Business owners all over the world are starting to become more and more conscious of the planet and the way their day to day tasks are affecting the environment. Consumers are steering more towards eco-friendly businesses, and for good reasons. Nobody wants to believe they are negatively contributing to natural disasters and global warming. When it comes to running a business you should always be thinking about how to be more ethical and how you can make positive changes. With this in mind, here are a handful of ways in which you can reduce the carbon footprint of your small business.

Reconsider Your Packaging

The packaging your business uses to ship products or bag them up in store can be extremely harmful to the environment if you are using a lot of plastic. Not only can this give your business a bad name, but it is also going to dramatically increase your carbon footprint. Brown paper bags are an eco-friendly solution that look good and decompose quickly. Most brown paper bags can also be recycled, which is another advantage to consider when choosing your ideal packaging.

Don’t Print Documents Unnecessarily

Although it can be tempting to print all of the important documents that come your way, it isn’t the ideal way to do your part for the environment. Using excess paper is only going to create more waste for your business that you will need to dispose of anyway. Try to keep digital copies of these documents, and offer to send digital receipts to your consumers as a way of reducing your waste as much as possible.

Use Energy Sparingly

If you’re running a brick and mortar business, you’re probably always looking for ways to reduce your energy bills and consume as little as possible. If you have the initial capital, you may want to invest in solar panels for your business building, as this will dramatically reduce the amount of money you spend on heating and electricity. In other cases, you could also consider energy efficient light bulbs and other saving strategies.

Work from Home When Possible

Understandably, working from home isn’t always possible, but it can be a brilliant way to reduce your carbon footprint. Working from home regularly, can actually have a positive impact on the environment because you are reducing emissions during your commute. If you are able to work from home think about how you can adopt simple planet friendly habits so that you are also doing your part from your own property too.

Even though your business is small, the impacts of your activities could be mighty. Adopting a greener approach to the way you operate will not only give you peace of mind, but it will also open up doors to target new types of consumers. You have the chance to make a positive change, and discover a new way of operating which can benefit your business, your customers and the world around you.