If you are part of a retail business, then make sure you look into reducing your carbon footprint. New government schemes are in place to help encourage you to produce less waste, recycle more and use better sources of energy, so take advantage of the rewards they offer for this and make sure you set about doing your best possible job to make your business eco friendly.

It is amazing the small things that can make a difference when you think about it in terms of building up. Always make sure, for example, that customer and staff facilities are well maintained. A leaky tap or non energy saving bulb can mean that resources go down the drain and you ultimately lose out financially. Insulation and double glazing for your building is also important, to reduce energy bills. Try and get help subsidising fitting solar panels too, for renewable energy, as the government can help with this.

If you offer customers free samples, then you could use plastic washable plates and recycled paper cups that can be used again. In the staff room, you could use mugs instead of plastic cups on the water dispenser, as they will only end up in the bin and wasted. Make sure you look into locally sourced produce to sell and do the same for suppliers of your office equipment and so on. The closer to home you can source things, the more you are able to reduce your carbon footprint.

For customers, do think of offering alternatives such as cloth bags (you can have these decorated with a lovely brand slogan or logo to promote your company) and other reusable items such as this. Steer clear from paper and plastic bags, as these are both very bad for the environment. You could offer an incentive for customers using own bags, as this will help you overall and mean that you have to ship less of such supplies in.

Make sure too, that you recycle your cardboard and waste paper using the government schemes. The majority of plastic can also be recycled too now, so look into making sure the least possible of things go into the landfill from your site. Do make an effort to stock brands that are eco friendly in packaging and maybe go as far as to refuse to stock those who use excess plastic and suchlike on their products, boycotting them until they fix this.

These are such basic level things, but if you train staff to make sure that such measures are put in place (like encouraging reusable bags at the checkout, and making sure discarded magazine leaflets, labels and cardboard are put out for recycling, not in the bin), then you are making excellent steps in the right direction.