Mrs. Gunjan Malhotra, 55 years of age is a dedicated environmentalist and the co-founder of Komaki Electric Vehicle, one of the fastest evolving brands in the Electric Vehicle Segment. Born to be an entrepreneur with excellent leadership qualities, Gunjan built Komaki into what it is today with hard work, perseveration, and an unwavering focus. She has great insights in designing and possesses a superb trend forecasting ability. Under her outstanding leadership, Komaki has launched a total of 9 low-speed electric scooters and bike models and is the only company in the industry to have 3 high-speed registration models of electric scooters and bikes.
Becoming sustainable is not an easy task at first, but the reward is worth all the effort. Successful owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs, and leaders see it as an opportunity rather than a limitation. There has never been a better time to incorporate sustainable practices. With technology to help through the process, businesses worldwide are finding creative ways to become sustainable.
Sustainability is no longer a mere moral obligation but a slowly evolving global revolution. Here is how by taking green initiatives, organizations around the world are creating new normal –
Start Recycling at Work
Recycling is helpful: it keeps garbage out of the incinerator and sea. It also produces 757,000 jobs every year. If your workplace does not recycle, there could not be a better time to start. Put things in one trash can while at work is convenient, even lazy. There must be plenty of properly labelled recycling bins at the office for different kinds of waste and recyclable items.
If your workplace does recycle, make sure it adheres to recycling rules in the city. It is crucial to ensure the effort you put in, pays off.
Encourage Green Commuting
Our daily commute to the office and back home makes a larger dent in the environment than you could have imagined. Every day, people stuck in traffic waste 2.9 billion gallons of fuel. Also, each of us loses $ 710 per worth of productivity a year. The numbers put things into perspective, didn’t they?
So responsible companies around are encouraging green commuting since it significantly impacts the environment by reducing daily carbon emissions. People living in bicycle-friendly countries are encouraged to take up the greener alternative. If it is not practical, and the car remains the only option, the greener and cost-effective alternative is carpooling.
Offer Remote Work Options
The pandemic did not just disrupt the market but also disrupted our never-challenged-before perceptions on remote working. As the world was locked inside of their homes, we saw the kind of impact it had on the environment. Nature thrived, rivers became cleaner, air become pure. Considering that, and other environmental benefits of working from organizations allow employees to work remotely.
Working from home has the same impact on the environment as planting trees: it eliminates 3.6 billion tons of greenhouse gases caused by commuting annually.
Go Digital
Despite the advancements in digital technology, the majority of organizations use loads of paper. Despite having a well-connected workspace with smartphones, computers and other gadgets at their disposal, they fail to make full use of them.
Greener companies avoid using paper when it is possible. Printing takes a significant amount of wood (in the form of paper) and electricity. Using PDF documents and e-forms instead of paper and encouraging customers to accept electronic statements or invoices instead of printing those items is a necessary sustainable practice.
Who is not aware of the evergreen dig at meeting that ‘it could have been a mail’. In excessive use of paper, companies are adapting to the same idea – it could be mail.
Create a sustainability committee
Another practice that green companies are following is this – they create a team of volunteers responsible for encouraging sustainability in the workplace. It has been effective since, advice and suggestions coming from co-workers are being followed by people. Getting people directly involved creates a sense of accountability and strengthens the culture of sustainability in the workplace. In addition, such committees get the ideas flowing.
Buy used and recycled items
When in need of some new furniture, greener companies take it as an opportunity to reduce the impact on the environment while saving money. They make it happen by buying refurbished gadgets and furniture. There are online stores for buying refurbished products, also there are local store in almost every city that supplies refurbished items.
Shopping local also reduces carbon footprint and supports the local business. To live sustainable professional and personal life, shopping local is a box you company must tick.
Encourage Green Behavior by customers and employees.
Sustainability is not just compartmentalizing waste and e-waste or buying local, but all of those things together. If you work in a company that runs stores, you must encourage reusable textile bags, give customers access to electronic copies of brochures, statements, catalogues. Encourage electronic option as much as possible. Allow employees to phone and hold meetings via Skype or another video conferencing service. Many people travel to work and meetings alone, in a car.
The bigger picture is overwhelming. To sustain the environment is an overbearing feeling, but if you break it down to the molecular level in respect to this global issue, all of a sudden it seems a bit easy. The companies we talked about above, are showing a way for organizations to follow, to contribute to the environment, to create a more sustainable business environment.