The damage humans have done to our planet has become increasingly clear in recent years and scientists suggest we now just have a matter of years to reduce the impact we’re having on the world if we’re to avert an irreversible global climate catastrophe.
However, while all companies bear an onus of responsibility to limit how they exploit the planet’s resources and reduce their respective carbon footprints, adopting greener policies in your firm could also bring the unexpected benefit of saving your company considerable money.
Below are just a few ways ‘going green’ could streamline your spending and, in some cases, even generate a small profit.
If you recycle, you’ll reduce the cost of waste disposal
Waste disposal is big business, but there is only a finite amount of space available in landfill sites and costs are growing exponentially year on year. If you currently pay a company to dispose of your waste, you may well find you can save money by calling on the services of a recycling firm instead.
Recycling companies can recover part of their operating costs from the materials they collect – often selling them or repurposing them, meaning they might be able to offer you reduced prices. Also, if your company produces a lot of waste, you might find it makes sense to invest in baling or compacting machines like those available from recyclingbalers.com, which will make easy work or packing up the waste ready for collection.
Very often you can sell the supposed ‘waste’
One man’s rubbish is another’s treasure and it’s very common for companies to be able to sell their supposed ‘waste’ for use by other firms. For example, if your company produces a lot of paper or card waste, you may find you can resell it for a small profit. The same applies to electricians and plumbing firms that frequently find interested buyers for their wire off-cuts or spare pipes, etc.
If you recycle, repurpose or reuse, you’ll cut down on the expense of buying new
It should go without saying that your firm will save money if it turns its back on a throwaway culture and instead takes a more flexible approach to fixing, reusing or repurposing older equipment, tools or electrical goods. Rather than simply buying new, try to think inventively about how the old kit might find another life in a different use.
Often recycled materials are cheaper
Buying recycled goods can often be much cheaper than buying new ones. For example, recycled paper is typically far less expensive than newer options yet performs an identical function. It doesn’t just stop at paper, either. Recycling is common across all industries and you’ll often find nearly new, refurbished tech devices like computers, laptops, cellphones, etc that are considerably cheaper than if you were to buy off-the-shelf brand-new versions.
You should also explore other potential avenues for buying recycled. For example, these days plastics are frequently being recycled for other uses such as a durable replacement for timber in construction projects. Not only can these materials be cheaper to buy in the first place, they can also end up less expensive to maintain.
