What methods can a small company use to become more sustainable?
The suggestions below only work if your colleagues back the initiative 100%.
Encourage them to participate early in the planning and take ownership of the company's desire to improve sustainability.
- Evaluate current practices: Understand the company's current carbon footprint and identify areas where changes will have the most impact.
- Offer remote work: As more work is done online, there is less need for people to be in a physical office. Remote work allows employees to have work-life flexibility and substantially reduces commuting time.
- Use sustainable products: Consider using eco-friendly products, such as recycled paper or products made with recycled materials.
- Choose suppliers with green credentials: What can you learn from your suppliers? If they care, so must you. Ask them what they'd do if they were in your shoes. Communicate those messages to the entire staff. Add them as agenda items to team meetings. Update regularly on progress.
- Reduce single-use items: Eliminate or reduce the use of single-use items, such as plastic cups or utensils.
- Source sustainable materials: Choose sustainable materials for products and packaging, and consider using local suppliers.
- Manage waste effectively: Implement effective waste management practices to avoid contaminating the company's site.
- Engage in local sustainable partnerships: Partner with local suppliers, NGOs, local authorities, and other small businesses to explore how to link up to achieve sustainability goals. Could you create a sustainability collective?
- Engage colleagues regularly: Involve colleagues at all times, solicit their input, and learn what they want to see from the programs. Encourage cycling to work, lift sharing, limit business travel, and invest in remote working tech.
- Rethink storage space: Choose eco-friendly storage premises, ensure product longevity with smart tech, and donate or recycle waste.
- Partner with nonprofit organizations: Partner with nonprofit organizations in the sustainability space that interests the company. These organizations have the resources and experience necessary to help companies get their efforts off the ground.
Each company has its business model, so they'll all take separate paths. These ideas, when implemented help small companies reduce their environmental impact and become more sustainable.
