Did you know that by making your business more sustainable not only are you lowering your environmental impact but can also reduce your operating costs? Read on for top tips across energy, waste, and water to make your business more sustainable in 2023 and save on bills.
1. Understand your energy consumption with the energy calculator
Knowing what is contributing to your bill is the first step in developing an action plan to lower your energy costs. If you know where you are using energy, then you can have more visibility in reducing your usage and costs. Using the energy calculator is a simple way to compare your business’s energy usage and costs to your industry’s average. The below diagram sourced from the energy calculator highlights the average energy and cost breakdown of a typical restaurant using 95kWh of energy per day.
The energy calculator provides practical tips and advice to make no-cost behaviour changes or smart investments that can help you reduce your energy consumption and lower your bills.
If you want to get more specific, consider installing an energy monitoring system to understand exactly where you are using energy. Whilst this comes with a greater investment, it allows you to pinpoint where your business is using its energy, target your efforts on improving that area to decrease your costs and carbon emissions. These systems provide real-time updates that allow you to track the impact that process changes and efficiency efforts are having.
2. Start a recycling program in your workplace
Paper, bottles, and boxes fill general waste bins quickly and facilitating service costs of this waste can be a significant cost for businesses. Implementing a recycling program in your workplace is a solution that can improve your sustainability performance and lower your costs.
When considering a recycling program, you can contact your building management or landlord to notify them of your new waste management system and discuss any foreseeable barriers up front. To ease the transition, start with recycling cardboard, paper, glass, aluminum, and plastic. Small glass and plastic bottles can be recycled through container exchange programs to raise funds for your business or charity. Initiatives like Recan (commercial) and Returnit (community groups) make this process easy by managing the collection and refunding of your containers for you.
Before making these changes, let your staff know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Then, keep educating your team throughout the journey. The best way to spread awareness is to explain what you can recycle, showing examples of recyclables and non-recyclables on boards or signs near the waste containers. You can use our ready-made signage. To make this process as easy as possible, keep recycling bins in convenient, common areas to encourage people to do the right thing.
3. Make smart investments by installing water-saving nozzles
Water usage can be reduced significantly just by installing the right type of nozzle. Nozzles don't just reduce the amount of water that flow through your tap, they can also distribute the water wider or increase the pressure.
Low-flow taps for hand basins are effective in saving water by mixing air into the water flow. This gives the feel and impression of full water flow even though the water volume is reduced. Install low-flow taps or aerators to reduce tap-water use from a standard 15-18L/min down to as little as 2L/min.
For hospitality businesses, kitchen chisel spray nozzles are effective in water saving and are available for around $300. They have a strong spray designed to remove stains and food scraps so that the tap is needed for less time. Where some nozzles may have a 10 litre per minute flow rate, water saving nozzles can do the same job with just 3 to 6 litres per minute, potentially reducing your water usage by 70%!
For more sustainable business tips that can also help you save on bills, visit the Sustainable Business Hub.