How Are Businesses Going Green to Address Global Warming Issues
At the height of a global crisis due toan unprecedented increase in global temperature, new and established businesses are taking sustainable actions to help mitigate the crisis. The business sector is comprised of micro-enterprises, small, medium, and large investments.
Despite the benefit of employing many people, businesses have been significantly contributing high volumes of carbon emissions and other chemicals into the environment. After realization of the effects, more and more businesses are turning green through drastic measures. They are undertaking different investments and innovations to help them turn green in several ways.
Educating their workers
The first broad action by entrepreneurs is to educate their stakeholders and these are the employees who work hard to help the businesses make profits. Each sector is different and is using a different approach to sensitize its human resource. For example, the education sector has been at the forefront of educating students who then become ambassadors of change after graduation.
Teachers assign different climate change essay topics for students to write and they post them on the school website for access by both students and the community. The manufacturing sector is educating its workers on the importance to conserve the environment through sustainable means.
Reduction of energy consumption
Businesses are adapting ways to help reduce the amount of energy they consume. They are becoming innovative by using machines that consume less energy. During the day when they can rely on natural light, they are turning off lights and thereby lowering the amount of heat produced by them daily. Some companies are making fewer trips transporting their products or raw materials by using larger vehicles instead of using many smaller vehicles.
Waste reduction
Waste in businesses especially in the manufacturing sector is produced in two ways – unwanted materials and producing low standard goods that cannot be sold. For close to two decades, businesses have been adoptingthe lean manufacturing concept that helps eliminate waste at different levels.
Theyput in place workable measures that help eliminate defects, overproduction, excess processing, etc. Each action is helping reduce energy wastage, and release waste into the environment.
Use of green equipment
Businesses invest in infrastructures that help optimize production and ROI. In most cases, these infrastructures profit the business but destroy the environment. Currently, many businesses are adopting green infrastructures and equipment for production, storage, and transportation.
These measures get implemented when buying transportation fleet, buying electronic gadgets, manufacturing plants, and installation of energy sources. Companies are choosing hybrid vehicles, energy-saving electronics such as printers and computers, use of solar and wind energy.
Green packaging
Packaging is a top contributor to environmental pollution. It matters how businesses package their products at the manufacturing plants and the type of bags they allow their customers to use. Retailers have adopted the use of eco-friendly bags for their customers and many companies are no longer using plastic packaging.
Setting climate-friendly targets
As a result of government policies and voluntary initiatives, many companies are setting climate-related targets. Depending on the individual business environment, some companies are setting targets to reduce greenhouse gases, others have targets to reduce energy use, and others waste production.
Those with energy targets are looking forward to using total renewable energy within a specified time. Companies that rely upon products from forests are looking for alternatives to reduce forest destruction. Every business is in a rush to achieve its targets of a business environment that is 100 percent green.
Recycling
Businesses produce a lot of trash daily and when no action is taken to recycle it, a lot of it ends up in the landfills, rivers, lakes, and on the land. Some businesses have taken responsibility to recycle their waste and other waste from homes and businesses.
Some metal manufacturers collect pieces of trash metal from construction sites, garages, and landfills. They clean them and melt them to create new products and by doing so, they lower the demand for ore that is dug from the earth.
Paper manufacturers are also actively recycling paper trashed by businesses and printing companies. Some make tissue papers, newsprint papers, and manila papers. Other businesses collect waste plastic and use it to manufacture building materials, buttons, and other plastic goods.
