Sustainability Roadmap for Startups - Green Plus

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15 Be Waste Wise ‣ Set up recycling stations for electronics or batteries at your facilities. Even though there are responsible ways to dispose of such products, making it easier helps with compliance. Whenever you can, donate retired electronics for reuse. ‣ Compost food waste and plant material. Food waste and plant material constitute 26% of municipal waste. Composting turns what would otherwise be waste into rich soil and nutrients and reduces waste hauling and landfill volume, which can save money. ‣ See if you can figure out a way to to send zero waste to the landfill. Once you’re reusing, recycling, and composting, it’s likely that there is not a significant amount of waste left for the landfill. Look for strategies that make even this waste an input into a productive process. PEOPLE Help Employees Be Effective ‣ Invest in continuing education for employees. Offer paid time off for professional development. Take it a step further by offering some or complete reimbursement of employee tuition from education opportunities ‣ Help employees plan for the future by matching contributions to retirement plans such as a 401(k) or IRA. ‣ Encourage excellent performance. Offer bonuses when certain objectives are met. ‣ Share profits with employees through equity or stock options. Such arrangements help facilitate a sense of shared ownership among employees. ‣ Allow flexible work weeks, such as four, ten hour days in place of five, eight hour work days. ‣ Allow job-sharing as a flexible work option. ‣ Build team spirit through off-site retreats. Creating space away from the office can offer opportunities for fun, team building, and big picture thinking or learning. ‣ Consider advanced health and wellness practices, such as: o o o o o o o o o o the option for part-time employees to enroll in an employer-sponsored healthcare plan provide healthy snacks or beverages provide ergonomic equipment or assessments subsidize gym memberships provide free flu shots provide health or diet consultations offer smoking or other addiction cessation support organize activities such as walking groups or athletic teams provide private rooms/space for rest or breastfeeding plant an office community garden or maintain livestock to promote fresh and local food
16 Engage Your Community ‣ Offer 20 or more hours of paid time off per year for employee volunteering. More intensive volunteering increases the impact your organization can make. ‣ Match employee charitable gifts. Doing so supports employee’s interests and multiplies impact. ‣ Make a set commitment for charitable giving, such as 1% of revenues. In addition to being impactful, such policies can motivate employees.
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Sustainability Roadmap for Startups - Green Plus

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