By: Kim Brockbank, Heart of the City
Starting a new business can be challenging, especially when you want to adopt environmentally sustainable practices but are working with a limited budget. Fortunately, there are numerous ways small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK can make significant strides towards sustainability without breaking the bank.
Heart of the City is a charity that supports SMEs to be a force for good. Through workshops, one-to-one support, and providing access to experts, the team can help you take your first steps towards making responsible business a meaningful part of your work.
In this article, Heart of the City draws on their expertise in responsible business practice to provide 10 top tips for making your business more environmentally friendly on a budget.
1. Measure your Carbon Footprint
Before making any changes, it’s crucial to agree, measure or to understand your current environmental impact. Start by evaluating how much energy and resources your business consumes and what waste it produces. This assessment will highlight areas where you can make the most effective changes.
2. Improve Energy Efficiency
You can get a quick win through making sure you switch off unused equipment, such as computers and air conditioning systems, and maximising the use of natural light to reduce your reliance on electrical lighting. Upgrading standard lightbulbs to LED lights will also help you improve energy efficiency, as LED lights use up to 75% less energy and last significantly longer.
3. Adopt Recycling Programs
Recycling and repurposing are two key things you can do to reduce waste! Set up separate bins for paper, plastic, and glass to encourage recycling among staff. You can also find creative ways to reuse materials like cardboard boxes and plastic bottles, which is not only more sustainable but also saves money.
4. Choose Sustainable Suppliers
Where you can, opt for local suppliers to cut down on the carbon footprint of your materials. Eco-friendly packaging, such as recycled or compostable packaging, are also a good option to reduce environmental impact.
5. Implement Low-Cost Sustainable Practices
We know that cost is a key factor when starting your business, so prioritise low-cost sustainability practices that you can implement while money is tight. For example, you could go paperless to reduce paper usage by switching to digital filing systems and encouraging electronic communication. You could make sure to reuse items like water bottles, and if you have a team, encourage them to do the same. Where you need to buy new equipment, use energy-efficient appliances and smart technology to monitor and reduce energy consumption.
6. Sustainable Deliveries
If your business involves deliveries, you can reduce your environmental impact by reviewing how you deliver your products. Optimising delivery routes to group multiple order and offering bulk deliveries will minimise transport emissions, and utilising green delivery options such as electric vehicles or bikes for local deliveries and choosing couriers with strong environmental commitments will help you reduce emissions further.
7. Engage and Educate Your Team
Champion sustainability! Appoint a team member to lead sustainability efforts, keeping the initiative alive and fostering a culture of eco-awareness. You could also encourage sustainable commuting options like cycling by participating in schemes such as the Cycle to Work scheme.
8. Leverage Free Resources and Grants
There are a wide range of free resources and grants available to help you tackle the costs of becoming more sustainable. You can explore government grants and funding opportunities to offset costs of sustainable upgrades on your local council website. There are also free online tools and educational resources you can use to stay informed about the latest sustainability practices.
Your industry might also have specific resources and pledges – The Heart of the City team have listed a number of useful organisations so you don’t have to search too hard!
9. Improve Water Efficiency
Another area to look at is water efficiency. You want to make sure all leaks are fixed promptly to avoid water wastage, and you can use devices like low-flow taps and toilets to reduce your overall water consumption.
10. Encourage a Green Office Culture
If you have a team, you can encourage green practices among your employees, such as reducing waste, recycling, and conserving energy. You can also implement green transport policy to encourage sustainable travel options for employees.
Download Heart of the City’s free Climate Action Toolkit
Heart of the City’s free online Climate Action Toolkit has been designed for SMEs in collaboration with experts in sustainability and climate change to help you create your net zero action plan in just four simple steps. You can access the toolkit online via their website!
Learn more about Heart of the City and their support:
*We strive to do our best when supporting small business and their growth. Our business databases can give you information and data that can help you with advertising, market research, company information, and industry factsheets. If you have already taken the plunge, we would love for you to join us at a seminar, our workshops cover digital marketing, business model canvas and planning, demystifying taxes and intellectual property to name a few. Visit our events page or website for more information.
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