6 Ways To Make Your Business Greener

Our last blog about the ways in which we, at VSL are trying to do our bit for the environment, was so popular! So, we thought we would continue on this theme and show you 5 simple things other businesses can do to be environmentally conscious. As a consumer too, it is good to look out for ‘green’ business practices when making a decision on which businesses to use.

1. Electric Vehicles

Switching to an Electric Vehicle (EV) is undoubtably, the next big change all of us will eventually adopt. By 2030 no new petrol or diesel cars will be sold in the UK, so manufacturers have escalated their transition to all-electrical vehicles already. More and more businesses are making efforts to increase their EV fleets too, and government incentives are hugely encouraging. If you haven’t already looked into EVs for your firm there are some fantastic options out there. Many businesses provide car charging points close to the premises as an extra incentive too.

2. Sell Your Unwanted Equipment

Advances in technology, along with the increase in remote workers, has led to a lot of unused and unwanted equipment. Unfortunately, much of this ends up in landfill. However, there are some great options out there to sell on your unwanted tech hardware to companies who will refurbish and resell this to other businesses. This is a fantastic approach to ensure that other companies have some affordable and flexible options that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them. Find out more about this here.

3. Remote Working

2020 made us all realise that working from home is not only achievable, it can also be more productive. A study from September 2020 stated that 58% of workers felt they were more productive as a result of working from home. Technology provides businesses with the means to give their employees the flexibility to work from wherever they are, on any device and – with our hosted telephony solution – with no upfront costs.

4. Paperless

Reducing paper waste is something that many people are doing more naturally these days. As a result of the pandemic, and with limited numbers of people having access to printers for the majority of 2020, printing quantities have reduced. However, there is still more that can be done. Choosing paperless billing options wherever possible and looking at alternative, digital methods of filing are easy things to do which can have an immediate impact on your paper consumption. Software like DocuSign, Dropbox and Google Docs allow for easy, cost-effective and paperless contract signing, file sharing and even file collaboration.

5. LED & Smart lighting

Replacing existing fluorescent and incandescent bulbs for LEDs is an easy and cost-effective change most businesses can adapt to. Not only does it mean you will make great savings on your energy bills, but there are also lots of studies to suggest that LED lighting can improve productivity within an office too.

6. Green Energy Suppliers

Choosing a green energy supplier will have little to no impact on your day to day business practices. In fact, you are unlikely to even notice when the change has happened. However, making changes like this is something that all responsible businesses need to consider, in order to help tackle the environmental issues we are all facing together.

You may also want to consider how your business premises can create their own energy, whether that’s through investing in solar panels, wind turbines or other forms of renewable energy sources.

There are many options out there to businesses big and small, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. However, if everyone can make small changes here and there, we will be on the right path to creating a more environmentally friendly work place.