5 ways to reduce your environmental impact

Whether you’re a solo eCommerce entrepreneur or have a large team, you need to think about the environmental impact your business is making.

Considering the environment is good for the planet and good for business. Here’s why: 

• Obviously, the environmental impact
• You may be legally required to
• It increases affinity with your customers
• Customers are increasingly environmentally conscious and will align with brands who are too

5 things you can do to reduce your environmental impact: 

1. Be mindful about the packaging you’re using

It’s estimated that 5.45 million tonnes of packaging was made available to the end-consumer (including business users) in Australia in 2017-18. That’s a lot of packaging! Get stats and tips about eco-friendly packaging here.

Verde Store recycles and reuses all the bubble wrap, plastic wrap, paper wrap and cornstarch pack bubbles & lots of our cardboard boxes that come to us.  They haven’t purchased any of these for over 10 years!

2. Install solar panels at the office or offset your carbon

Look at getting solar panels installed. And if that’s not an option, check if your electricity provider offers a carbon offset program. Most providers offer one. 

3. Use coffee pods / reusable coffee cups 

Coffee. We’re not going to tell you to stop drinking it. We’re no fools! There are plenty of waste-free options to get your caffeine fix. 

Stock up on reusable coffee takeaway cups. Don’t just have one. You’ll forget it and you’ll end up getting a disposable one then you’ll feel bad and we don’t want that! 3 is a good number for me. 1 for the car, 1 for the drawer and 1 for the dishwasher.

If you have a coffee machine in your office, choose reusable coffee pods such as these from Podstar (we love ours!).

Or you could drink plunger coffee.

Also, think about where you source your coffee from. Can you get your beans from a local roaster to reduce packaging and miles travelled? 

And don’t forget to put the grounds in the compost. 

4. Compost your scraps

Have a bin in the office and take it home once a week to pop in your home compost. Hot tip: line the bin with newspaper so it doesn’t get all gross. 

Investigate local compost collection schemes. Search “compost collection near me”.

Or set up a compost bin in your office garden, if you can. The Composta (pictured below) looks like it’d be perfect for an office balcony or small space.

5. Batch your trips to the post office

Batching is great for time management, but also fewer trips to the post office mean fewer emissions produced.

Final word

Being environmentally friendly is good for the planet and good for business. And every little bit helps.

Written by Megan Winter

Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact.