Businesses are trying to associate themselves with one color — green. More and more companies are trying to prove that businesses can coexist with sustainability. Sustainable practices like paper recycling are now a common practice in most of the businesses. With each passing year, companies are focusing on corporate responsibility and are striving to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.

There are a number of green business practices that have made a mark in 2018. Businesses are actively implementing such practices and understanding that small changes like paper shredding promote sustainability.

Here are 5 such green practices that every business must implement in 2018. 

Save Electricity

There are numerous ways electricity is wasted in any business. Not many know that even when an appliance or machinery is plugged in, it will sap electricity from the outlet. This will cost you money and harm the environment as well. One way to combat energy usage is by requesting all the employees to turn off all the equipment and devices before leaving. Another way to save electricity is to use energy-saving appliances in the office such as compact florescent light bulbs.

Reduce Paper Usage

Use as little paper as possible. Don’t print every single email and avoid sending paper memos on a regular basis. Make backup copies of important files and store them digitally on an external drive rather than storing paper files. Print copies only when it is absolutely necessary and use sustainable paper. Print on both sides of the paper as often as you can. Lastly, recycle paper on a regular basis.

You can even use shredders to shred the paper waste before sending it to the recycling facility. There are a number of business benefits from industrial paper shredder such as not having to rely on third-parties to shred confidential documents and putting your security at risk, enhancing your waste management and reducing the volume of paper waste. It also helps in increasing environmental friendliness as shredding your paper gives you more options on how to deal with your paper waste like cushioning your products with shredded paper instead of Styrofoam.

Drop Unnecessary Packaging

It is a good idea to have an attractive packaging for your products or putting enough cushioning materials inside the boxes to ensure product safety. However, don’t get carried away and put unnecessary packaging materials. Avoid packaging products where you can or cut some corners without affecting the product. Doing this doesn’t just build a strong sustainable business practice but it will also save you some money.

Build an Eco-friendly Company

One of the most effective sustainable practices is to invest money in powering your business using renewable energy such as solar panels. Solar energy is one of the easiest and reliable sources to harness, which you must take advantage of. You can even come up with innovative ways to turn waste into energy.

Take initiatives to reduce your carbon print by going paperless, encouraging employees to carpool or take public transport to work, activating the power-saving mode of all devices, etc. Telecommuting is also a rising trend — allow employees to work remotely and take measures to support it. Innovations in cloud computing have encouraged telecommuting, thus helping in reducing the company’s carbon footprint significantly.

Go Digital

Switch to digital files if you haven’t already. Instead, use online timesheets and memos. You can easily store the digital documents on a cloud and share them with your employees through mobile devices. What’s more — digital files can be accessed by any employee, from any location. You can even digitize the receipts. Instead of printing out a paper receipt, opt for an email receipt.

You must constantly find better and newer ways to make your business more sustainable. Educate yourself to learn more about the same. Identify areas of improvement and work on them. Remember that sustainability is not a one-time thing but rather an ongoing and constant process.