5 tips to build a more sustainable business

Sustainability and climate change are hot topics at the moment (excuse the pun). In our personal lives we are being pushed to think about ways we can reduce our impact on the environment. But why should this be restricted to personal lives only?

Here are our top 5 tips on how businesses can reduce their impact on the environment and increase their sustainability. These ideas are all things we've implemented at Lodestar Accounting to make sure our planet is looked after for the next generation 🌍

1. Switch loo roll

We recently switched to eco loo roll Bumboo which is made from bamboo. 🎍

The toilet roll is super soft and comes in extra long rolls. With plastic free and 100% recyclable and compostable packaging, it's a win win. They also plant a tree for every box purchased! 🌱

If you don't want to commit to a box of 48 rolls you can order a free trial box and just pay for delivery. Go on, give it a go, what have you got to lose!

2. Use technology for web meetings to cut down on travel emissions 🚗

We are Google lovers and use the whole of GSuite, so naturally our go to web meeting tool is Google Meet but there are loads of amazing apps out there that do a similar job.

Being a remote practice, we use Meet for internal meetings all the time but we also use it to keep in touch with our clients who are based all over the world. 🌍

It seems likely that quite a few more business will be using apps like this over the coming weeks to reduce the spread of coronaviris 😷

3. Change from single use plastic cleaning products 🧹

With spring cleaning well underway (and coronavirus 🤒) lots of people will be stocking up on cleaning spray and wipes.

Why not take this opportunity to switch to a greener cleaning product? ♻️ Ours was sourced by Omniwise and we've not looked back!

This cleaning product is packaged in dissolvable capsules which you pop in the reusable bottle with some water and hey presto, you have an all purpose cleaning spray!

4. Be paperless (well almost....) 📝

When Lodestar began, we made a conscious decision to be a 'paperless' firm. We quickly realised that no business can be 100% paperless but we'd say we're a good 95%.

All businesses receive post and have certain documents that must be printed so it's very difficult to be 100% paperless (especially when you're dealing with HMRC!) but we always choose to remove paper where possible. 🖥

The photo beneath is only our second ream of paper in 3 1/2 years so I'd say we're doing pretty well 😊

5. Use your local milkman 🐄

This is a win win as you're not only reducing your single use plastic but also supporting your local dairy farmers.

There is a small price increase involved in making the switch but it is far outweighed by the great feeling you get by helping the environment and local businesses 🥳🥳 Switch today!

Here’s a bonus tip! Switch from plastic bottles of hand wash to paper wrapped soap.

There are so many businesses offering beautifully hand-crafted soaps with eco packaging that it’s hard to pick, so why not be adventurous and try a few different ones?

So there are our top tips for creating a more sustainable business. There is so much going through our brains as small business owners, decisions to make and hat’s to wear, however, we urge you to consider the environment when making choices. Making any of these changes will have a positive impact on the environment, so pick one and start the ball rolling on your eco journey.