In today’s world, where technology is developing very rapidly, every company must keep up, because ones that do not have time to adapt to the new orders of the market will simply be crushed mercilessly by their competitors.
In the future world of renewable energy, there will be no room for companies that do not pay enough attention to the environment. Because more and more people around the world are paying attention not only to the quality of products but also to the environmental aspect of the production of large companies.
If you own a company, it is better not to wait for the harsh changes and invest your time and resources right now to make your business eco-friendly, thereby opening the door to future opportunities.
What is an environmental business?
The term “environmental” means the conscious behavior of corporations or companies aimed at minimizing or eliminating damage to nature from human activities.
Such behavior can be expressed in political, and corporate strategies, technological advances, legislation, production of goods and services, and people’s resistance to harmful initiatives. Synonyms: nature-friendly, green.
An environment-friendly business is a business that tries hard not to harm the environment during production. All environmentally friendly businesses use renewable energy sources, are attentive to the daily consumption of energy and raw materials, and sort and recycle waste. If you want to become a green business, you have two options:
- The first option for turning a business into an environmentally friendly one is — to transform an existing business.
- The second way is — create a company from scratch.
Make your business eco-friendly
A ready-made business is an entirely self-sufficient enterprise that can be transformed into a more eco-friendly business in a fairly short period. To do this, your company needs to do and adhere to the following X things:
- The first thing is — Saving Energy. Different businesses waste different amounts of energy, but whether you have an office-based business or a large enterprise, you need to stick to basic conservation principles, such as:
- Turn off appliances when you are not using them.
- Use air conditioning only on critically hot days, and on other days it is better to limit yourself to open windows.
- Always replace all incandescent bulbs with LED ones for convenience you can apply motion sensors.
If you want to significantly reduce energy consumption then you should pay attention to renewable energy sources, namely solar panels. You can put them on the roof of your building and save significantly on electricity.
2. The second thing is — Sorting Waste. Each eco-company must have sorting garbage cans designed for different types of waste. Then it will be possible to give this waste to recycling companies, which use it with benefit.
3. The third thing is — Green Suppliers. Cooperating with other socially responsible companies offers a number of advantages. For example, you can order raw materials, services, or even clean energy in case solar panels cannot be installed for you for whatever reason.
4. The fourth thing is — Quality Over Quantity. The philosophy of conscious consumption calls for a change in the consumption system, and technological progress stimulates this development. Interestingly, today brands are already making materials from apple and orange pomade, and grape skins and even spider silk are used to produce fabrics. Moreover, it solves the massive environmental problem of food waste.
5. The fifth thing is — Transportation. Car exhaust gasses contain harmful and toxic substances that pollute our atmosphere more and more, get into the ground, poisoning people and the environment. It is important to reduce the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, which raises the temperature of the earth: in one flight, an airplane emits an average of 985 tons of CO2 — the same as 320 cars. Hire electric cars for your company. They reduce the harmful impact on nature as their running engines do not emit any harmful gasses or other substances. You should also pay attention to cars with a hybrid engine, bicycles, public transport and car sharing. If you don’t plan to buy cars, you can make your contribution to the purification of the atmosphere by using the new Uber service — Green, which consists of 100% zero-emission electric vehicles.
In doing all of the above, you’ll not only make your company eco-friendly but also impact on changes in the Earth’s climate, depletion of fresh water and pollution of the waters of the World Ocean, destruction of the soil cover, and the disappearance of various species of animals and plants.
Create an Eco-Friendly Business
The option of creating a business eco-friendly from scratch is very similar to the previous one, but there is one huge difference. You do not have a business and since you do not have one yet, you just need a detailed plan on how to create one. When making a plan, you should outline the following for yourself:
- The first is — The Field Of Activity of the company. Foremost, you need to clearly define for yourself what the company will do, and what it will produce. To do this, write down five types of activities and choose what you like most and what you know best.
- The second is — Financing. Without sufficient financial investment, you cannot start producing your own goods or buying and reselling other people’s products. So you need to determine right away where you are going to get the money to start.
- The third is — Customer Traffic. You can produce a quality eco-friendly product, but if no one knows that your store exists, then your product will not pay off. Determine how you will attract customers.
- The fourth one is — Supplier Companies. It is important to find a quality environmental company that can supply the raw materials you need or clean energy for your business.
So first you determine the scope of business, the financial side of things, how you will find customers, and which companies you will use as suppliers. Then you are 99% likely to be able to build an eco-business. And in the future, if your project is really high quality, you can get a grant that will help you get on the list of big eco-friendly brands.
Grants for Business to Improve the Environment
For those who do not know, a grant is a giving of money to enterprises, organizations, and individuals for business development, scientific or other research, training, and other purposes with a subsequent report on its use.
The main goal of environmental grants for businesses is to encourage small businesses to find solutions to equipment efficiency, waste management, and energy supply issues. To be considered for such grants you need to meet many criteria, but the most important thing that will increase your chances of getting a grant is a brilliant idea on how to improve something for example: how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, how to improve waste management, how to reduce energy costs, etc.
If you have a project that you want to implement, getting a grant can help you a lot. To make it easier to find the grants you need, you can use specialized sites, for example — Grants Online, which contains various searchable databases (the link will be at the end of the article).
Easy Tips to Make an Eco-Friendly Business
Grants and various long-term methods to make the business environmentally friendly are certainly a good things. But what can be done in the near time to let the company be more eco-friendly? There are three quick and easy solutions to make your business greener:
- The first thing you can do is — To Get Rid Of Paper. In a digital world, we are using paper less often day by day. So why not make all our paperwork electronic? You will make a big difference if you significantly reduce the consumption of paper. Did you know that for the sake of paper production for one year, they cut down about 125 million trees? Modern technology makes it possible to convert all documents into electronic format completely.
- The second thing you can do is — Plant Trees. The importance of planting new trees cannot be overemphasized, especially in an era of massive deforestation around the world. After all, the preservation of the planet’s ecosystem, namely the protection of water resources, purification of air from pollution, stopping wind erosion of the soil, preventing desertification, and providing shelter for many species of animals, directly depends on the number of trees. If each employee of your company will plant at least one tree every 4 months and will take care of it. Then in a few years, you can plant a whole beautiful park to be proud of.
- The third thing to do is — To Encourage Employees. It is important to create an atmosphere of rational, not wasteful, consumption and to encourage employees to think that way. Even if the reward system is not significant, it will still improve collective thinking.
By incorporating all of the above eco-tips into your business, you will be making a great contribution to a brighter future for humanity.