Want a Greener Business? Start by Running a Tighter Ship
After the hottest UK summer in recorded history (1), and with a strong El Niño forecast to shape the winter ahead (2), it is getting harder to ignore climate change. Extreme weather seems increasingly normal, and like a lot of people, I’ve found myself wondering what I can realistically do to reduce my own environmental impact. That is fairly easy when you're thinking about your personal life. You can buy less, recycle more, grow some of your own food, walk instead of drive and generally try not to behave as though the planet has an unlimited supply of everything. But when it comes to running a business, it’s a little more complicated.
A sole trader might need to drive thousands of miles a year, use lots of electricity to run a workshop, tools and equipment, buy materials, package products and dispose of commercial waste. Many of these things are unavoidable and replacing everything with the latest expensive eco-friendly alternative isn't realistic for most small businesses. But there is another way of looking at it: an efficient business is often a greener business. If you are using less fuel, fewer materials, less electricity, less packaging and less time, you are probably also spending less money. You don't necessarily need to buy anything particularly green. You just need to stop wasting quite so much of what you've already got.
Make every journey count
Transport is an obvious place to start, particularly if your business involves visiting customers, collecting or delivering goods, or travelling to suppliers. If you're constantly doubling back, making several trips to the same area or driving back to the workshop because you forgot something, your business isn't running as efficiently as it could, and neither is your vehicle.
When I was running my horse rug cleaning business, I would sit down with my client diary and Google Maps on a Sunday afternoon and plan the week ahead. I knew which days I would be in the workshop and which days I would be out collecting and delivering and that helped my stress levels as well as reduced my diesel costs. It also meant I could look at where everything was going, combine journeys and slot last-minute requests into an existing road trip. Rather than delivering a few rugs here and a few rugs there, I could put together one larger trip with multiple stops. If I needed to visit a supplier, I could look at whether there was a customer nearby who needed a collection or delivery.
Saving diesel, especially when it got up to nearly £2/litre, would have been a good enough bonus, but it also saved me time and made the week run smoother, which in turn meant I could fit more work in, and make more money. You don't need a complicated logistics system to do this - a diary or weekly planner, a map and five or ten minutes of thought can make a worthwhile difference. And this basic ‘plan first’ principle applies to pretty much every business where you need to get in a car or van and visit clients. Grouping appointments, supplier runs, collections and deliveries by geographical area and being a little bit flexible about journeys that can be slotted in on any day can lead to better overall efficiency.
There is another rather mundane source of unnecessary mileage: forgetting things. You arrive at a job and realise the one fitting, tool, bit of equipment or piece of paperwork you need is sitting on the kitchen table or in the workshop. It happens to everyone, and it’s frustrating and annoying (and I know this because I’ve done it myself a few times). Obviously, you can't eliminate this completely because it’s human nature, especially if you already have a million other things to remember. But you can make it less likely.
Make a straightforward checklist of the essentials and keep it on your phone so it’s always to hand. Tools, materials, equipment, PPE, paperwork, customer-specific requirements and anything that needs to be collected or delivered can all go on the list. Then spend five minutes each morning checking the day's jobs against it. Make it a habit because five extra minutes in the workshop could mean the difference between a wasted journey and getting to the appointment on time and prepared. And this good business habit is good for the environment too.
Buy less and hold less stock
Stock sitting on a shelf can look reassuring, but it can also represent money you have already spent on things you may not need. Good stock control is better for your bank account and cash flow, and in many cases, it’s also better for the environment. Use what you already have before ordering more, and keep an eye on quantities so you don't accidentally buy something you already own. If you have materials that can be repurposed for a different job rather than buying something specific, all the better. Offcuts, shorter lengths and leftover materials could all be useful for a smaller or slightly different job, so it’s always worth storing them for later use.
If something has a shelf life, make sure you’re rotating the stock efficiently so that the older stuff gets used or sold first. And while that bulk buy may look like tempting good value, if half of it gets wasted then it turns into a false economy.
Buying secondhand can be an excellent way to save money, especially when taking into account the depreciation on new vehicles. Buying secondhand tools and plant keeps your business efficient without stretching finances, and hiring equipment you only use occasionally is financially more sensible than having expensive machinery sitting around gathering dust.
Repair, maintain and make things last
Making things last isn’t just better for the planet, it’s better business practice too. Cleaning tools properly, storing equipment sensibly and carrying out routine maintenance all go towards keeping your essential kit in good working order, plus it’s always cheaper to keep something going with regular maintenance than to replace it because it was left out in the rain or the mice got to it.
Buying the best quality you can afford is another way to save money and be more eco-friendly in the longer term. A good-quality tool that lasts ten years is preferable to a cheap one that needs replacing every year or two. The same applies to machinery, computers, furniture and other equipment.
A lot of sole traders rely on their vehicles to get them to work and therefore earn money, so there is nothing worse than when it refuses to start. Regular services were a non-negotiable when I relied on my truck for the rug business - without it the whole thing would have ground to a halt, so I made sure I looked after it. If you rely on your vehicle for work, regular servicing, correctly inflated tyres and dealing with small problems before they become large ones are sensible business practices regardless of your views on climate change.
Reduce and recycle packaging
It’s becoming more and more expensive for businesses to recycle waste responsibly, but that is never an excuse to fly-tip. Instead, try and reduce the waste you produce in the first place. Depending on your business, a big part of your total waste could be packaging. Try to reuse as much as you can. If that’s not possible, ask your supplier to reduce the amount of packaging they use when they send stuff to you. You may be able to give larger boxes away as house moving boxes on your local Facebook page - a large box that is useless to you might be exactly what someone needs when they're moving house.
If you run any kind of mail-order business, cost-effective, attractive and robust packaging is a must, and the more eco-friendly options can eat into profit margins more than traditional types of packaging. But you may be able to offset some of these additional costs by advertising that you only use biodegradable, recycled or recyclable packaging. Many people are willing to pay more for items that come in plastic-free wrapping, and a few extra pence per item can make sure you maintain a good profit on each item.
Make using less a habit
In an increasingly electronic and digital world, paper receipts, invoices, quotes and purchase orders are becoming more unnecessary and even annoying for the recipient. I no longer get paper bank statements as my business bank keeps them all on file for me. Likewise, invoices are sent via email and not snail mail, saving me money on paper, printer ink and the not inconsiderable postage that Royal Mail now charges for a first-class stamp. The beauty of electronic mail is that it can’t as easily be lost as a paper letter, plus keeping all of our records for HMRC for five years is much easier now that most of it is digital.
Other ‘use less’ good habits are turning out lights if we’re not in the room, shutting doors to keep the heat in, turning things off at the wall to prevent that zombie power draw, and making use of natural light where possible. I’m very excited about the new laws on plug-in solar that the UK government has just brought in. These should work for workshops as well as houses, and can save up to £50 per year per panel (3). Make sure your house or workshop has the correct RCD fitted before you buy, and if you’re unsure get a qualified electrician to check for you (4).
Good business is good for the planet
Being more thoughtful and deliberate about how you run your business isn’t really about helping the planet or being more eco-friendly at all, that’s just a side-effect of a well-run and efficient business. Planning your journeys, using what you've already got, looking after your kit, wasting less paper and power. Every one of those habits saves you money as well as carbon, which is rather the point. You don't have to be an environmentalist for any of it to be worth doing.
If you only pick one to start with, make it the journeys, because that's usually where the quick wins are. My Sunday afternoon with a diary and Google Maps did the job, but planning it all from scratch every week gets tedious, and tedious is usually when people stop bothering. Sorting your client list into areas once, so the weekly planning takes minutes rather than half a Sunday, is what makes it stick, and it's exactly the sort of thing I can help you set up if you'd rather not wrestle with it yourself.
Everything else you can crack on with. Start with what's already in your van, your workshop and your diary, and waste a bit less of it. The planet gets a small win. So does your bank balance. And a well-run business tends to be a greener one almost by accident.
1) UK Summer Hottest on Record