It’s no secret that saving the planet, reducing energy costs, and taking advantage of new technology are some reasons why being greener is at the forefront of most people’s minds. More people are making substantial changes at home to lead more eco-friendly lives.

But, it’s also possible to enact similar changes in the workplace. If you’re looking at ways to increase your corporate responsibility and improve your brand perception, it makes sense for your business to go green.

The following examples explain the different ways that your company can make changes to become kinder to the environment:

Make Your Own Energy

The first step towards making your business greener is generating your own electricity. Arguably the most effective way of doing so is by having commercial solar panels installed on the roof of your premises and connecting them to a solar charging system.

Depending on the size of your roof and which direction it faces, you could potentially generate almost 100% of your firm’s electricity needs. You may even find that you have surplus energy to sell back to the national grid network.

Recycle Most Of Your Waste

Another essential step your business can take is to recycle most of its waste. While some companies have adopted a zero-waste policy, it’s a long-term strategy you could consider after adopting a new recycling policy in your workplace.

When you receive anything from product packaging and envelopes in the post, you can simply put those items in designated recycling stations. When those stations are full, you can then have a recycling company collect your recyclable waste and process it correctly.

Use Recycled Materials In Your Products

If your business sells physical goods to customers, have you thought about what you can do to use recycled materials in your products? For example, you could use recycled card and paper for packaging your items and providing instruction manuals within them.

Another idea is to determine which recycled metals you could use to construct your products. Many physical products have printed circuit boards (PCBs); you could look at ways of using recycled precious metals like gold, for instance.

The actual product casing is another area where you could use recycled items instead of new raw materials.

Incentivise The Paperless Office

One final point to consider is incentivising the paperless office. The trouble with today’s modern businesses is they still use a lot of paper in various ways. For example, they might have lots of post each day containing invoices or customer correspondence.

You could offer your customers a discount for paying their bills electronically instead of sending you cheques and thus make things easier when updating your accounting software. Another idea is to direct all enquiries to your business via email.

Lastly, make sure that anything you send out to customers isn’t on paper; do everything electronically.

Conclusion

Many ways exist to make any business greener and more sustainable. The above examples are some of the top ideas to consider - and ones that will undoubtedly offer maximum impact.