Talking About Green

There are various ways in which you can ensure that your business is environmentally friendly and many organisations are working towards greater ‘green’ credentials as part of their business practices.

Accreditations

There are plenty of green accreditations that help businesses to train staff in environmentally friendly practices. They can also help reduce the organisational carbon footprint through local supply chains and intelligent logistics, increase recycling and generally encourage firms to take a more responsible approach to their business operations. Many of these are offered on a not-for-profit basis and successful organisations will not only get support to work through the framework, but also accreditations if they are successful in doing so. There are numerous accreditations and customers greatly value them.

Green purchasing, logistics and operations

One of the biggest areas for focus is the company’s business operations. With purchasing, there are a number of easy wins to reduce the carbon footprint and become more eco-friendly. For example, a business can commit to buying environmentally-friendly building materials and ensuring that they purchase recycled components, such as recycled flooring materials for their offices. They might use sustainable wood or recycled composite woods in their production processes. They might source local materials and cut carbon miles through long deliveries. They might join local group-buying schemes to boost the competitiveness of local suppliers and they might also link with local businesses to share deliveries and ensure that lorries only go on deliveries when they are full.

They may use recycled packaging and commit to using digital logistics approaches to move away from paper and create a more efficient and less resource-demanding management approach.

Staff training is another important area. Businesses that seek to train their staff in environmental practices will find that they tap into a natural source of creativity and innovation for the green agenda. For example, staff might start a local biking co-operative and leave their cars at home, start a local organic fruit and veg box scheme for the office kitchen or commit to recycling more at work.

They might also insist on using energy-efficient light bulbs, switching off electrical equipment at the end of the day and starting community schemes that take on the broader mantle of corporate social responsibility and really demonstrate positive impact in the community.

These actions will have positive repercussions, not just for the environment and staff, but also in terms of cost savings from more efficient management practices and marketing, as many customers actively seek out companies that demonstrate strong environmental credentials and a positive role in the community in which they operate.

Daley has a keen interest in the environment and enjoys writing about how businesses and homes can be more green in their ways. He works with Ecotile Flooring.

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