People are focusing on the planet’s health more now than ever before. Individuals are personally committing to more eco-friendly practices, such as commuting via public transportation or disposing of waste appropriately and recycling.
The push for sustainability is also happening on a grander scale, with small business owners committing to run more environmentally-friendly operations.
Beyond helping the environment, creating a sustainable workplace can have various business benefits.
Let’s explore why eco-friendly practices are essential for small business owners and how you can incorporate them successfully into your business.
Why You Need Eco-Friendly Practices in Your Small Business
Research shows that because the planet’s health is in jeopardy, so is ours. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates more than 13 million deaths worldwide are caused by avoidable environmental factors, like air pollution, climate change, and exposure to chemicals and radiation, every year.
It will take a collective effort to reverse the damage done to the planet and save the lives of millions of people in the future.
Anything you can do within your business to support sustainability is impactful, whether you believe this entirely or not.
Going green can also positively impact your operations, contributing to a healthy company culture. All you do to be eco-friendly creates an environment supporting your employees’ holistic health.
In addition, creating a team that shares core values like sustainability can facilitate bonding among your employees and teams.
It contributes to a workplace culture that improves employee morale. As a result, both employee productivity and engagement may increase.
Adopting eco-friendly practices in your small business allows you to improve the planet’s health, improve company culture, and positively influence your team’s health and productivity.
How to Incorporate Sustainability into Your Operation
- Ensure your commitment to sustainability is genuine.
- Switch to eco-friendly alternatives that make sense for your business.
- Discuss your eco-friendly commitments with staff.
Incorporating sustainability into your operation will take time and effort to be successful. But with an organized approach, you can easily manage the transition and ensure your eco-friendly practices stick.
1. Ensure your commitment to sustainability is genuine.
Greenwashing is when a company portrays itself and its products as environmentally conscious when they aren’t making any genuine efforts to be sustainable.
Greenwashing tactics can be detrimental to your business. People know when you’re being fake, and many won’t appreciate it — to the point they don’t engage with your company again.
Your commitment to sustainability must be genuine, especially if you’re marketing to Gen Z audiences. They’re skeptical because of fake news.
You must mean what you say. This sincerity can help with marketing to other audiences.
Make a real commitment to sustainability first. Then, create a strategy to incorporate eco-friendly practices into your business.
2. Switch to eco-friendly alternatives that make sense for your business.
Audit how processes and systems in your business are currently running. Make detailed notes about which could benefit from eco-friendly alternatives.
For example, replace these services with a sustainable shipping option if you use traditional shipping services from an existing carrier, like the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Brand management aims to improve your brand’s perceived value over time. Not highlighting your commitment to sustainability leads to missing out on a huge opportunity to enhance brand recognition, loyalty, and equity. You also deny your business the opportunity to improve the customer experience.
You could even step outside of the box with sustainability and extend it to the company events you put on. Events can harm the environment, from how much energy you use to the waste you produce.
You can execute sustainable events moving forward by using solely eco-friendly venues, offering group transportation to and from events, and adopting responsible cleanup procedures.
Once you figure out where you can incorporate sustainable practices, document how you will do so. For each exercise, you want to include details like,
- why do you want to incorporate it;
- what it will do for the particular system or process;
- what needs to happen to bring it into your business;
- how long it will take to incorporate the practice fully;
- who will be in charge of what in the process;
- what kind of training will be necessary.
It will help ensure your plans go as smoothly as possible.
3. Discuss your eco-friendly commitments with staff.
It’s important to discuss your sustainability vision with your staff. Your ideas can only become a reality if everyone goes through the process of adopting eco-friendly practices with you.
Call an initial staff meeting to discuss the practices you want to incorporate now and in the future. Rely on the detailed plan you created above to hammer home your points.
After this initial gathering, you should have regular meetings about your progress toward your sustainability goals.
Final Thoughts
We hope these small business tips for incorporating eco-friendly practices in your business have been insightful.
It will require time and careful planning, but introducing these ideas gradually into your operations one step at a time is essential.
By doing so, you can avoid overwhelming yourself and your team. However, it is crucial to commit to these practices, as both your business and the planet will significantly benefit from your efforts.
