Small steps your business can take to be more sustainable

Earth Hour

On 26 March 2022, at 8:30pm, people from over 190 countries will be switching off their lights to participate in Earth Hour, one of the world’s largest grassroots movements for the environment.

Sustainability

Sustainability is something we are very passionate about at TTC. We are continually looking for ways to improve our carbon footprint and give back to the planet. As a small team, trying to create a sustainable model and adapt, grow and implement sustainable measures does not come without its challenges. However, in honour of Earth Hour, we wanted to share some of the ideas and initiatives we’ve been implementing to make our business more sustainable.

What have we been doing?

We have acknowledged that as a small team, it’s not feasible for us to have a team dedicated to sustainability 24/7. We have begun to address changes within our business using lots of little micro-steps, with the aim of longer-term achievements. Here are some of the ways we’ve been implementing change:

Encouraging communication

We realise that sustainability doesn’t fall to one individual and everybody in the team needs to take responsibility. During discussions, we quickly realised that outside of a professional environment, we as individuals were all looking for ways we could have a positive impact on the environment. Our team is at different stages of their journey, so we have created a platform solely dedicated to sustainability. This can be for the team to chat, ask questions, and share ideas on how to be more sustainable.

Education

As our team predominantly works remotely, we have recently begun an internal newsletter to keep our team better connected. One of the features of the newsletter is “sustainability”, and each month, we focus on different topics to raise awareness of environmental impacts. So far, we’ve covered the likes of World Water Day, how to sustainably gift, and tips to move to a more plastic-free lifestyle.

Virtual meetings

With the help of the pandemic, like many other businesses, we now encourage the team to arrange more virtual meetings to reduce our carbon footprint and avoid unnecessary transport emissions.

Internal policies

While there is more we can do here, we have started reviewing our internal policies. We now have policies, and resources in place for recycling and the disposal of waste. We’re also updating our supplier list to encourage the team to purchase supplies from local and independent businesses. 

Giving back

We encourage the team to give back to the community by volunteering. So far, we have helped food banks, local schools and have joined local litter picking sessions. Every year we donate 1% of our time and revenue to charitable causes.

These are just some of the small changes we have made at TTC. We’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s quickly becoming apparent that the importance of sustainability has increased. As more consumers become aware of their impact on the environment, their actions when making travel decisions are likely to change. More people will start to ask businesses what they are doing to become more sustainable.

We hope these tips provide you with some ideas for sustainable practices within your business, and we invite you to join us in Earth Hour on 26 March at 8:30pm by switching off the lights in your home and office.