Ways to go Green That you Haven’t Thought Of

You may already be doing some of the obvious things to have a greener lifestyle, like recycling and reusing when possible. However, here are a few ways you may not have thought about that you can go green at your workplace.

Reduce Unnecessary Mail at Your Business

Thousands of letters, pamphlets, etc., are mailed out every day without ever being opened. If you find your business dumping loads of mail in the recycling bin every week, it may be a good idea to do what you can to reduce the unnecessary mail that you are receiving.

Sign up to pay bills online or over the phone. Unsubscribe from any junk mail or miscellaneous mail that you don’t actually read. Make sure that your employees are thinking about what kind of mail they sign up for at your business address.

Encourage Employees to Bring Reusable Bottles

Many businesses provide a water cooler and little paper cups to help employees stay hydrated at work. However, all of these little paper cups aren’t doing any favors to the environment.

A greener option is to provide your employees with reusable bottles and encourage them to bring them to work. It’s a good idea to also provide washable glasses or additional reusable bottles in case any employees forget their reusable bottles.

Choose a Web Hosting Company That Reduces Your Impact on the Environment

When you are thinking of ways to go green, a green web hosting company is probably not first on your list. However, choosing a web hosting solution that is powered by renewable energy is a powerful way to cut down on the excessive energy that you consume.

If you run a lot of sites, choosing green hosting can have a powerful impact on the environment. As an added benefit, it is something that you can advertise to people who visit your website to show your dedication to green living.

Offer Reusable Bags

Help your employees to avoid plastic or even paper shopping bags by purchasing or making reusable bags and giving them out. Bags can carry your logo and name and become a powerful marketing tool. Not only will people see your business name around town, but they’ll also associate your business with green living.

It can be a challenge for employees to remember reusable bags, so having them available at the office can be very helpful for employees who go shopping after work.

Repair Instead of Discard

When something around your office breaks, it can be very tempting to throw out the whole object and buy something new. However, throwing out an entire item just because a small component is malfunctioning is a huge contributor to landfills.

Spend some time looking into how you can repair the object instead of discarding it. Look for attractive ways to improve the look of things that are cosmetically damaged.

If you do decide to throw something out, bring it to a thrift store or post it on a curb alert site instead of tossing it so that somebody else will have the chance to fix and use it.

Consider Letting Employees Work From Home

As technology advances, fewer essential components of work need to be done at the office. You may be amazed by just how many of your employees could serve their roles very well from home. You may already have learned this thanks to having employees work at home during the Covid pandemic.

Keeping employees at home can eliminate commute times, reduce the amount of office space that you need to use, and enable employees to make greener decisions in their daily life, like making their own lunches instead of getting takeout.

Eliminate Single-Serve Products.

Single serving coffee and tea pods may be fun and tailored to the needs of different employees, but when you actually break down what your employees need from their hot beverages, you are likely to find that bulk containers will serve their needs just as well.

Provide a couple of different coffee pots with regular coffee and decaf and provide a range of tea bags instead of relying on pods. You can dramatically reduce the packaging that your business goes through in this way. As an added benefit, buying in bulk is much more affordable for your business.

Reduce Your Business’s Impact on the Environment

There are more ways to go green than you may have realized. By thinking out of the box and making a few small changes to your business, you can do a lot to reduce the negative impact that you have on the environment.