Easy Ways Start-Ups Can Go Green

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There is a growing demand in the business world for companies to go green, with consumers paying more attention than ever before to the ethical and sustainable side of the products and services they use.

For large corporations, demonstrating a few eco-friendly initiatives can be as simple as donating for some trees to be planted while having minimal impact on their daily operations or finances. Start-ups and SMEs can find going green more challenging, but there are many easy ways it can be done.

Reduce Consumption Levels

Investing in renewable energy and using it to power your office is one of the best ways for any business to go green. For start-ups, the costs involved installing solar panels can be hard to afford, so a better place to start could be in reducing current energy use.

Be conservative with heating and air-conditioning, putting it on a timer with minimum and maximum settings to avoid it being used when nobody is in the office. Where possible, avoid paper use with the likes of cloud storage for internal purposes and digital invoicing when dealing with clients.

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Encourage Eco-Friendly Transportation

Even if your start-up only has ten employees, make the commute to and from work greener by encouraging cycling, walking and car-sharing. Provide an incentive such as if employees cycle to work ten times a month they can come in an hour later on the last day of the month, for example. Car-sharing can also improve morale as it gets people talking outside of the workplace.

Use Green Businesses

Your start-up will have to use the services of other businesses to get set up and keep running, so it is advisable to only choose others with a green ethos. From delivery services to ship products overseas, to web hosting for your site, seek out companies that have environmentally friendly practices in place. Web hosts require a lot of energy to power their servers 24/7, but there are options out there which use renewable energy and/or plant trees in an effort to counter emissions.

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Recycle

Recycling is easy, especially for a small office. Along with having a few recycling bins dotted around that are used, source second-hand equipment from chairs and desks to kitchen equipment, where appropriate. Forget about plastic cups for the water fountain, offer reusable ones to visitors instead, while recycling ink cartridges rather than buying new every time one runs out.

Turning your start-up into a green machine can be done easily by following these tips, without costing the world or requiring a lot of time.

Which of the above tips could you implement into your workplace?

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