July 31, 2014

The Benefits of Being an Eco-Friendly Business.~ Yvonne Wells

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Implementing an environmentally friendly policy for your business is not just about preserving our precious natural resources and reducing the impact of our civilization on the environment.

It’s also about the multiple benefits this kind of attitude brings to your enterprise. From saving money to boosting your company’s image, being eco-friendly is worth the effort. Here are some ideas for making your business more environmentally conscious and their most important, business-related advantages.

What You Can Do

How to become an eco-friendly business? That depends mostly on what kind of industry you belong to. First of all, you might want to switch to technologies that will help you to rely less on natural resources, such as solar hot water systems or rainwater tanks.

Then, you can resort to using products made from recycled materials, like furniture made of rubber, floor panels made from wine cork or office supplies that were created with the use of recycled plastic.

Finally, you can consider the issue from a broader point of view and see whether you can run your business in a more eco-friendly way. An example? Introducing high-quality conference calls instead of organizing real meetings to reduce the fuel consumption of air travel.

What About the Benefits?

There are several benefits of making your business and eco-friendly venture and they span over many areas, from public relations and cost reduction to new partnerships and investments.

Here are the most important advantages of being green:

Cost reduction:

Changing the ways in which materials are being used at your workplace can impact the costs of running your business. Take paper, for instance. You can avoid using unnecessary materials, reduce your paper needs by convincing the staff to print double-sided, encouraging your employees to reuse materials (like scrap paper that can be used to take messages instead of a special message pad) and recycle the used paper at your offices by shredding it commercially.

Reducing waste and fuel consumption are all elements of an eco-friendly attitude and can save you a fortune. Take the cue from Cola—they’ve saved $100 million by cutting down not their packaging. Minimizing the energy consumption is another way to save up a lot of money—shutting off lights and computers when they’re not in use can in the long run considerably lower your energy bills.

Public Relations:

Nowadays, the pressure of being green is greater than ever. Consumers are more aware of the pressing environmental issues and expect businesses to be proactive in their activities. Evidence shows that even investors seem to prefer companies that are open about their eco-friendly policies and emphasize the benefits they bring to local ecosystems and communities.

New environmental legislation passes every year—getting a fine and facing the massive outrage is not something any business wants to go through. Adopting eco-friendly practices mitigates risk and positively impacts the company’s public image—at times, it can save face.

Business Relations:

Being green is a great advantage not only towards establishing warmer relations with consumers, but investors as well. Having green certificates is appreciated by stakeholders and investors alike. Boasting eco-friendly credentials and qualifications might provide access to new partnerships and business opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible. Moreover, being eco-friendly attracts the best employees and specialists – today’s young talents are reported to be more inclined to work at companies, where practice is environmentally conscious.

In short, being eco-friendly is a uniquely beneficial strategy for a business to adopt. The demand for eco-friendly products and services is on the rise and companies can use this trend to actively create closer consumer communities and foster the engagement with their brand.