by Judith Willson

Created on: March 27, 2010   Last Updated: July 25, 2010

Large or small, your business can significantly help the environment.  Whether you have a law firm, a takeaway or a surgery, making it greener is easy.  Not only will you be helping the environment but good green credentials are very attractive to customers and chances are you will reduce running costs.  Ten simple ways to get started are:

1:  Recycling. 

Very obvious and you probably do some already.  Recycling everything possible is perhaps the first step to greening your business.  Provide separate receptacles for employees’ drink cans, plastic bottles and office paper.  Old machines, ink cartridges and company cell phones can also be recycled.  Many charities will accept items like these as donations and collect them; computers in particular are always needed.

2:  Choose sustainable. 

When buying new furniture ensure the wood comes from a renewable source.  That mahogany desk might look beautiful but the wood comes from a rainforest.  Instead choose woods, such as pine, from trees grown as a crop.  Once they are cut down new ones are planted.  The same goes for all other natural products, check where they come from.

3:  Use less energy. 

Turn down the air conditioning, switch on a fan, or better still just open the window.  In cold places you could install double glazing and insulation to reduce heating costs.  When buying new machines get the most energy efficient modals.  Get into the habit of turning off everything that is not being used.

4:  Get green energy. 

Solar panels will save you money in the long term, grants might be available, and most businesses have the space. 

4:  Organise a car pool. 

In larger businesses far less fuel will be used if employees share cars.  Incentives such as good parking spaces could be offered as encouragements and don’t forget to join in yourself.  You could also consider subsidising bicycles or weekly public transport tickets.

5:  Join forces. 

Get together with other small businesses to share ideas on being green and raise awareness.  Your business can also become involved in ecological community projects.  This also provides fantastic publicity.

6:  Stop cleaning. 

With toxic chemicals that is.  Make sure the cleaning is done with the green biodegradable alternatives to conventional cleaning products. Standard

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