Steps for a business to become more eco-friendly

How businesses can become more eco-friendly

Being environmentally friendly simply means adjusting to a way of life that has a better impact on the earth. It’s all about taking small steps towards making the planet a better place for generations to come.

Everything from how waste is recycled, the efficiency of electrical equipment and identifying the environmental changes that can be made to the principals of a business will all combine towards making a company more environmentally responsible. Below we summarise the best tips to start shifting towards a more eco-friendly business: 

1.    Undertaking an energy management audit will enable a business to understand how energy efficient it currently is, as well as highlight any areas for improvement. The audit enables the management to make a decision about any recommended measures to improve energy efficiency.

2.      Reduce water usage - Due to water becoming progressively expensive, all efforts should be applied to minimising the use of water. Installing dual flush toilets, fixing push tap buttons on sinks and ensuring employees fully understand the ‘water saving’ effort can all help to reduce water usage.   

3.      Change light bulbs - Swapping to LED lighting is worth the investment. LEDs use much less energy and don’t use mercury or other toxic gases contained by incandescent and fluorescent lights, which are used in many corporate buildings. They are pricey upfront, however they will last up to 50 times longer than other bulbs.

4.      Recycling reduces costs – Recycling is easy to do as it saves space, reduces clutter, enhances the company image and, ultimately, is great for the environment.
Dealing with paper in an environmentally friendly process is one way you can cut costs. Ideas such as avoiding the use of unnecessary materials, printing on both sides, printing in black and white when colour isn’t required, reusing scrap paper for message taking and shredding your excess paper can go a long way.

Becoming an eco-friendly business has to be a company effort; employees at all levels of hierarchy have to take on the ‘going green’ effort together. However, if you are part of a bigger organisation it could become harder to manage. 

If this is the case, you should consider hiring an eco-friendly facilities management company to handle tasks such as cleaning and waste management.

The FM Company Servest offers free consultations where they look at the current infrastructure and requirements of a business, undertake assessments and energy audits to analyse the energy consumption and then identify opportunities to reduce operating costs and increase sustainability.