Going green is becoming more of a priority for many companies around the world. While it might seem like a hassle, making your business as eco-friendly as possible is also going to improve the efficiency of your day-to-day operations and potentially save you a quite bit of money. While you probably won’t be able to completely eradicate your company’s carbon footprint, there are a few simple steps that you can take to reduce your business’s impact on the environment.

Keep Your Building Well-Maintained

Commercial buildings require quite a bit of maintenance. Often, managers want to minimize the maintenance, but that can end up causing more harm than good in the long run. Machinery, equipment, and systems that aren’t running at peak efficiency can end up requiring more power to do the same amount of work, costing both you and the environment.

The occasional service call is going to help you catch any potential problems early so that you can avoid some expensive problems down the road. If you have a boiler room, then you should schedule a burner service call at least once every year. As for the HVAC system, you will need to schedule two service calls a year if you want to steer clear of catastrophic breakdowns and skyrocketing energy bills.

Implement a Recycling Policy

Many of the materials that your business uses can be recycled multiple times before they are no longer usable. Implementing a strict recycling policy will help you minimize how much waste your company produces each day. At the very least, you should set up recycling bins throughout your business and ask all of your employees to use them. You can also hold recycling days once every few months so that your employees can properly dispose of old office supplies and electronics.

Go Paperless

In the average office, each worker produces just over two pounds worth of paper and paperboard every single day. Over the course of a year, that adds up to be nearly 10,000 sheets of paper per employee, and most of that material goes straight to the landfill. To reduce those numbers, you can switch over to digital documents whenever possible. That includes options such as digital receipts, paystubs, employee paperwork, and faxes.

Reduce Commuting Miles

Your employees could be driving hundreds of miles a week to get to work, and that is going to wreak havoc on the environment. That is why many companies are now offering incentives to employees who carpool to work. You can also give some of your employees the option of working from home a few days a week if their jobs can be done remotely.

In addition to reducing your overhead costs and improving the efficiency of your company, going green could also boost your brand image. Many consumers love to spend their money at eco-friendly businesses that are attempting to improve the world around them.