Whether you run a tiny venture from home or employ hundreds of people in an office building, there are plenty of ways your business can have a positive effect on the environment. While the strategies you choose will be dictated by business needs, many of these ideas also save your company money. This creates a win/win situation.
Offer E-Receipts
Instead of handing over a piece of paper that will likely be thrown away immediately with every purchase, offer to email receipts. Not only does this save you the cost of rolls or reams of paper, it also keeps tons of waste out of landfills and recycling centers.
Encourage Eco-Volunteerism with Matching
Many businesses offer to match employee charity contributions, and offering to match a set amount of ecologically friendly volunteerism per year can really make a positive impact. Whether it’s working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for the less-fortunate with recycled materials or planting trees at an urban green space, offering this type of employee match will allow you to attract ecologically minded employees.
Adopt a Highway, Park or Trail
Green spaces alongside highways are often littered with cigarette butts, tossed-aside fast food containers, flat tires, discarded motor oil containers and other detritus that is bad for the environment. The same can also be said for parks and trails, many of which receive no funding and rely on volunteers for clean-up. By adopting such an area and seeing that it’s cleaned up on a regular basis, your company will be doing its part to keep the earth itself and the groundwater free of contaminants caused by waste.
Encourage Online Education
Online schooling is not only much less expensive than traditional college or university, it’s far easier on the environment. For example, someone earning their engineering management degree online may use e-books instead of costly and largely disposable textbooks, will not need to drive to and from class and also isn’t using natural resources to heat and light a classroom that’s only used part of the day. Encouraging your employees to choose online education options can have a huge impact over traditional brick-and-mortar schooling.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to running an ecologically friendly business, you have plenty of choices. Think about everyday ways to reduce the impact your venture has on the environment, and you may be pleasantly surprised to see that your strategies are also saving you money.