Climate change is one of the biggest threats we as a species are facing today. And unless we can turn things around, the future does not look good for us.
As a businessman or an industrialist, you will have to take the first step in tackling these changes. And to do so, you will have to take a more sustainable and eco-friendly approach towards your business. Here is how you can do so.
A Green Workspace
The journey towards an eco-friendly and sustainable business needs to start from your office. A green workspace is integral to an eco-friendly and sustainable business model. That is why your office and its staff need to maintain certain standards and practices.
To start things off, the office itself has to be energy efficient. And to ensure that, it needs to be able to let natural light pass through it during the day. You will have to use curtain walls for that purpose. Doing so will allow your employees to utilize the sunlight during the day when it is sunny outside.
Next, you will have to minimize your daily electricity usage. That can be done in a variety of ways. For instance, never keep the lights or air-conditioner on when there is no one in the room. Use energy-efficient light bulbs and ditch the regular ones. Then, you should also consider setting up solar panels on top of the building. That will make for an even more energy-efficient workplace experience.
Eco-Friendly Packaging
Export packing is an integral part of international trade. You will have to handle them with utmost care as they will protect your products as they set sail to another country or continent.
No matter which country you are sending your goods or products to, you will have to follow certain regulations for the packaging. And to ensure sustainability, the packaging has to be done in an eco-friendly way.
To protect your cargo from all sorts of weather conditions, you will have to ensure strong packaging. For the sustainability part, you will have to switch to alternative packaging solutions that can replace plastic packing. Many countries around the world are no longer accepting plastic packaging with their imports. Countries that are part of the European Union (EU) will be banning single-use plastic items as well from July 2021.
Hence, you will have to switch to sustainable packaging. Biodegradable plastic bags, although a bit expensive compared to regular ones, are good alternatives. Besides, mushroom packaging, bagasse, and stone paper are also popular alternatives that you should look into.
Eco-Friendly Transportation
At present, eco-friendly shipping is not that convenient yet. However, people are putting in a lot of effort in coming up with ways to make shipping more eco-friendly. And they are trying to do so by fixing the road-based transportation system first.
Over the last few years, people have been focusing on electric trucks. These trucks run solely on battery power. Using them means that you will be putting less pressure on fossil fuels. Apart from electric trucks, there are hybrid ones as well which, although not as eco-friendly as the electric ones, are still seen as major game-changers in this industry. And once these electric or hybrid vehicles start becoming mainstream, you will have to switch to them to ensure more sustainability in your business.
One of the main reasons people are focusing on trucks when it comes to eco-friendliness is because they are much easier to work with. We are yet to come up with sustainable forms of water and air-based transportation, which means these vehicles will have to continue running on fossil fuel for a while until we eventually find a more eco-friendly solution for them as well.
Waste Management
You will be able to make good progress in your efforts to build a sustainable and eco-friendly business if you can ensure better waste management. The ideal way to ensure this is by avoiding the use of toxic chemicals and materials in your production process. However, that may not be possible as alternatives to these chemicals are not readily available. Hence, what you can do is treat the toxic water or air, get rid of the toxicity in them, and then release them into the environment.
For this purpose, your factories must have ETPs – Effluent Treatment Plants – in them. These plants will take care of the harmful substances from your wastewater, and make the water safe for environmental release.
As long as you keep these things in mind, you will be able to ensure a more eco-friendly business environment. Many businesses worldwide are following these approaches to build a better world for future generations. And you too should do your part.
