Sustainable has recently become a business buzzword in today’s world. What is the big deal about Sustainability, and how can you make it work for you? Businesses worldwide are looking into more environment-friendly business practices, primarily because of the alarming climatic changes. They think about their long-term effects on the community’s environment, society, and economy and reconsider whether their company positively impacts them. 

Becoming more sustainable may be challenging initially, but business sustainability is more of an opportunity than a threat. Since there is no long-term trade-off between Sustainability and the creation of financial value, the challenge is well worth the reward. Sustainable companies will be more resilient and have a lasting effect.

Creating and growing Sustainability in business is beneficial for various reasons, the most important of which is that we live, work, and play on one planet. We must care for it for the benefit of all. On the other hand, a sustainable business model is also a successful one.

Businesses can use various tactics to embrace Sustainability in all its forms. The different sustainable business practices are summarised below for your consideration.

What Is Business Sustainability?

The “ability to endure” is defined as Sustainability. Developing sustainable business practices will help reduce your organization’s environmental impact and build business resilience. Sustainable practices will also benefit you by lowering costs, protecting your business from risks, and ensuring your ability to respond to challenges and capitalize on future opportunities.

Companies across the UK have been forced to rethink their traditional work methods in recent years. Businesses have had to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Activities such as product development, market research, and implementing new ways of working have never been more critical.

An increasing number of businesses, regardless of size or industry, are seizing the chance presented by disrupting their long-standing business models to operate more effectively, efficiently, and sustainably. Let’s see what different business sustainability strategies can be used. 

1.) Sustainability Used To Be More Expensive, But It Doesn’t Have To Be

The notion that sustainable products are expensive is widespread. The upfront cost may be higher in many cases, but the overall price is much lower because the consequences can be used repeatedly. It is only sometimes valid, and choosing a sustainable option is better for the environment and your wallet.

Many factors can make sustainable goods more expensive. To produce such goods, it is necessary to use high-quality raw materials, which are more expensive. 

Additionally, the more complex manufacturing process results in higher manufacturing costs.

There are various reasons why sustainable products can be more expensive:

• Lack of demand 
• High manufacturing costs
• Quality raw materials 
• Following green practices 

However, using sustainable practices is considered cheaper in the long run and provides enormous benefits to the organization.

2.) Waste Reduction

Recycling waste from your daily packaging materials to your IT equipment used to cost more than just chucking it in the general waste bin. Now with improved technology and processes in the recycling industry along with increased charges for the landfill, this is no longer the case.

It is now more cost-effective to recycle almost every type of business product/material than it is to send it to a landfill unless it’s a hazardous material that is illegal to throw in a dump. 

3.) Buying New vs Recycled Materials

Similar to the waste aspect, it used to be more expensive to buy recycled materials like paper, cardboard, and plastics, or they would be of an inferior quality to purchase new materials. 

Again this isn’t the case with improved technology; in most cases, buying refurbished materials is cheaper than buying new ones. 

4.) Buying Refurbished & Reused Products

There has always been a stigma around buying reused or refurbished products with the idea that they were inferior to new products or it made you look “cheap” buying them. With the massive investment and growth in this sector, creating reused and refurbished products that are just as good if not better than new, but at a lot less cost and the feeling, you’re doing something good for the environment.

Some excellent examples of the items are Used cars, Refiller toner cartridges, furniture from reclaimed wood or straight-up reused furniture, refurbished computers and laptops, and mobile phones and telephone equipment. The reality is that now you can kit out your entire office without using any new equipment at a lot less cost to the company and the environment. 

5.) Reducing Your Carbon Footprint 

The three most prominent areas in your organization that will impact the environment are:

• Employee Travel 

Travel, especially air travel, is the largest or the 2nd largest CO2 producer, depending on your organization. Great ideas to reduce this are more online meetings rather than in person where travel is needed, promoting car sharing within the organization, and promoting the cycle-to-work scheme.

• Heating 

Heating offices, homes, and other heat-related items like kettles are the largest sources of CO2 after vehicles. Ideas around better insulation, smaller working areas, and better management of kettle and oven use are great ways to reduce the company’s CO2 and save you £.

• IT Equipment

IT and all electrical equipment are hugely energy intensive to produce, and the IT industry now equates to 2% of the world’s CO2. On average, 70%-80% of the CO2 of IT equipment is made before it even gets to you in manufacturing and shipping. The energy used in use is relatively minimal. 

A great way to reduce the CO2 impact from IT equipment is holding on to your IT equipment longer. Do you need new phones every two years? When it does come to replacing equipment, evaluate refurbished equipment which has around 10% of the CO2 footprint of new IT. 

Refurbished IT equipment had come a long way, with some professional companies bringing it back to the standard it was when it was new, with warranties of up to 5 years.

Wrapping Up

To create long-term value, Sustainability is a business strategy that considers how a particular organization functions in the ecological, social, and economic environments. The fundamental tenet of Sustainability is that employing such tactics encourages long-term business success.