The Top 10 Sustainable Business Practices Your Green Company Needs
Sustainability isn’t a trend or the latest fad. As awareness of the climate crisis grows, the demand for sustainable companies rises.
Sustainability is the driving force for consumers to choose their goods, and this tendency is growing. A survey conducted by CGS showed 68% of consumers rate sustainability as important when shopping.
Also, 47% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products. Leading the way in this trend is Gen Z. They’re more likely to shop, are willing to pay more, and are more likely to be loyal to companies with sustainable practices.
Sustainable business practices are key in any kind of company, whether sustainability is at your business’s core values or not.
What Are Sustainable Business Practices?
Sustainable business practices are policies companies follow to take environmental and social impact into account. ¹
A sustainable business rejects the idea of only focusing on profits and ROI, which is what most companies do. Normally, a successful business is the one making lots of money and growing their revenue exponentially.
But there are problems with a business model focusing only on profit. They don’t take into account the social and environmental toll of their company.
A sustainable company involves in its business model the environment and their employees. Profits are key for a thriving business, but the social and environmental impact is just as important.
Sustainable businesses work to align these 3 aspects: environment, equity, and economy. A successful green company makes a profit while ensuring the health and safety of the planet and its employees.
Top Benefits of Sustainable Business Practices
It’s not easy being a sustainable business in an unsustainable world. But, adopting sustainable business practices comes with many benefits to your company. First, the reputation of your company improves, giving you loyal customers.
Green businesses also have lower operating costs and a better brand image. They grow faster than their non-sustainable competition and attract more investors. 2
Also, your employers are more likely to vouch for your company when you care about their well-being and the planet.
“Products market as sustainable grow 5.6 times faster than their counterpart.” — Harvard Business Review
10 Sustainable Business Practices To Apply To Your Company
1. Aim For Improvement Over Time, Not Perfection
It takes time (and in some cases money) to adopt sustainable business practices. A perfect green business is hard to come by, and claiming to be one might backfire if you don’t have proof.
Instead of trying to be “perfect”, show your audience the good things you're already doing. Don't focus on what you have to do down the road. Instead, be honest about what you're doing right now.
If you’re working towards using only compostable packaging, don’t claim to use it. Set yourself an achievable goal and share it with your audience. It’s better to underpromise and overdeliver than the other way around.
Always be honest and clear about what you’ve done, what you’re doing, and what you plan on doing down the road.
It’s impossible to cover every little detail all at once. As your company grows, you put in place more and more sustainable practices. That’s how you achieve a truly sustainable business.
2. Involve Your Employees
Involving your employees in your green initiatives is key to ensure their success. Engage them on any green practices your business adopted. Ask them to take part, and to provide their own ideas supporting sustainability.
A great way to grow engagement is to prompt your employees to create a sustainable office team. To raise interest, have incentives for them to take part in the activity. Engaging your team members in sustainability makes it easier to enforce your new strategies.
When hiring new employees, tell them about the sustainable business practices you follow. Try to include these practices in the job description so your employees know about them.
Another way to grow engagement is by offering free training to your employees. Do this by showing them documentaries, movies, or videos on sustainability.
Set aside a small budget for training, seminars, and other relevant events.
3. Make Your Headquarters Eco-Friendly
If you have an office space or storage place, be sure to make it as eco-friendly as possible. There are many ways to turn your office space into a greener area.
These are a few things to do:
Use eco-friendly cleaning supplies. When cleaning floors, windows, bathrooms, etc. use products without harsh chemicals. Two great options are Better Life and Blueland.
Use recycled toilet paper. Nowadays it’s easy to find eco-friendly options, and toilet paper is not the exception. A great and affordable brand to consider is Who Gives A Crap.
Save water and electricity. Doing this not only helps our planet but also your pocket. Use low-flow toilets and faucets, green energy, and LED lighting. Also, fix leaky faucets and seal doors and windows.
Buy eco-friendly office supplies. From paper to pens, Dolphin Blue is a great option.
Create a recycling program. Make a plan to recycle electronics, paper and cardboard, fluorescent lights, batteries, etc. Plus, plastic and glass, of course.
Teach your employees the importance of recycling and encourage them to apply the 3 R’s (Reuse, Reduce, Recycle).
4. Know Your Supply Chain
A supply chain is a key element of any business. Knowing where the raw materials for your products come from is essential for sustainability. Especially in certain industries like textiles, fashion, and food.
Trace your supply chain all the way to the very beginning. Check all your suppliers and make sure their values and yours align. Communicate with your staff and suppliers the sustainable practices you’re looking for.
Make sure your suppliers know your standards before purchasing.
Once you know your supply chain, it’s time to reevaluate. Check all the raw materials you purchase and shift to eco-friendly versions when necessary.
Ask yourself these questions when evaluating your supply chain:
What kind of ingredients and chemicals are in the materials you buy?
Who is making the products? Are they paid fairly?
Are your suppliers using sustainable practices? Do they have any certifications?
Are you sourcing products locally?
Are your suppliers transparent about their practices?
When buying from companies without social and environmental responsibility, you support these practices. With every dollar you spend, you decide which companies you support!
5. Source Locally
Go through all your purchases and change as many as possible to local vendors. Things to source locally range from office supplies to raw materials for your products.
When you shop local, you help boost the economy of your community. And you reduce your carbon footprint.
To ensure all your purchases follow sustainable business practices, develop a supplier policy. Before adding new suppliers, ensure they’re aligned with your sustainable guidelines. Also, create a policy for purchasing, and follow the same process when buying new products.
6. Use Sustainable Packaging
As more and more businesses go online, the need for sustainable packaging becomes more important. There are high-quality and affordable options developed every day.
Aim to shift from single-use materials to biodegradable or recyclable packaging. Include anything used for shipping and handling.
A great place to find sustainable package options is EcoEnclose.
If you use single-use plastic as packaging, aim to shift away from that first.
7. Have an “End of Life” Plan And Support Circularity
Having a plan for what happens to your products after the consumer is done with them is critical. The amount of rubbish overflowing landfills is rapidly growing. This makes circularity a key piece for any sustainable business.
How do you apply a circular economy to your company? The complexity of this depends on what type of business you have. Something to do is offer discounts for people to return their products after they’re done with them. Then you either recycle, repurpose, or resell as second hand.
A great example of an “end of life plan” is the company Bee’s Wrap. In a blog post, they give you a few options on what to do after you’re done with their product. They explain how to compost the wrap in your backyard or use it as a fire starter.
Another amazing initiative is by the toilet paper company Who Gives A Crap. They wrap every TP roll in colorful paper and encourage you to use it as wrapping paper for gifts. The design is perfect for it, and on their blog, they share different crafts to do with the paper and cardboard roll.
When it comes to circularity, you must think outside the box.
If you need support when shifting your brand from a linear to a circular economy, partner up with TerraCycle. This amazing company is helping businesses transition to sustainable practices.
8. Get Certified
Consumers get smarter every year, and saying you’re doing something isn’t enough. If you claim to be organic or cruelty-free, it doesn’t mean much without a certification to prove it.
Some great certifications to consider are:
Avoid any self-given labels like the following ones.
They have no real value and some people might think you’re trying to greenwash. These labels also come off as dishonest and may cause more harm than good. To learn more about unintentional greenwashing and how to avoid it, tap here.
9. Offset Your Carbon Emissions
All businesses have a carbon footprint. When you follow sustainable business practices you’re already reducing your carbon emissions. But for the remaining ones, there are a few ways to offset them.
Companies like Terrapass or Carbon Fund allow you to calculate and offset your carbon emissions. When you partner up with them (or any other similar company), you reduce the environmental impact of your business.
Your aim should always be to reduce your carbon footprint and offset the rest.
10. Share Your Sustainable Business Practices with Your Clients
With the rise of sustainable businesses, there’s also a rise of greenwashing companies.
Sharing with your audience what you’re doing and what you plan on doing down the road is key. Simply add a “sustainability” page on your website and share your efforts. Touch on which sustainable practices you apply to your company and why. Share why you care about sustainability, your impact, and whatever else you want.
It’s very important to address any sustainable claims made by your business. If you say your company is free of carbon emissions, this is where you show your audience how you do it. If you claim transparency in your supply chain, this page tells them where you source your materials, what processes you use, etc.
When you make sustainable claims but don’t take the time to prove to your audience you actually do it, it might be perceived as greenwashing. And yes, even if you’re doing it, accidental greenwashing is possible.
The Takeaways
Adopting sustainable business practices is key for a successful company nowadays. Besides cutting costs and boosting your reputation, it helps preserve our beautiful planet.
Without our planet, there are no thriving businesses.
We need a healthy planet to survive and implementing sustainable business practices is a major step towards protecting it. It also sees for the health and well-being of workers, farmers, and vulnerable communities.