Environmental sustainability is the responsibility to conserve natural resources and protect global ecosystems to support health and wellbeing, now and in the future.
Why is environmental sustainability important?
For hundreds of years countries around the world have been using harmful processes to extract and burn fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal, which creates toxic greenhouse gases.
Since the 1800s these processes have been used to manufacture products such as furniture, cars and clothes and in recent years we have seen levels of consumption rise and global waste significantly increase to unmanageable levels.
This has caused terrible damage to our atmosphere and climate, natural habitats and the animals which live in them. By implementing sustainable practices we can prevent these issues from worsening, focus on repairing the damage that has been done to the planet and significantly reduce the amount of waste created.
Businesses can’t achieve complete sustainability overnight. It should be an authentic and long-term strategy that helps to protect the planet, while aligning with business goals too.
It’s important to set both short and long-term sustainability goals for the business, which can be reviewed as often as necessary. This allows you to check whether your business is on track to meet targets or if they need to be tweaked along the way.
By introducing sustainable goals and sharing these it ensures that you and your business are accountable and will make a difference when it comes to climate change.
Depending on the type of business you run, there can be a range of sustainable goals to choose from including reducing paper waste or pollution output to introducing sustainable packaging or electric vehicles.
One example is the way we support businesses with the problem of mattress recycling.
Historically, mattresses have been a difficult product to dispose of, with many ending up in landfill. However we’re committed to supporting retailers and businesses with this waste stream, ensuring that mattresses are broken into their 19 component parts and fully recycled to contribute to business’ sustainability goals.
By providing logistics, from nationwide collection to the launch of on-site compression machines for improved storage and transportation capacity of 572%, businesses will have a practical solution available to implement sustainable practices.
Sustainable certifications build trust, credibility and value for your business showing that your company isn’t all about profits, but that it is a force for good with an authentic purpose. In turn this can attract eco-conscious consumers and investors as you illustrate that you are managing and measuring your social and environmental performance over competitors.
There are a variety of sustainable certifications your business can strive for including B Corp – the gold standard for good business practices, the Carbon Disclosure Project – for clear measuring on sustainable data, and Planet Mark – an initiative that works with businesses to measure and reduce environmental impact, with the view of eventually achieving net-zero.
From smart lights and thermostats to electric vehicles and solar and wind systems, technology can help businesses to reduce waste and unnecessary energy, measure vital data to support more efficient ways of working whilst also saving money for the business long term.
Looking at the inner workings of your own business isn’t the only way to become more sustainable. Examining the values, vision and sustainable qualities of your suppliers can also help you to reduce your overall carbon footprint and that of your consumers too.
Focus on the ethical, environmental and social values of your suppliers to see if they align with your business and make changes that not only help the planet but are realistic and affordable for your company. It could be as simple as swapping to a local supplier to reduce the miles travelled or sourcing a more environmentally friendly packaging supplier.
While implementing environmentally friendly behaviour is positive for most businesses, treating short-term solutions as long-term practices becomes greenwashing.
While going paperless or switching delivery packaging to a recyclable alternative is a step in the right direction, it’s simply one step. Long-term solutions include auditing practices all the way through the supply chain and finding methods of putting practices into place that are truly sustainable.
As businesses, we have a responsibility to police ourselves, and holding ourselves accountable for the emissions we produce from manufacturing to the end user is where we become more sustainable.
By delivering provability to our customers, we form trust that they are investing in a company that is as sustainable as it claims to be. An audit trail for every single mattress collected by TFR Group allows our customers to prove our, and their, commitment to a truly circular economy, diverting 100% of mattresses from landfill.
Discover how we support businesses to become more environmentally sustainable with simple and cost-effective solutions. Get in touch today.
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Need to recycle your old mattress?
Our sister company, The Mattress Recycling People, can take care of it!
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