While startup businesses are often known for being innovative and agile in their product and service designs, to resonate with today’s consumers, they also need to view sustainability as a top priority.
Thankfully, there are a number of impactful strategies that startup business can put in place that can quickly move the needle on improving their sustainability initiatives.
Allowing Flexible Working Arrangements
Many modern companies have started to allow flexible working arrangements for their employees. This includes hybrid scheduling, which gives employees the option of working part-time in the office and part-time out of their homes. Some organizations even set up a completely distributed workforce, with everyone working full-time from their home offices.
There are a lot of benefits for startup businesses when adopting this type of working culture. Not only does it significantly reduce the costs necessary to run a physical office space, but it can be a great way to eliminate the need to put additional strain on the environment caused by providing energy for a commercial building.
Using Renewable Energy Sources
Although it can be intimidating for businesses to consider, using renewable energy sources to operate part or all of a business can be a huge step forward in their sustainability initiatives.
While becoming completely carbon-neutral may not be possible for most organizations, there are some smaller changes you can make that can lead to large benefits. Installing commercial solar panels, for example, can allow businesses to charge forklifts or power small offices and lighting panels, saving on utility bills.
Minimizing Your Product Packaging
For startup companies in the manufacturing sector, product components and packaging materials can be a major source of waste. If your business operates in this type of industry, however, there are some steps you can take to minimize your impact on the environment.
Using reusable or biodegradable materials can greatly lower carbon emissions and provide a more sensible solution to managing a supply chain. You can also consider using recycled materials for shipment packaging while avoiding the overuse of styrofoam and other padded materials that end up in landfills and cannot be safely repurposed.
Choosing Better Vehicle Options
If your business relies on using a fleet of vehicles, it’s important to consider the environmental impact these can have. Conventional gas engines contribute to high fuel consumption and emissions of dangerous gasses into the environment.
The great thing is that with the most recent advancements in technology and automotive manufacturing, there are now multiple eco-friendly vehicle options available to use in your business’s fleet.
All-electric and hybrid-electric vehicles can be recharged using renewable energy sources and have significantly less impact on the speed of global warming and climate change.
Educating Your Employees
It’s important to remember that achieving your sustainability goals won't happen overnight and rarely can happen without the full support of your team. Keeping your employees educated and motivated on the importance of maintaining a good eco-conscious effort is essential as your business grows.
Take the time necessary to create workshops or training sessions on eco-friendly initiatives that the company supports. You can also encourage your employees to develop their own ideas and projects that can contribute to helping the organization stay environmentally responsible over the years.
Investing in Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
The cleaning products you choose to use in your office building are also important to supporting a healthier working environment. Many people don’t realize that the harmful chemicals commonly found in commercial cleaning supplies can be damaging for employees to breathe in and can actually pollute local water supplies.
Switching to eco-friendly cleaning solutions avoids the use of these dangerous chemicals while still keeping the building clean.
Creating a “Green Committee”
A great way to get more involvement from your employees when launching responsible initiatives for the business is by establishing a “green committee.”
A green committee is a collection of individuals in the business who play an important role in planning and helping to execute eco-friendly projects. This could include assigning a rotation for individuals to handle the recycling in common areas and tracking the company’s progress when working toward larger objectives or important milestones.
Partnering With Responsible Suppliers
Although paying close attention to the best practices your businesses apply is important, the type of partners you choose to work with also says something about where your priorities are.
As a growing business, it’s important to set a healthy precedent early on by only partnering with other organizations that take their own sustainability responsibilities seriously. This means taking more time to vet office suppliers, freight services, and even cloud providers to make sure their company values mirror your own.
Remodel Certain Office Areas
Depending on how old the office building is where your business operates, you may be able to make certain improvements in various spaces that can contribute to your sustainability efforts.
For example, you may want to consider remodeling bathrooms or kitchen areas to allow you to add modern water fixtures or kitchen appliances. These are designed to reduce unnecessary water flow as well as reduce energy expenditure, helping to significantly lower the consumption of critical resources throughout the year.
The great thing is that just like preparing to sell a home, oftentimes completing remodeling projects in your office can make it much easier to lease or sell a commercial property down the road.
Regularly Monitor and Improve Your Sustainability Efforts
Improving your business's sustainability efforts is an ongoing process. This is why it’s important to regularly monitor your startup businesses' environmental impact and track your progress when trying to reach your goals.
This helps you to stay on top of initiatives like lowering your energy consumption or improving your recycling habits while seeing the milestones you’ve hit will keep you motivated to keep moving forward.
Make Sustainability a Priority for Your Business
When launching and developing a startup business, sustainability should never be viewed as an afterthought. It’s important to place a high priority on your business’s responsibility when it comes to planning and executing eco-friendly company initiatives.
By making sustainability an important part of your business development approach, you’ll be able to ensure you minimize your carbon footprint while also making an impactful difference in the industry you service.
.Author Information
Author Name: Dalip Jaggi
Author Bio:
Entrepreneur, technologist, and passionate business leader sum up the core of Dalip Jaggi, co-founder of Revive Real Estate, a PropTech company with a goal to democratize house flipping. Since its 2020-inception, Revive has since become the smartest solution for homeowners to maximize their home’s sales value across the nation.
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