Sustainability Micro Guides
Big Help for Small Businesses
The Net Zero transition is here, and every business needs to participate.
We have a range of free guides ready to read. In these guides, we explain what your business can do to become more sustainable, cut carbon, and use resources efficiently. We are here to provide resources to help you make your business as green and resource-efficient as possible.
Each guide provides:
Every business uses various products and materials in day-to-day operations. Each of these inputs has an impact, so making smart choices about what you buy and where you buy from can help reduce your environmental footprint.
The first and most important step is to reduce the materials you use. This might mean checking your stock before buying more, sharing with other users, reusing what you already have, or repairing items instead of throwing them away.
If you need to buy something, purchasing something second-hand or that has been refurbished or remanufactured is a great way to reduce your impact - for example, buying a refurbished phone rather than buying new. If that’s not an option, look for products with verifiable sustainability credentials. Perhaps they contain recycled or bio-based material or are designed for easy recycling.
Finally, if none of that’s possible, try negotiating end-of-life options with your suppliers to give your products the best chance of being processed correctly when they’re no longer needed.
This order of purchasing preference is commonly described as the Procurement Hierarchy.
The Procurement Hierarchy promotes material consumption in line with so-called ‘circular economy’ principles. Lots of material consumption in today’s economy can be considered ‘linear’ – we take, we make, we dispose – but more businesses are adopting circular economy principles to keep resources ‘in the loop’.
In this section, we’ve listed some tips to help you align with the circular
economy.
Here are some common certification schemes to look out for:
Transport is the largest source of carbon emissions in the UK. This means that changing the way you move around can be a great way to reduce your impact.
For businesses, transport might include how you and your employees get to and from work; how you visit your clients or suppliers; and how clients, suppliers, and servicing personnel visit you.
The best way to reduce your transport impact is to travel less. This might mean holding meetings with suppliers online instead of in person or allowing employees to work from home.
When travel is necessary, you should promote active travel (like walking or cycling) wherever possible and public or shared transport where it’s not (like trains, buses, or trams). Using electric vehicles as an alternative to traditional petrol or diesel ones is another way to reduce the environmental impact of travel. We call this order of decision-making the Sustainable Travel Hierarchy:
Most small businesses significantly underestimate the amount of water that they use. Water is not yet a scarce resource in the UK. However, it’s still a significant cost to some businesses (about £3 per m3 if you’re on a domestic style tariff), and the pumping and treating of it uses energy which contributes to global warming.
If you don’t already have one (i.e. you’re just charged on rateable value), a excellent first step is to get a water meter fitted. This will help you understand how much water your business uses and how this use varies.
Once you understand how much you use, reducing the environmental impact of your water usage essentially means using less! Turning off taps and using water-efficient appliances are ways you can drastically cut your water consumption, along with all the other tips we’ve included in this section.
Every business uses energy. The amount you need will vary depending on what sort of business you run, but there are always things you can do to reduce your daily consumption.
Using less energy can be as simple as reminding people to switch off electronics when they’re not needed. Savings can also be made by swapping old, inefficient appliances for new energy-efficient alternatives.
Think about where you get your energy from as energy can be generated from fossil fuels like petrol or gas (known as brown energy) or from renewable sources like solar or wind (known as green energy). Energy from fossil fuels tends to have a substantial carbon footprint compared to renewables.
Understanding where your energy comes from, and switching it if it makes sense, can be a good way to keep the impact of your energy low. But remember: the cleanest (and cheapest) energy is the energy you don’t use in the first place, so follow the Energy Hierarchy when making decisions.
Reducing the environmental impact of your business’s waste means making less of it and sorting what you make so that it can be disposed of correctly.
The first step is understanding what’s in the waste you’re creating. You might find conducting a waste audit helpful as it will show you, first-hand, what’s ending up in your bin. You can then look to address the source of the waste, which will ultimately save you money and reduce your impact
The Waste Hierarchy will help you prioritise your options for things you no longer want or need. Your first port of call should be prevention, which means not creating waste in the first place. This might mean buying less (see Section 2.1 on Materials for more information on this).
For waste you cannot avoid, the next priority is finding ways to reuse it. This could mean repurposing old items yourself or selling or donating them to someone else. If you can’t reuse something, you should look to recycle it properly. Energy recovery (i.e. incineration) or landfill should only be a last resort when no other options are available.
This section contains advice and guidance for measuring and tracking your energy, water, and waste.
Why measure energy use?
To reduce your energy consumption and bills, you need to UNDERSTAND IT, DIVE DEEPER and TRACK IT. This will allow you to experiment with reduction measures and see if they have an impact. Although you can take readings from a standard meter, smart (digital) meters provide more accurate real-time data and can be checked anytime online or via an app. Naturally, energy use will vary depending on how busy your business is, so take account of this by considering your energy intensity for a given period:
energy intensity = energy use (e.g. kWh) ÷ turnover (£’000)
Find your METER/S and take your own ‘actual’ readings. Estimated bills from the supplier will be inaccurate (although they will indicate cost).
Take the new figure from the previous reading to get your CONSUMPTION (kWh for electricity, m3 for gas, litres for oil) for a given period (e.g. every four weeks).
Divide your consumption by your turnover in the same period to calculate your ENERGY INTENSITY.
IDENTIFY where you think energy is being used and where you think it might be being wasted. Is there always a light on in the meeting room, for example?
SHOW the data to your colleagues and ask for their opinion. Does it sound right? Is it what they’d expect? What do they think can be done to reduce energy use?
If you don’t have one already, consider installing a SMART METER to help you keep track of energy use in real-time. You can use your smart meter to see how different equipment uses different amounts of energy as they are switched.
Set up a RECORDING METHOD using software like Microsoft Excel. Give someone RESPONSIBILITY for regularly tracking energy use (ideally someone keen on sustainability). Make sure they note down any CHANGES that may temporarily affect your energy use (e.g. a heatwave or working at weekends). Occasionally, they should track energy use overnight or at weekends to identify what is being left on unnecessarily.
Look at the TREND in energy intensity – is it going up or down? If it’s not going down. Think about what can be done to improve matters
Why measure water use?
As with energy, to reduce your water use, you need to UNDERSTAND IT, DIVE DEEPER, and TRACK IT. This will allow you to experiment with reduction measures and see if they have an impact. You can take readings from a standard meter, but smart water meters provide more accurate data, allowing you to take measurements anytime. They also contain leak detectors which alert you when you have a leak and can switch off the supply automatically. This can help prevent major and often costly damage.
Your water use will change depending on how busy your business is, so take account of this by considering your ‘water intensity’ for a given period:
water intensity = water use (litres or cubic metres) ÷ turnover (£’000)
Note that this is only possible if your business is metered (rather than just charged by rateable value).
If you have a meter, find it and use it to take your own ‘actual’ readings. Estimated bills from your supplier will be inaccurate (although they will indicate cost).
Take the new figure from the previous reading to get your CONSUMPTION (usually in cubic metres or litres) for a given period (e.g. every four weeks).
Divide your consumption by your turnover in the same period to calculate your WATER INTENSITY.
IDENTIFY where water is being used and where you think it might be wasted. Is there a leaky tap in the bathroom, for example?
SHOW the data to your colleagues and ask for their opinion. Does it sound right? Is it what they’d expect? What do they think can be done to reduce water use?
If you don’t have one already, consider installing a SMART METER to help you keep track of water use in real-time. You might be able to use the information to see how much water each piece of equipment uses.
Set up a RECORDING METHOD using software like Microsoft Excel. Give someone RESPONSIBILITY for regularly tracking water use (ideally someone keen on sustainability).
Make sure they note any CHANGES that temporarily affect your water use. Occasionally, they should track water use overnight or at weekends to identify if anything is being left on or if you have any leaks.
Why measure waste?
Reducing your waste volumes will help you avoid rising UK waste costs and save valuable resources. But first, you need to UNDERSTAND IT, DIVE DEEPER and TRACK IT. Unlike energy and water, there is no meter for waste, so instead, you need to measure the amount you produce over a given period, generally in terms of the number of bags or bins you put out per day or week. You can then establish your ‘waste intensity’:
waste intensity = waste generation (kg/tonnes or cubic metres) ÷ turnover (£’000)
Ideally, you should calculate your waste intensity for both general waste and recycling – it’s important to reduce all forms of waste, even if it gets recycled!
There is no meter for waste, so you’ll have to keep a record of how much you put out for collection each day or week. This QUANTITY is best measured as a full bag or bin equivalents (e.g. if you only put out half a bag per day, that would be 3.5 bag equivalents per week).
Collect this data for general waste as a minimum, although it’s good practice to also track your recycling volumes to measure overall progress.
Divide your waste quantity by your turnover in the same period to calculate your WASTE INTENSITY.
Have a LOOK in your waste bins to see what’s in there. What are the key types of waste that occur regularly as a significant proportion?
SHOW the data to your colleagues and ask for their opinion. Does it sound right? Is it what they’d expect?
ASK your colleagues where and why they think the waste occurs and what can be done to reduce it.
Set up a RECORDING METHOD using software like Microsoft Excel. Give someone RESPONSIBILITY for regularly tracking waste generation (ideally someone keen on sustainability). Make sure they note down any CHANGES that may temporarily affect your waste (e.g. having a ‘clear out’).
Look at the TREND in waste intensity – is it going up or down? If it’s not going down, think about what can be done to improve your progress
A handy manual showing retail businesses with less than 10 employees how they can reduce their impact on the environment. Inside you will find tips and advice to help you change the way you work, save money, and be more sustainable.
A handy manual showing hospitality businesses with less than 10 employees how they can reduce their impact on the environment. Inside you will find tips and advice to help you change the way you work, save money, and be more sustainable.
A handy manual showing manufacturing and repair businesses with less than 10 employees how they can reduce their impact on the environment. Inside you will find tips and advice to help you change the way you work, save money, and be more sustainable.
A handy manual showing office-based businesses with less than 10 employees how they can reduce their impact on the environment. Inside you will find tips and advice to help you change the way you work, save money, and be more sustainable.
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