A recent study showed that 58% of adults are more mindful of their impact on the environment and 85% said they would be willing to take personal action to combat environmental and sustainability challenges in.
This is an important insight for business owners and a chance to update their practices in line with shifting consumer sentiments.
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3 reasons to prioritise environmental preservation in your business plan
Prioritising environmental preservation within your business plan can have a wide range of attractive benefits, and developing an environmental management system (EMS) is one of the easiest and most effective ways to do it.
An EMS will show internal and external stakeholders that you have a moral obligation to sustain, manage and improve all aspects of your business’ environmental impact. This can give you a major advantage over the competition while broadening the market and paving the way for new business opportunities.
In this article, we explore the benefits of prioritising environmental preservation and creating a process for safety and environmental protection with BusinessBasics.
#1. Reduce costs and waste on your end (while minimising your eco-impact)
Have you been controlling resource consumption throughout your organisation? If not, you have the opportunity to save money and prevent the waste of your materials and energy. There are multiple ways you can reduce costs through environmental preservation.
Recycling and reducing waste — Do some digging around the latest innovations and trends around waste reduction in your industry. In the mining industry, for example, “scrap mining” is becoming increasingly popular. By steering production towards the sole use of durable goods that can be reused, remanufactured or recycled, the mining industry can begin to reduce its impact on a global scale.
Facilities — Make your facility more eco-friendly by incorporating energy efficient equipment. This might come at a higher upfront price but they consume less energy, resulting in lower electricity bills and fewer costs in the longrun. You could also work towards reducing water waste by utilising rainwater and opting for more efficient fixtures and appliances.
Product materials — In response to climbing climate change concerns, organisations worldwide have made changes to their materials, ingredients, packaging and more. Advances in technology have resulted in more sustainable materials and production methods — taking the time to learn about material alternatives in your industry can help you develop new products and methods that are more sustainable.
Identifying wastage within your own business isn’t always easy. With this in mind, we recommend getting a third party to review your business operations. The BusinessBasics team, for example, can complete a site risk assessment as well as energy efficiency audits and commercial and residential energy audits. We can even create a sustainability program for your business if required — simply contact us today.
#2. Increase your brand appeal for potential customers, stakeholders and clients
More than three in five consumers say it is now more important than ever that companies are laser-focused on environmental preservation and sustainabilty.
With this in mind, educating customers about your commitment to sustainability can be a huge selling point for your business. If your business has a certified environmental management system (EMS), don’t keep it to yourself — weave this information into your business’s marketing strategy in order to:
- Attract more customers/clients
- Build a stronger, more positive brand image
- Develop trust between your business and your customers/clients
- Meet customer/client expectations
- Increase customer/client retention.
If you aren’t ISO 14001 certified yet, contact the team from BusinessBasics. Our team will complete an in-depth site inspection to identify key areas of improvement for your business. If required, we will even design a brand new EMS for you and guide you through the certification process.
#3. Manage environmental risks and meet ISO 14001 certification requirements
Whenever your business directly interacts with the environment, they will have either a positive or negative impact. One of the requirements of an EMS is to identify your environmental impact and determine whether these impacts are significant. You can then take action and eliminate or control them.
Understanding your environmental impact and identifying risks is important for a number of reasons:
- It ensures your EMS is compliant with ISO 14001 certification standards
- It allows you to prevent or reduce the negative effects your business has on the environment
- It allows you to continually improve your EMS.
Creating and maintaining an EMS will encourage you to continually review, audit and improve your business, not only to maintain ISO 14001 certification but to identify and address new or emerging environmental risks within your business.
How we can help
At BusinessBasics, we can help your business achieve ISO 14001 certification by developing an EMS that complies with ISO 14001 standards and requirements. It all starts with a site risk assessment and a comprehensive review of your business so that we can identify areas of improvement and if required, we can design a brand new EMS for you (alternatively, we will provide advice on how to improve your existing EMS).
We’re here to guide you through the ISO 14001 certification process and ensure you meet compliance requirements to a tee.
Contact BusinessBasics for ISO 14001 consulting services today. Environmental preservation is one of our specialties.
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