisations understand the importance of responsible waste management. Recently community groups in Liverpool received funding from the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority and the Veolia Community Fund to support local waste prevention. The seventeen community groups created programmes such as cookery clubs to reduce food waste, recycling hubs, restoration clubs for furniture, and many others.
These are all great ideas that can be applied to your business to reduce your waste and save you money.
Choosing a sustainable waste management company
When you are choosing a waste management company, check that they can provide recycling bins as well as providing general waste bins.
Ask what they do with the waste. Sending the waste to a local recycling centre is better than travelling miles to a facility. Using local centres means cutting down on travel and carbon emissions.
Your waste management provider should also be able to offer a service tailored to you at a competitive price as well as being eco-friendly.
Becoming a sustainable business doesn’t have to be difficult. It only takes little changes to reduce your carbon emissions, lower your costs, and help protect our planet.
To find out about our recycling services, contact us today.
