How To Make Your Business More Environmentally Friendly
The Green Revolution
Back at the beginning of November, the UK Government announced some of the new measures that will be part of their 25 year environment plan.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, outlined a ten point plan that would bring with it 250,000 jobs. Along with this positive news, came the decision to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030.
Other key missions within the plan are clean hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, zero-carbon transport and offshore wind to push the UK towards net-zero emissions.
What Can Be Done To Save The Planet
Over the years we’ve become more and more aware of the need to protect and preserve the world we live in. From saying goodbye to plastic bags, cycling or walking when we can and recycling more.
Thanks to the likes of environmentalists and activists such as David Attenborough , the general public is finally listening and wants to make a change. Humans can’t go on living the way we do, abusing our natural resources and in turn, the other inhabitants that we share this planet with. Thankfully, the Government has listened to this plea and has made a promise to make our future a green one.
With the Prime Minister outlining his goals as simple, surely this shouldn’t be a hard feat for our country. Goals such as cleaner air and water; plants and animals which are thriving; and a cleaner, greener country for all. It sounds like a rather achievable task. Titled the Clean Growth Revolution, the plans are set out to improve our land more sustainably and create new habitats for wildlife, by planting more trees and improving biodiversity.
We can already see the hard work and efforts paying off and with other countries following, hopefully our Government and other nations can create a solution to save the Earth.
The Effect Of Climate Change
According to the UN, we have just ten years left to tackle the climate crisis. From burning forests, floods, rising temperatures, and dying coral reefs, we’ve seen first hand the damage it can cause. If we look back to the beginning of 2020, the bushfires in Australia caused tragic loss for both humans, animals and the natural landscape. Ignited by a severe drought and scorching temperatures, the bush fire season came along much earlier. These fires lost control and burned for extended periods of time. It’s evident that climate change was responsible and the likelihood of this happening again is high, if we don’t stop it. Nearly three billion animals were killed or harmed during the bushfires, a harsh but stark reality.
Australia maybe across the globe but we as a planet are united, this is a journey all must come together to combat. So with that in mind, it’s refreshing and comforting to see the plans being rolled out of number 10.
However this isn’t something we should leave to our leaders to change, we as individuals can make our own impact too.
How To Make Your Business More Environmentally Friendly
In a post-pandemic world we imagine office spaces to be bustling once again. When we’re back in these spaces, it makes sense for us to do our own bit and make a difference, even if it’s on a small scale.
Now you don’t have to make this a costly venture, there’s many small and achievable things you can do to get your business to reduce its carbon footprint. Here’s a quick round-up.
Reduce Your Emissions From Road Travel
Throughout lockdown, it seems we’ve all rediscovered the great outdoors and have enjoyed walking. Not only is it good for our own physical and mental health, but it’s good for the environment too. As an employer, you can encourage your employees to cycle, walk or if they live a little further away, use public transport or car share. This will ultimately result in less cars on the roads, which means less Co2, less pollution and less traffic ! We recommend checking if your local council runs any driving schemes. Salford City Council partnered up with Tusker, in the hope to promote the use of electric vehicles across the city and to promote green travel amongst their employees. They liked the cars so much that they decided to run a Co-Wheels Car Club, where residents of Salford can pay for vehicle use as and when they need it.
Make Your Office Lighting More Efficient
We’ve all probably worked in an office when the lighting just hasn’t cut it. It’s either too dark or too bright, there’s never a happy medium. Some employees prefer to work under harsh, headache inducing lighting, whilst others prefer the deep dark abyss. We can’t please everyone but what we can do is make sure you’re not wasting energy or compromising your employees eye health. In an ideal world, we’d all work in oober modern office blocks, with floor to ceiling glass windows, that let in as much natural light as possible, but this isn’t always the case. We suggest changing the lighting across your office to an LED light bulb, this will make a huge difference. Not only do these bulbs let out more light but they also last longer too. That being said, if you’re lucky enough to have even the smallest of windows, just trust your judgment. If it’s bright outside and the office is well lit, there’s no need to turn any lights on. Save yourself the pennies and if you really need an extra light source turn the brightness up on your computer or invest in a desk lamp so you won’t be disturbing your co-workers.
Recycle
We’ve heard it time and time again but it really isn’t difficult. We suggest, getting separate bins and labelling them. This way, your employees will know exactly what to do with their waste and you’ll have a guilt free conscience knowing you’ve disposed of your waste the proper way. You can find out how your local council recycles here.
Stop Using Single Use Plastic
This is probably the easiest step you can take. If you don’t provide unnecessary plastics, then nobody will use them. By providing water to your employees via a water cooler then don’t provide plastic cups. Put some cash together and use this to provide your staff with water bottles. Even better, make them branded! That way you’ll be promoting your company and your staff will be getting their daily consumption of h20.
Save The Trees And Use Less Paper
We’re all guilty of it, using unnecessary amounts of paper. Trees are arguably our most important natural resource so we should be actively trying to reduce our consumption of paper. There are devastating impacts of using paper including deforestation, not to mention the colossal amount of energy needed to produce it. With demand of paper expected to double from 2005-2030, maybe now’s the time to start going paperless. 420 million tons of paper corresponds to two pieces of paper for everyone on Earth every hour. If you want to see even more shocking statistics then we suggest you visit the World Counts website. The site publishes real time statistics on the environmental impact of paper production. If this doesn’t encourage you to make a change, we don’t know what will.
There are plenty of things you can make a start on by printing double sided, using scrap paper, sharing documents digitally to buying recycled paper . We’ve all got to start somewhere!
How Ampios Can Help You To Become More Environmentally Friendly
So there you have it, our top 5 tips to make your business just that little bit greener. We see it as a starting point. There are many more steps you can take but it’s baby steps for now. If you’re interested in improving the overall operations and systems of business, we have people that can help. Our team of experts can help you put your best (green) foot forward and start to implement these changes. Want to contact us for a quick chat? You can do so here.
