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When you started your small business, your first and only concern was to get up and running and make a profit. However, once your business is doing solid business and seems to be finding its footing, you begin to worry about other things. Because the current trend in business is to move towards sustainability and environmental awareness, your new concern has become how to incorporate environmentally-friendly practices and business materials into your small business operations. By learning a few of the ways that you can make your small business more eco-friendly you can get your business on the right track towards sustainability. 

Begin A Commerical Recycling Program

Perhaps the most simple step to take towards sustainability in your small business is to enroll in a commercial recycling program or service. You will need to place recycling bins throughout the store for customers to use as well as in your office and other employees only areas to maximize the chances that people will recycle. 

Be sure to keep separate bins for paper products, plastic bottles and packaging, and aluminum cans. This ensures your paper products do not get soaked by liquids from bottles (rendering them useless to your commercial recycling service) and saves you the hassle of sorting through the recycling before pickup. The more you recycle at your business, the more sustainable your business becomes. 

Use Recycled Paper For All Business Transactions

Paper is one of the most environmentally detrimental office products that you will use in your daily business operations. From printing off training materials, sales reports, customer bills of sale, receipts, and the like, your business paper consumption can be astronomical, even though your business itself is small. 

Rather than continue to use paper products made from newly-felled trees, try to use recycled paper products in every way you can. Standard printer paper comes in a variety of weights and styles and can be purchased with post-consumer recycled content. Be sure to choose the paper with the highest percentage of recycled content. Receipt paper for cash registers, memo notepads, and even paper plates and cups in the break area can all be purchased in recycled forms as well. 

Install Motion Detector Lighting

Many businesses and stores today are using a new "smart" kind of lighting. Businesses use overhead and even case or cooler lights that work on motion detectors. If nobody moves in an area for a certain amount of time, the lights dim or shut off completely to conserve power and electricity. 

By installing these lights, you do not need to worry about forgetting to hit the light switch on your way out of the office for the night. Instead, you will have the peace of mind of knowing that you are conserving as much electricity through your lighting as possible on a daily basis. This will not only benefit the environment but also your utility bills.

As you can see, there are a variety of ways to make your small business more environmentally friendly. So, use these basic methods as a starting point as you move towards sustainability. For assistance, talk to a professional like Western Disposal.