The environment is no one's property to destroy; it's everyone's responsibility to protect it. – Mohith Agadi

The environment is one of the crucial resources on this planet. A good environment leads to good health, lifestyle, agricultural produce and so much more. A slight change in temperature, sea levels, rain, or wind leads to death, destruction, and hardships for the people.

So, isn't it our collective responsibility to protect and conserve it?

Industrialization and urbanization have led to massive degradation in the environment and now the MNCs, and other big companies are realizing the burden they have added on the environment. Factories create huge amounts of smoke, and dust, and release hazardous chemicals, liquids, and gases. All this is dumped in the neighboring lakes, dumping grounds, etc. this contaminates the environment. For creating profits, they did not care about the cost to the environment.

But due to the rise of environmental activism, this ignorant nature has changed. As they realize their wrongdoings, they are taking several steps to undo them. One such major initiative is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

What is CSR?
Corporate social responsibility is a business model by which companies make a concerted effort to operate in ways that enhance rather than degrade society and the environment. It helps in building a good image of the brand as well as benefits the environment.

Say NO to plastic
This wave of consciousness has made the consumer smart and environment friendly too. Non-biodegradable plastic bags are now banned in most countries. Mostly HDPE or LDPE grade plastic bags that are recyclable are used in today's market.

Most brands now opt for paper bags or jute bags are they are biodegradable. But paper bags are also not environmentally friendly as the paper comes from trees and paper bags are mostly for one-time use as they can tear up.  

The best alternative is jute or cloth bags as they are stronger and can be used multiple times. People now carry their bags for shopping to avoid taking bags from shops.

Most shops charge extra money from shoppers for bags. Customers tend to avoid taking bags as they do not want to pay more. This helps the environment.

Becoming environment friendly does not mean curbing production, or losing out business.

As Dennis Weaver says –

We don't have to sacrifice a strong economy for a healthy environment.

The advancement of technology has helped create environment-friendly machinery that helps reduce toxins and dust. Hence, factories and big brands are trying their best to protect the environment. If they don't do so then customers will boycott the brand and they will lose out on sales.

Being eco-friendly acts as a USP for many brands and helps them in gaining sales. So it helps the economy grow.

How do small businesses impact the environment?
There are millions of small businesses across the world. They significantly impact the environment both positively and negatively.

Negatively speaking a lot of businesses used plastic packaging for their products and use tons of boxes, papers, and bubble wrap. All of the packaging ends up in the dustbin and harms the environment.

Entrepreneurs making cosmetics, resin, or any items using chemicals and hazardous items do not know how to dispose them of properly. Disposing of in the household drain or a nearby bin might contaminate the area.

For delivering their products they might have to make the delivery executive run from here to there on a vehicle. As it is a small-scale business you cannot dispatch orders together. These multiple trips lead to air pollution.

On the other hand, various environmentally conscious entrepreneurs have taken various steps to make themselves eco-friendly.

They use minimal paper and plastic packaging. Instead of plastic, they use cloth bags and packaging.

They use eco-friendly ingredients and raw materials in their products.  

They research how to dispose of waste properly without harming the neighborhood.

How can one become more eco-friendly?
Small and simple changes make a huge impact. Every change starts with you. If you adopt eco-friendly measures seeing you, others will too!

Here are some ways how-

• Instead of using fancy shredded paper or bubble wrap to protect your items from breaking, you can use shredded newspaper. You can collect the newspapers from your neighbors. This way you can recycle your entire neighborhood's newspapers.
• Make bags out of scrap cloth so you can use them for packing your items. You can tell your nearby tailor to make bags out of what scrap cloth he has rather than throwing it.
• Tie up with delivery partners and make sure you dispatch orders belonging to nearby places together. This way he won't have to come again and again to deliver. Try and encourage them to use cycles if the delivery is not too far.
• Try to conserve water and electricity while you work. We tend to use it carelessly if we are working from home.

These are small ways that can create a huge impact on the environment in and around you. You can advertise the fact that you are eco-friendly. Add a small note on every item that says that your purchase helped the environment. This will increase customer satisfaction. This way the customer not only bought the product but also contributed to the environment. This will help you gain an edge over others and boost sales.

Do you have some creative way of preserving the environment? Then do share it with us in the comment section below. 

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