As the owner of your own business, finding ways to save money is almost as important as finding new clients. Adopting green business practices is one way to do it. Going green makes sound business sense because it not only saves you money, it helps protect the environment and is an attractive business quality to have. An increasing number of consumers are making their purchasing decisions based on a company’s environmentally friendly credentials. If you want to know how you can be greener here are some helpful tips.

Here’s How Going Green Can Save Your Business Money:

Use Less Paper

You would have thought that computers would have replaced the need for paper, but that doesn’t seem to have happened, at least not yet. Have you checked how much paper is used by your business lately? If you go paperless, you’ll be decreasing the demand for paper products and saving your company money. The technology is available and thanks to cloud technology documents that can be shared without using a single sheet of paper.

Reuse and Recycle

Everyone is being encouraged to reuse and recycle whenever possible, so you should also look for ways you can do this at work. Many of the materials you use in your business operations, such as plastic, glass, paper and cans can be recycled. When it comes to reusing encourage employees to reuse envelopes, boxes and to swap their paper coffee cups for reusable coffee mugs.

Lower Utility Costs

A great way to save money and reduce your carbon footprint is to use electricity more efficiently. There are many ways you can do it. Turn electrical equipment off at the end of the working day rather than leaving it on standby. Switch to LED light bulbs or CFL bulbs. If you need to buy new equipment look for Energy Star certification as these are more energy efficient.

As well as looking at your energy usage you should also compare business energy prices. It makes sense to look for the cheapest prices for your energy.

Encourage Car-Sharing or Working from Home

How do you and your employees get to work? Promote an environmentally friendly atmosphere by encouraging carpooling or the use of public transport. You can do this by providing incentives.

Further, if you use a cloud network do all of your employees really need to come to work every day? With the help of video conference calls and screen sharing many of them could work from home.

Invest in the Health and Wellness of Your Employees

Healthy employees are productive employees so provide them with a healthy and comfortable environment in which to work. Bring potted plants indoors to help with the air quality and plant trees outside your office windows. Encourage your employees to get out from behind their desks and enjoy some exercise during the day.

Going green is your duty as a business owner. It’s the future for every business and society as a whole. Your customers are demanding you operate in an eco-friendlier way and there is a moral case for reducing your carbon footprint. In addition, you’ll be saving money which is always a good reason for doing things in a different way.