If you have made the decision to start a new business, there are a lot of things that you need to take into consideration. Business plans and profit margins are one of the top priorities for businesses when they start out, but now they have the added pressure of being eco-friendly. Being an eco-friendly business does not have to be hard. Here are some of the best ways to make your business greener.

Product packaging

You may have noticed that a lot of the bigger brands are labelling their bottles in a new way. A lot of them state how much of the packaging has recycled plastic that they have been made from, others are reducing the amount of packaging to reduce waste. Choosing eco-friendly packaging from the start will make it easier for your business in the long run.

Go solar

Every business needs an energy source to keep the lights on but that doesn’t mean that you have to get your power from the local power plant. In fact, there are many different ways to power your business that are a lot greener. Adding solar panels to the roof of your building can harness the energy from the sun to generate some of the energy that your business needs. The rest can be bought from eco-electric companies that are using clean sources, such as wind or hydropower.

Go paperless

Paper is one of those things that you seem to go through a lot of in your business but there are alternatives. Going paper-free and using electronic devices to manage your business paperwork can save you a lot of money and space. You don’t even need to invest in a collection of servers to store your electronic paperwork, you can use online storage such as the Cloud. You don’t even need to print paper receipts, you can now email the receipt to the customer so that they have a digital copy.

Sponsor a charity

There are many businesses out there who have pledged to do more than just be green themselves. Some companies are planting trees, sponsoring endangered animals, and donating to schools to help them be greener. You don’t need to hand all of your profits over to a charity but pledging to donate a certain amount, for example, 1% of the monthly profits, can add up to a large amount for a charity that needs the funds.

Reduce your waste

Landfills are filling up fast, and recycling is only doing so much. In order to make an impact, we need to reduce the amount of waste that we create, starting with our own businesses. Reducing packaging and going paperless are two ways to reduce the amount of rubbish we make. However, it is worth your while being more mindful about the items that you put in your bin everyday. If you discover that you are putting a lot of stuff in the bin, stop and ask yourself what these items are and if you can stop bringing them into your business in the first place.