Becoming a more eco-friendly business: Part 1
Businesses across the world are making moves to become more eco-friendly. Going green not only has environmental benefits but also increases employee productivity, decreases the cost of running your business and improves the reputation of your brand.
Here are a few ways to make your business more eco-friendly:
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle
Reducing the waste produced by your company sounds like a big task. However, you can significantly reduce the waste of your organisation by implementing small and simple measures. For example, by providing proper plates and cutlery, you will be reducing the waste of paper plates and plastic cutlery. Another simple way to reduce waste is to go paperless. Instead of printing out a brief, send it straight to however needs it over email. By going paperless, the waste of your company will be significantly reduced.
If going paperless is not an option for your company, it is an idea to look into using recycled paper for printing paper, toilet paper and napkins. By doing this, you will be using more eco-friendly supplies. Things like recycled printing paper can then be recycled again. You can also opt to use recycled office supplies instead of purchasing completely new supplies.
Paper is probably one of the most used materials in any office. Therefore an effective way to be more eco-friendly is to make recycling a priority. By providing bins clearly marked with the recyclable materials to be disposed of, employees will be able to quickly discard of their waste in an eco-friendly and responsible manner.
ENVIRX enables organisations to manage their risk based material environmental impacts in an integrated manner, enabling GRI G4 en standard management and reporting requirements according to the processes defined in the ISO 14001: 2015 standard. ENVIRX uses the same dynamic framework to measure, trend and report on their impact area, i.e. materials, water, energy, biodiversity, effluents and emissions amongst others.
Use eco-friendly cleaning chemicals
Harsh, toxic chemical cleaners used in the workplace can actually impact the health of employees and well as the environment. You might think that because you are using the chemicals on tables and other common surfaces that these chemicals don’t come into contact with the natural environment. But they do. When clothes containing the chemicals are cleaned, the chemicals travel down the drains into rivers, the oceans or other places within the natural environment, where the chemicals have a lasting effect on the water quality and the life the water contains and hydrates. Instead, businesses can use cleaning products made from natural products; for example, hemp-based cleaning products have become popular among many green companies.
Switch to alternative energy sources
Switching to alternative energy sources such as solar power, can actually save you money on your energy costs as well as be beneficial for the environment. By doing this, you will be using less energy from the coal-powered power grid. This coal-powered energy is extremely toxic for the environment and is a huge contributor to a company’s carbon footprint as well as the carbon footprint of a country. By moving to a more sustainable source of energy, you can reduce the carbon footprint of your company as well as save money.
*This is the first blog of the two-part ‘Becoming a more eco-friendly business’ blog series. The second blog entitled ‘Becoming a more eco-friendly business: Part 2’ will continue to look at ways that businesses can become more eco-friendly.
The XGRC Software range of integrated system solutions is designed to meet all the requirements of your organisation’s Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) strategy, from planning to monitoring and reporting.
Contact XGRC Software – a STRATEGIX Group Company at 087 802 0179, email us at [email protected] or visit www.xgrcsoftware.com for more information.