Recycling should be a part of every Business’s Products Value Chain (2)
We should start with the “why”, because it seems like joining the band wagon of environmental friendly companies is a way of going with the trend of aligning with global concerns ignoring the relevance of it.
Why is it necessary to be environmentally conscious?
If you take a moment to view the way the world works, you will know that waste is ‘subjective’, in the sense that what we see as waste, is another organisms opportunity to feed, take a look at those rotten mangoes you may have come across in your path, one might think this is wasteful, till a scientist picks up his microscope and views a whole new world living off of it.
It becomes clear, from this perspective, that the earth, nature, life in entirety is designed to clean itself, from conception to death, there is this pattern of collection that exists within living organisms, called the food chain. The environment being environmentally conscious.
The environment with humans is a very different path, because we create spontaneously without much consideration
So, my key why, is that the earth knows its survival is dependent on a cyclical ecosystem.
Your business’s why obviously doesn’t consider the earth, because we are more people oriented than ecological versed, and this same reason is why many business' interest is spurred into eco-friendly activities because people define the proposition. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a people focused business but sustainability will necessitate stability in all areas.
Here are 5 reasons why being environmentally conscious is necessary
1. Improves reputation as a value adding industry and not only for profit
2. Reduces business costs with more sustainable initiatives
3. Brand loyalty will peak when consumers know you care about their health and the environment
4. Depending on locality, you can get tax benefits on investment and business activity in eco-friendly opportunities
5. Your employees carry a deeper sense of purpose with the service they provide
We can then drill down into what you can do to make recycling, which is one of the eco-friendly activities, part of your business line of service;
1. Begin with the end in every value cycle
Conduct an environmental audit in each production process to see what initiative you need to bring to reduce environmental waste, look into your suppliers or organizations you partner with, what ways can I reduce waste. The end here means the result of each process.
2. Leverage partnerships with recycling organizations
Either through collaborations, transactions or free-will giving, you can connect with recycling organizations to provide them with waste resources so you can focus on your core value creation. A number of recycling companies can connect with your consumers to collect some of these waste
3. Build C2B strategies
Build connection with your customers so that they can engage in the cycle of production process by doing returns on waste, you can have pick-up stations in select stores or a supply for collection with customers, although this may not work for all types of businesses with little waste.
4. Diversify into Recycling
Discuss with your strategy team to think of cost effective ways to reuse waste and set up an arm in your organization to manage that aspect
5. Give to the community
Through recycling, you can create more value to your customers and improve your corporate social responsibility reach
Small scale recycling is not capital intensive and there are little ways you can improve your business process to protect the environment, both land and sea.
Take an environmental friendly initiative. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
