Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be incredibly advantageous for your company. You get to help the planet and people living in it, it can boost employee morale and motivation, and good CSR might also help you save money on taxes. While it’s important to excel in all CSR themes environmental, philanthropic, ethical, and economical, it will be most efficient for you and your team to focus on one theme per year. If you’re thinking of boosting your company’s environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) this year, here are some ideas to get you started.
Start in your own backyard
Good environmental CSR should start in your own backyard. How can you help plant trees or start environmental campaigns if your own company does not enforce eco-friendly practices? Here are some environmentally-friendly practices you can consider:
- Be more responsible with your waste. Get in touch with a commercial trash compactor manufacturing company to ask how your business can avail of industrial compactors, which can help lead to a significant reduction in hauls, which leads to more savings in waste. A commercial compactor is also much safer, can improve the appearance of your workplace, and increases usable space in your commercial property.
- Use clean and green products for your company’s cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Safer Choice campaign, which includes encouraging everyone to use products that don’t contain harmful ingredients or toxic chemicals that can harm people and the planet.
- If you haven’t already, start encouraging every single employee to recycle. Separate everyone’s trash into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. Once your employees see clear bins for cardboard, plastic, and paper, they might be more inclined to use them again for other purposes.
- Consider switching to renewable energy for power. The best part about alternative energy sources like solar power, water power, and wind power is that they are no longer as inaccessible as they were a few years ago. Clean energy is much cheaper than it has ever been before, and all you need to do is to partner with the right companies who can help you make the transition without breaking the bank.
- Replace traditional appliances with new energy-efficient versions. If the thought of completely transitioning to clean energy is intimidating, you can start by making small transitions, starting with fixtures and appliances. Consider switching to LED lighting technology and new electronic items that bear the Energy Star logo and ratings. Whatever appliances will help you save more on energy usage should be a top priority when choosing new ones.
- Mind your sourcing. If you’re truly sincere about making your operations eco-friendly, make sure that every step of your production does not harm the environment. The process of minding your carbon footprint as a business is called green procurement, and it entails sourcing from sustainable suppliers who share your values and goals.
Take a cue from bigger corporations
You might not have the resources that bigger businesses and companies have, but you can take a cue from their practices and do it in a smaller way. Some examples include:
- LendEDU, an online marketplace. They partnered with the non-profit organization One Tree Planted to donate funds to plant one tree for every customer they served in 2017. This strategy is so simple, and it can be implemented anytime.
- The Walt Disney Company announced that they had goals for zero-waste and zero net greenhouse gas emissions. They announced their commitment to protecting the safety and rights of their workers, all while setting rigid international labor policies to ensure that they meet these goals. The corporation took a top-to-bottom approach as they engaged their employees and community to share their goals and values. They also have some programs and initiatives to promote healthy eating habits among their workers. Even if you don’t have Disney’s budget, you can apply the same commitment to your own small business.
Rethink your packaging
One of the biggest ways you can boost your business’s environmental CSR is by switching to more sustainable packaging. Transitioning to environmentally-friendly packaging materials will help minimize waste generation, lessen your business’s carbon footprint, and enhance your company’s product reputation. Get your marketing and CSR teams together and develop a time-bound strategy for transitioning to eco-friendly packaging materials without greenwashing the process.
If the world is to truly address the climate emergency, the government and private sectors must work together. More than the advantages to your business, think of how your company’s environmental CSR will impact the generations to come.
