Yes, it is the end of 2014 and as you begin to implement the business plans you have already made for 2015, we want to challenge you to make 5 resolutions—from some of our favorite business reads—that will keep your company in the green all year long.
Switch to post-consumer waste (PCW)
Forbes.com
Whenever possible, skip paper entirely, but if you have to print, make sure you are using eco-friendly paper. Well-intentioned businesses may look for a recycling symbol on a box of paper, but this is an unregulated designation. Only PCW paper is made entirely from the paper we place in our recycling bins each day. Making PCW recycled paper uses 45% less energy and creates half the waste of the traditional papermaking process. Purchasing products labeled as 100% PCW ensures you are using papers with the least impact. If 100% is not available, look for options with as much PCW content as possible, and don’t forget to recycle all your paper scraps instead of sending them to the landfill.
Engage your employees
Environmental Protection Agency
Employee buy-in is critical for success. Share your vision of what you want your business to become with your employees, involve them upfront, and ask for suggestions on how to green their activities. There are many ways to encourage employee participation. Depending on the size of your business, consider creating a green team to head up sustainability initiatives. Provide rewards for good ideas and incentives for environmentally- friendly behavior. Perhaps most important, as the owner or manager, it is vital that you “walk the talk” and demonstrate green behavior as an example to your employees.
Buy promotional products that directly encourage green behavior
GreenBiz.com
For example, instead of buying branded bottled water in disposable bottles — a growing trend — order branded reusable coffee mugs or branded reusable water bottles. Not only will you avoid adding to the over 2.5 million plastic water bottles that are used every hour by people in the United States alone, but your marketing message will be put in front of people’s eyes for far longer, as your coffee mugs and/or water bottles will be reused.
Conserve human energy
From Inc.com
Consider that healthy, energetic employees will be more creative and productive. Help to keep your team healthy by creating a safe, non-toxic environment. Serve sustainable brain food at meetings: nuts, organic fruits and vegetables, and even dark chocolate all play a role in maintaining mental acuity.
Add personal benefits to green marketing message
Entrepreneur
Saving the planet is a big promise and a meaningful one to many consumers. But it will have more teeth if you relate that claim to a personal benefit, such as improving one’s health or saving money. For example, food that’s organically grown means that fewer pesticides and herbicides that will damage the environment are used–an invaluable benefit. Yet the essential bottom line for many organic food shoppers is the assurance that fewer harmful chemicals will find their way into the bodies of their children and families.
Of course, we think one of the best resolutions you can make for this New Year is to hire an eco-friendly cleaning company. Not only will this help you maintain a clean and healthy environment for customers and employees, but it will go a long way towards helping you achieve some of your other green goals.
Talk to us: What is one of your business resolutions for 2015?