With climate change high on the agenda more and more businesses are rapidly taking steps to ‘go green’.
Being a green business doesn’t just make sense financially, it also shows your staff and customers that you care. Having a business does mean that there’s a lot of stock, paperwork and general ‘stuff’ generated day to day. It also means trying to find a way of storing everything economically while thinking about the environment at the same time. Here, we look at some greener storage ideas.
Save on unnecessary fuel bills – If you have large premises but the majority of that is used for storing stock, boxes and files, you could downsize and save on electricity and heating bills by considering using an outside self-storage firm such as www.alligatorselfstorage.co.uk to keep your supplies safe and secure. The benefit of self-storage means you can keep costs down without forking out expensive lease, business rates or contract fees on large work premises.
Recycle boxes and containers – When taking in deliveries, why not reuse the cardboard and plastic boxes that contain your orders? These can be used to store old files, books and other items, or use a storage solution for your larger goods needs.
Keep hold of plastic bags – With the government having now introduced its 5p charge when buying plastic bags in supermarkets and large stores, it’s hoped that we will waste less bags. So follow suit and reuse your plastic bags rather than binning them. They can be used to keep odds and ends together or for protecting items in storage from dust.
Go digital with data storage – instead of keeping folders full of paper print-outs of lists and information piled high on shelves, it is much more economical to use data or ‘cloud’ based storage. Google Drive, Microsoft’s OneDrive and Dropbox are just a few of the cloud storage services available for sharing and storing documents online. Make sure when storing any information, however, that you are fully up to date with the latest data protection laws at www.ico.org.uk.
Safely recycle electrical equipment – if you have any old broken laptops, mobile phones or other electrical equipment taking up space then check if it can be recycled. Most products that have a plug or need a battery come under the government’s WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) category. You can contact your local authority to find out where to take these items to be recycled. See if your mobile phone provider will take your old phones. You could also contact charities who may be able to put your old goods to new use.
Store ‘green’ waste – this is one thing it’s okay to store. Use an old box or bin and get everyone in your office to put anything that can be recycled into the container (paper, card, used but rinsed paper cups, plastic and aluminium cans etc). Once it’s filled, simply take it to be recycled.
Reuse instead of throwing away – Have a ‘scrap’ bin for paper that can be reused. Most people use just one side of the paper for printing. Encourage them to use both sides or to use scrap paper for writing notes rather than using notebooks. You’ll save money and have less waste.