12 ways business can better support environmental progress

To help businesses better support environmental progress, we asked business leaders and sustainability consultants this question for their best advice. From incorporating sustainability practices to reducing business travel there are several tips that may help your business better support environmental progress.

Here are 12 tips to help your business better support environmental progress: 

Incorporate Sustainability Practices
Consistent Use of Reusables or Recyclables 
Reduce Carbon Footprint
Create Fun Challenges for Employees
Going Paperless Where Possible
Use Technology to Track Improvement
Emphasize the Small Steps
Invest in Shared Office Spaces
Promote Work-From-Home Strategies
Better Product Descriptions
Reducing Business Travel
Incentivize Public Transit Passes

Incorporate Sustainability Practices 

A business can incorporate sustainability in its workplace to support environmental progress. In short, sustainability makes sure that human beings and the environment stay in harmony and that people are not depleting natural resources. Incorporating sustainability in your business can not only help positively impact the environment but can be a positive selling point. Many consumers are concerned that the products or services are getting environmentally friendly. One way to do this is by being intentional with making your workplace sustainable. Put sustainability into your corporate strategy and research what steps you can take to support environmental progress.

Henry Babicheknko, Stomadent

Consistent Use of Reusables and Recyclables

 
Businesses are encouraged to embrace sustainable habits to reduce their environmental impact and better support environmental progress. One such sustainable habit is the consistent use of reusable and recyclable products, materials, and equipment. Encourage your employees to bring their own reusable cutlery and coffee mugs to cut down on the consumption of single-use plastic. It is the small things that add up to a huge difference!

Elliott Greenberg, Touchfree Concepts

Reduce Carbon Footprint

Businesses can better support environmental progress by actively looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Larger companies tend to assign this responsibility to the supply chain department, but if you are a smaller company, there are many opportunities you can take advantage of–such as recycling! Companies like ourselves partner with businesses of all sizes to create new, low-cost ways to make your company more green and sustainable.

Jonathan Cohen, Generated 

Create Fun Challenges for Employees

Businesses can better support environmental progress by reimagining the small stuff. Simple things like getting rid of single-use Keurig cups or water bottles are easy ways to start inspiring environmental progress. Once you’ve tackled all the small things, you can then graduate to activities like trash clean-ups, recycling challenges, and more.

Brad Sacks, More Than Gourmet

Going Paperless Where Possible

When it comes to accomplishing environmentally conscious goals, a business needs a tool like iFax to help decrease paper use by shifting from physical to online documents. With over 20 million faxes sent via iFax since inception, the company really does its part in protecting the environment and assisting other companies to do the same. It really supports environmental progress in a way that also simplifies typical document processes.

Adam Korbl, iFax

Using Technology to Track Impact

Businesses can look to technology that takes into account the environmental impact of their footprint. At SEKISUI, we were part of a project in an ecological preserve in Newport Beach, CA. Our Spiral Wound trenchless lining was a value engineering recommendation for its mechanical installation. This resulted in an environmentally friendly installation process that did not introduce harmful chemicals or styrene. 

Ryan Shallenberger, SEKISUI

Emphasize the Small Steps

Businesses can better support environmental progress through acts big and small! You can encourage your whole company to participate in a recycling challenge or ban the use of single-use plastic water bottles. It is these small acts that really add up and result in major effects on our carbon footprint and the health of our environment!

Allan J. Switalski, AVANA Capital

Invest in Shared Office Spaces

Businesses can pursue things that make sense financially in the long term and preserve the environment.  Our shared cowork location offers short to long-term accommodation for employers and their employees. This has a significant impact on the environment and it’s also one of the easiest ways to support environmental progress. Instead of cutting down more trees for each company to build their own space, we can use shared workspaces and plant more trees to clean the air and reduce our carbon footprint.

Kyle McIntosh, MAC6

Promote Work-From-Home Strategies

Businesses, especially service-based businesses, can support environmental progress by allowing employees to work from home when their jobs don’t require an office presence. This can help cut down on carbon emissions from people commuting to work while increasing employee satisfaction. Additionally, when people work from home, they tend to eat out less because they aren’t buying lunch, lowering the amount of single-use waste they generate. 

Jennifer Fulmer, TechnologyAdvice

Better Product Description

E-commerce businesses work better at supporting environmental progress by improving their company’s sustainability. That starts with being honest about your products. Writing clear, simple product descriptions that inform customers what they are purchasing, what the product is made of, and where it is sourced. Transparency about your products will lead to fewer returns, reducing excess packaging and waste, transport fuel consumption, and carbon emissions. And fewer returns also means a saving in front-end and shipping costs. Honesty and transparency about your products will also create a better customer experience and help build trust between your business and potential buyers.

Shahzil Amin, WellBefore

Reducing Business Travel

The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that travel isn’t always necessary, especially for routine meetings. Reducing travel can also help the environment and contribute to environmental progress by reducing a company’s carbon footprint.

Randi Shinder, SBLA

Incentivize Public Transit Passes

Businesses can better support environmental progress by incentivizing their employees to make green choices, like using public transportation or buying a less carbon-intensive vehicle. Employers of all sizes can afford to offer free or discounted transit passes to their employees. They can also consciously reduce the number of parking places in an effort to further encourage employees to take public transport instead of solo driving to work.

Altay Gursel, Metriculum