By Maria Valdez Haubrich
How is your business celebrating Earth Day tomorrow? Don’t let the day pass without thinking of a few ways your business can contribute to the green effort. Here are a few tips for small businesses from Emerald Brand, a green online retailer specializing in “tree-free” products.
- Offer an incentive for employees who make an eco-friendly commute. Provide a “complimentary vacation day” or “drink on the boss” for employees who ride their bike or take public transport to work on Earth Day.
- Talk about Earth “Year.” Use the day as an opportunity to talk with your staff and supervisors about what the office can do to become more eco-friendly over the next year. From conserving energy, to replacing traditional break room products with eco-friendly substitutes, there are plenty of ways for companies to go green without breaking the budget.
- Host an Earth Day pot-luck lunch! Ask your employees to bring in delicious, organic foods to celebrate with.
- Take some “outdoor” time on Earth Day. It’s easy to become bogged down with work. Take a few minutes on Earth Day to go for a walk, take a few deep breaths, and appreciate your surroundings.
- Turn off the lights! And the screens, printers, etc. This will conserve energy when the units are not in use.
- Don’t print. Try your best to solely use electronic documents during Earth Day. But if you must…
- Use both sides of paper for printed documents. Why use double the paper, when you can cut your waste in half immediately? This is a great policy, particularly for internal documents and drafts.
- Challenge other businesses in your building to a contest. Who can save the most over a set period of time? Offer a fun prize (i.e. losing office buys a round for the winners) to celebrate.
- Hold an office fundraiser. Pick your favorite environmental cause and work together to make a donation.
- Offset your carbon footprint. You get presents on Christmas, right? Give something back to the environment on Earth Day.