Becoming a greener business
Reduce, re-use and recycle
Ensuring your business has good environmental practices makes sense. Not only does it help to reduce your operating costs, making you more competitive but it also demonstrates to others that you want to protect the world's resources and are concerned about the well-being of employees and your supply chain.
There is also a legal requirement under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 that all businesses must have appropriate methods to manage, store and dispose of their waste.
Begin by considering the following areas:
- Materials
- Energy
- Effort
- Process
- Production
The internet is a good source of information on how to become a greener business:
There are also businesses that specialise in helping companies to consider:
- Energy efficiency
- Waste management - We can provide this service for you; see our Commercial and trade waste page
- Waste recovery and recycling
- Greener transport
- Environmental management
- Water efficiency
- Constriction and building design
Environmental schemes for businesses
There are green taxes and reliefs, and schemes to help businesses operate in a more environmentally efficient way. You may get relief or be exempt from some taxes e.g., if:
- You use a lot of energy because of the nature of your business
- You are a small business that does not use much energy
- You buy energy-efficient technology for your business
- website: Environmental taxes, reliefs and schemes for businesses - GOV.UK
- website: Green mark scheme
Page updated: 22 November 2023