A Small Green Business

Everyone is talking about green these days, while to many this means getting enough money to keep the business going, in this post we are going to talk about the environmental green. While the corporate world is all atwitter (pun intended) about green jobs, what can the individual and / or small business person do to both help the earth and help their bottom line?

One of my favorite ways is to cut down on the number of catalogs that come to your home or business. Catalog Choice is an organization that works with many mail order vendors to allow you to set preferences on what you receive by mail and when. OK, it is not going to make or break your business, but it will save vendors (and perhaps you are one) money in sending out wasted catalogs that often go to straight from the mail box to the recycling bin (you do recycle, don't you?). Using the service also provides you a way to organize all of the vendors that you do business with, perhaps helping their business and maybe organizing your life or business.

Speaking of recycling, if we are going to recycle all this paper, it is only going to work if we actually buy recycled paper instead of continuing to buy "new" paper. The premium for recycled paper continues to shrink and if we all increase our purchasing of recycled products it will shrink even more. Good deeds produces good things for your business.

Finally, something relatively new on the market are smart power strips. With smart power strips, devices that reach full charge will stop drawing power through that specific outlet. While not all devices support this kind of intelligent charging more are starting to do so. Once again not a huge savings for the individual person or business, but every penny helps your pocketbook and the earth. As with recycled paper the more folks who buy smart power strips the lower the premium for these devices and the more manufacturers will produce devices that can take advantage of them.

Taking advantage of these easy and inexpensive ideas may not make you rich or save the earth, but they are a move in the right direction.

Share your ideas on how you are making your small business into a small greener business.