From Employee Involvement to Recycled Packaging to Sustainable Travel, UK B Corps Share Earth-Friendly Tips
Business has a huge impact on the planet. With this comes an opportunity to change, improve and take action. Certified B Corporations believe in balancing profit with consideration of people and planet, and are leading the way with their environmental performance.
Whether your business is looking to make small, collective changes or setting long-term environmental goals, consider the following suggestions from B Corps based in the United Kingdom.
Is your business looking for ideas on making a positive environmental impact? Check this free online report from B Lab that compiles articles and resources to help your business become a climate leader. Whether you work at a large company or an agency, get inspired to do more today.
Green the Office
By Robin Tyler, purchasing manager at Cotswold Fayre
Last year, the management team members at Cotswold Fayre decided to “green the office” to reduce our impact on the planet.
A simple first step was to remove individual waste paper bins from under our desks. Using a single food waste bin and recycling bin has reduced rubbish to landfill by two-thirds! All the office paper we use is now 100% recycled, and paper waste is recycled.
After implementing these changes, we quickly identified other changes we could make. These included installing a hand dryer (saving 20,000 paper towels) and switching electricity suppliers to Ecotricity, a 100% green electricity supplier. We also started buying toilet paper and kitchen towels from B Corp Who Gives A Crap (products are 100% recycled and 50% of the profits are used to build toilets for people who need them). At home, 10 of us have switched to Bulb, another B Corp, which uses 100% renewable electricity and gas that is 100% carbon neutral. All consumables used in the office are now environmentally friendly brands.
All these changes required minimal effort and could be made by businesses of any type or size. Start with this small list; from here you might decide to make bigger changes — low-energy lighting, green web hosting, electric cars. The list is endless!
Engage Your Employees
By Matt Hocking, director at Leap
At Leap, we do everything we can to minimise our carbon footprint. Our team members get involved in many ways, but we’ve found the Do Nation pledge challenge to be the most effective way to increase employee involvement. Do Nation (a fellow B Corp) is a platform where organisations and individuals can write pledges to make small changes to their everyday habits.
Making pledges has taught our team members how simple actions make a difference. It’s been amazing hearing conversations between team members about making purposeful changes. From switching to renewable energy to cutting out sugary drinks to using non-dairy milk in the office to being more conscious about the food we eat, these tiny changes have a lasting impact, personally and environmentally.
We took part in the challenge earlier this year, alongside fellow B Corps innocent, Wholegrain, Invivo Clinical and Cafedirect. The changes we made have stuck, and our eight-person team reduced its CO2 emissions by 20,000 kg annually. Plus, it’s been really fun!
I’d recommend that any business take part in a Do Nation challenge and discover the potential difference you and your team members can make collectively.
Switch to Renewable Energy
By Andy Stephens, head of sustainable food at COOK
Kermit the Frog famously observed “It’s not easy being green,” but that was before renewable electricity became so readily available.
At COOK, we decided to switch to 100% renewable energy in 2017 and were surprised how easy it was to implement. Our energy brokers, Beond Group, put out a tender to renewable energy suppliers to provide quotes, then we picked the one that was suitable. Simple as that. In one step we’d roughly cut our annual carbon footprint in half — that’s by 2,368 tonnes, about the same as 650 households switching to renewable electricity — at a cost comparable with non-renewables, too.
When choosing suppliers, be sure to check that they are able to provide Renewable Energy Guarantees Origin (REGO) certificates, certifying the energy as being green. We are currently purchasing our electricity from Orsted, which generates green energy through offshore wind farms and bioenergy plants. Switching does not require any changes to infrastructure or equipment. You will still receive your energy from the grid, but you will be using your buying power to vote for a more sustainable energy system.
We recognise that buying green electricity is a good first step but not the silver bullet. At the moment we’re working with a community energy co-op to explore whether a project involving solar panels on the roof of our new kitchen is feasible and looking for more ways to use energy more efficiently.
Close the Loop
By Jo Chidley, founder of Beauty Kitchen
Nearly all beauty packaging—99%—is thrown out after just one use. Beauty Kitchen is here to change that through the new “Return · Refill · Repeat” program. Send your Beauty Kitchen packaging back to us, and we’ll wash and reuse it for the next batch of your favourite Beauty Kitchen products. Think of it like a modern-day version of a milkman, except for beauty.
How are we making this happen? By switching to glass or aluminum packaging, making it easy to wash and reuse. In fact, Beauty Kitchen redesigned every single element of our packaging with reusability in mind. This includes no glue on lids, which means these can be washed and reused too, further minimizing waste and closing the loop on packaging. We also use labels made with rock paper (no trees or water needed to produce them).
Designing or thinking with the end in mind works across all industries. If your business uses packaging, a few simple questions can close the loop. Is it recyclable? Has it been recycled, and if not could it be? Setting achievable goals and going on the journey is the most important step any business can take.
Go Climate Positive
By Lauren Ellis, PR and events manager at Intrepid Group
At Intrepid Group, we have just announced our goal to become climate positive by 2020. We have been carbon neutral since 2010, offsetting carbon emissions from all trips by purchasing carbon credits associated with a range of renewable energy projects. Now, we’re aiming to create an environmental benefit by removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
As a purpose-beyond-profit business, we recognized that operating sustainability is no longer enough and that we needed to find ways to regenerate the planet. Climate action has to be a priority for anyone who loves travel. We believe that we have a responsibility to make a positive difference and help to preserve the planet for the next generation of travelers.
We’re working with our not-for-profit, The Intrepid Foundation, to raise funds for an innovative seaweed solution that will do just that. We’ve joined forces with the Climate Foundation and the University of Tasmania to start crowdfunding for a new marine permaculture initiative that will regenerate marine ecosystems in Tasmania and sequester carbon from the atmosphere.
The first task for other companies wanting to take a leadership stance on sustainability is to understand where they are having an impact, whether it be good or bad. Then you need to ensure that the sustainable purpose-driven ideology is built into your decision-making. We’ve seen the financial benefits from working in this way, achieving three consecutive years of record growth including a 17% increase in revenue in 2018.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
5 Ways Your Business Can Take Action on the Climate Crisis was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
