Good businesses should be both economically and environmentally sustainable. As a business owner or a manager, you should know that it’s possible to implement green policies at your company while still making enough profits. In fact, instituting eco-friendly policies can be beneficial for both your business and the environmentwhen you conserve your resources and limit your waste, you will effectively reduce your costs, thus saving quite a bit of money. Irrespective of the size of your business, there are lots of things that you can do to reduce your footprint and to make your business more environmentally friendly.

When you talk about being eco-friendly, most people think about recycling, but the fact is that recycling is only a small part of what businesses like yours can do. There are larger steps that businesses with resources can take towards making their organizations more eco-friendly. You need to review your business processes and identify areas where you could cut down on energy use, waste generation, or the use of other resources (e.g. water).

If you are considering making your office more eco-friendly, here are some basic tips to help you get started:

1. Buy recycled paper. The higher the recycled content in your paper, the better it is for the environment.

2. Ensure that you repair or replace all the leaky faucets within your place of business. A dripping tap can waste up to 10 thousand litres of water per year, so make sure that you close your taps tightly.

3. Turn off all your office electronics when they are not in use. When you leave in the evening, shut off all your computers.

4. Make your business more sustainable by changing the way you produce goods. You can increase your sustainability by adopting methods and processes that are less harmful to the environment.

5. When you print your documents, use both sides of each sheet of paper whenever its possible. This can cut your paper usage by up to 50%.

6. Encourage your employees to read all their emails and other correspondence on the computer instead of printing them right away. They should only print emails when its absolutely necessary so as to reduce wastage of printing paper.

7. Always be on the lookout for greener suppliers of both products and services. Source your supplies from businesses that are the most eco-friendly, and hire service providers (e.g. cleaners) who use eco-friendly products, equipment, and processes. Use suppliers who are nearby long-distance suppliers will burn a lot of fuel on the road which is bad for the environment.

8. You can reduce the amount of water used per toilet flush by inserting displacement weights in your cistern tanks. You can save up to 4 litres of water per flush using this trick.

9. Ensure that you involve all your employees in the initiative in order to maximise the effectiveness of your green strategies. It would be futile to initiate an environmental conservation project without getting everyone at the office on board. Make sure that your employees are aligned on the importance of going green, finding the people who are the most committed to causing environmental outcomes to work in sustainablity teams can help you to increase the level of engagement with more employees.

10. If you use fax machines in your office, you should purchase a fax modem which can allow you to send documents directly from your PC without having to use hard copies. This way, you can cut down on your fax-related paper use.

11. Packaging material makes up a big percentage of the waste thats generated in many offices. To reduce this waste, you should work with a supplier who takes back the packaging material and reuses it.

12. Instead of buying new office furniture right away, try to find ways to refurbish your old furniture. This is good for the environment, and you will also be saving a lot of cash in the process.