Sustainability for Businesses: 5 Ways for Companies to Go Green in the New Year
Since early 2020, ‘eco’, ‘green’ and ‘sustainability’ have become buzzwords and popular search terms on the internet, gaining interest from people across all industries and from all walks of life.
Type them into a search engine and in less than a second users will receive millions of results about veganism, tree planting, electric cars and carbon neutrality. But in this confusing tangle of environmental jargon, where do businesses come into play?
Recently, more law firms and large businesses have been making conscious steps to become more environmentally friendly, with business giants such as Amazon making its sustainability initiatives and efforts public, and here at MSB we have worked hard to promote and encompass values of Environmental, Social and Governance. In further effort to drive MSB’s contribution, our offices have also adopted a Green Agenda, with Trainee Solicitor Jess Jones leading the green team and overseeing the Environmental Policy.
So, how can smaller businesses utilise these values to increase their eco-friendliness? Here are five simple ways businesses can become more environmentally friendly:
- Go paperless
According to Shred On Site, offices use approximately 10,000 tonnes of paper a year, and about 75% of this is thrown away. This could be reduced significantly. In 2022, we are lucky to have access to a number of technologies that make paperless work possible, such as Teams, Outlook and even Word. Small changes such as sharing documents via Teams and choosing to email instead of post can make a big difference.
- Source sustainable food
In 2021, a study found that meat production accounts for nearly 60% of all greenhouse gases from food production. Business could help reduce this by providing less meat and animal-based foods in the office.
Make an effort to look at what the communal foods you provide contain. For instance, palm oil is a massive contributor to deforestation and the declining numbers of orangutangs in the wild. It can be found in products such as cookies, soaps and spreads, so try swapping these out for more sustainable offerings.
WWF have put together a useful score card that highlights brands committed to eliminating palm oil use. Business can use this report to help substitute palm oil products.
- Encourage sustainable products
Most of us will use unsustainable products at some point in our workday, but businesses can help avoid this by encouraging employees to use sustainable options instead. Could you provide your employees with multiuse water bottles, a discount code, or a voucher to encourage them to buy sustainable products?
Another way businesses could significantly decrease their waste is by offering employees menstrual cups. Period products are an example of a single use hygiene product, with an average of 11,000 tampons being used by an individual across their lifetime. Menstrual cups offer a sustainable alternative to these products.
- Compost and recycle
If going paperless is not practical for your business, recycling could be an alternative solution that enables your business to become more eco-friendly.
Composting may be the key to making your office greener. There are various studies and resources that show between 20-30% of an average worker’s waste is food. Composting enables your waste to become fertiliser, which can in turn be used to feed your business’ or employee’s plants or gardens.
- Get involved with local initiatives
Across the country, communities are coming together to care for our environment. At MSB, we take pride in the communities around us and the efforts they are making to become more sustainable.
In Liverpool, the Merseyside Environmental Trust aims to raise awareness of environmental issues through promoting open discussion of global and local concerns.
In Manchester, Nature Greater Manchester have adopted an ambitious five-year plan to take action for our climate. They have multiple projects such as Good Food GM, Greater Manchester Textiles and Fashion Group and Nature GM, which all aim to tackle the different elements of climate change.
In Chester, Eco Communities have many projects to get involved with, including the Friends of Countess Park, Supertrees and Guilden Sutton Green Space.
Being eco-friendly is more important now than ever, not only to show your customers and clients that you care, but to make a difference to the future of our planet. At MSB Solicitors, we recognise our responsibility to safeguard our environment. We are tackling climate change with the help of our Green Team and Environmental Policy.
Our teams are available to help you develop an eco-friendly and carbon conscious approach to legal services for your business. To enquire, email enquiries@msbsolicitors.co.uk. You can find out more about MSB’s environmental policies on our website using the below links:
Green Policies and Net Zero for Social Housing
Environmental, Social and Governance