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The vast majority of businesses now are all about looking after the planet, and we all should be! Recycling and cutting down on the use of paper should be something that we all need to bear in mind to preserve our natural habitat, and most local authorities are very hot on looking after the planet now, but is that everything we can do within our power? Hardly! It’s a perfect start to implement the basics, but that is really all they are now. What else can you do?
Sort Out Your Tech
Apart from using tablets and going completely paperless, you can take even bigger steps to cutting down on your carbon footprint. Upgrading your services to the Cloud will help, but you can also look at your systems and see if they are as environmentally friendly as you think they are. Monitors should have an inbuilt function to power down if you haven’t got that already, which helps to cut down on your eco-bill, and if you look at the FlexScan business monitors, there is a handy calculator function so you can see how friendly they are to the earth! Besides, it’s in your best interests to cut down on your energy expenditure from a financial perspective. Less energy means a lower electrical bill!
Can You Downsize Your Office Space?
Not by getting rid of staff, but by introducing more remote working capabilities. Many staff needs the option to work from home one or two days a week now because of additional life commitments. So if you can accommodate that it will reduce your energy expenditure in that way. Remote working for staff members helps to address the work/life balance that tends to be out of proportion for a lot of us nowadays. And it may take a while to put all the stops in place, but once they are there, you could potentially have a large proportion of your staff work from home and come into the office once a week for meetings, meaning that the office space can be downsized and your overheads will be greatly reduced.
The Transport Options
A lot of businesses opt for the carpooling way of life, but there are plenty of other things to do when it comes to traveling to work. You could make an incentive of things like bike riding, and while it’s not feasible for everyone due to how far away they may live from the office, you can still encourage public transport once a week or even have a running club for those that are fit (and have the inclination).
Going Local!
Getting locally sourced produce will help to cut down on the overall carbon footprint of your local area, not just your business. Having food sourced from farmers markets or a local organization may cost that little bit more up front, but if you implemented the other aspects at the same time, it would very likely work out cheaper overall. It’s more about mindset than just enforcing environmentally friendly methods. It can take time, but there was a time when businesses didn’t recycle!
