Tips to Implement Environmental Standards in Your Business
Your customers expect you to care about the environment. Your bottom line demands you optimize resources. But how do you make your business genuinely green…
The print industry, for example, can chew through resources if not managed well. Elanders Print, a global digital printing partner, proved it’s possible. They earned Green Manufacturer of the Year in 2013 and scored 97% on the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) Seal of Excellence. Their path shows that operational efficiency and environmental standards aren’t mutually exclusive.
Basic Shifts
Recycling paper is just as critical. Shred sensitive documents, then recycle them. This protects delicate information and keeps waste out of landfills.
Buy paper that’s already recycled. Look for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. Waste Watch reports that every tonne of 100% recycled paper saves 30,000 liters of water. It also saves enough energy to power a three-bedroom house for a year.
Modern recycled papers look and feel like virgin fiber. Their cost has dropped significantly. If you dismissed recycled paper in the past, check again. Just verify the actual recycled content. A “recycled” label can mean more than half virgin pulp. Paper with the National Association of Paper Merchants (NAPM) logo guarantees over 50% recycled content.
Paper isn’t the only thing you can recycle. Many businesses cut costs by recycling inkjet printer cartridges. Refill them or sell them to a recycling company. It’s a direct win for your budget and the planet.
When you select ink, you have more eco-friendly options than ever. Source inks made with organic vegetable oils instead of petroleum. These inks produce fewer VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which improves air quality in your workspace.
Soy ink, made from soybeans, is a popular choice for newspapers. Printers report it spreads 15% further than petroleum inks, often delivering better colors. That means you buy less ink to print the same volume.
Elanders, for instance, uses the ISO 14000 family of inks. This choice cuts energy consumption and material use. It also lowers distribution costs, which you can keep or pass to customers. And it visibly improves your corporate image among regulators and clients.
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Advanced Moves
Let employees work from home, part-time or full-time. Staff who commute by car leave it parked for days. That cuts their carbon footprint and your business’s overall impact. You might also see a bump in employee satisfaction.
Vetting suppliers who align with your environmental efforts is crucial. It can also be surprisingly difficult.
You’ve already picked recycled paper and organic inks. Now, demand a zero-landfill promise from your waste contractor. This pushes your efforts further upstream.
Consider switching to renewable-energy suppliers for your commercial buildings. Depending on your space, you could install solar panels on the roof. Or generate electricity with your own wind turbine. Geothermal heat pumps, perhaps with underfloor heating, retain heat and cut the need for radiators.
Improve insulation in your walls and ceilings. Keeping cold out and heat in lessens the demand on your heating system while the business is open.
Computers and other electronics drain a lot of energy. Teach your staff power management. Enable power management settings on their machines. This means computers use less energy when idle.
Screen savers waste power. Set monitors to automatically switch off after a set time away from the desk. Encourage staff to power down their machines at day’s end. This saves hardware lifespan and energy costs.
Recycle old hardware. External components like keyboards, monitors, and mice can often be reused with new machines. If you’re doing a total upgrade, recycle computers. Donate working machines to local charities, like care homes or childcare groups. And when you upgrade, send digital training manuals via email instead of printing stacks of paper.
Jonny Rowntree is a writer at worldwide digital printing partner, Elanders UK.
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