It’s never too late to go green!
With County Finals fastly approaching, approximately 24,000 students from around the country are well into their student enterprise journey at this stage. Hopefully many of you will have either come up with a product or service with a sustainability element or have built sustainability into the day-to-day running of your business.
If not, don’t worry … remember it’s never too late to Go Green!
Here are our Top 10 Tips for ensuring your student enterprise is embracing sustainability (both in product and processes) and that you are doing your bit to drive innovation while respecting the natural resources of the future:
Top 10 tips:
- Recycle boxes, bags, wrapping paper and jars etc. for packaging your products
- Reduce your use of artificial light and use daylight when possible
- Go plastic free where possible
- Avoid printing. If you do need to print, print on the reverse side of used paper
- Recycle or re-purpose waste materials from your production process. Could another student enterprise use your waste materials in their business?
- Try to buy eco goods when purchasing raw materials
- Boycott products that endanger wildlife
- Does your business tie in with one or more of the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs)?
- Ensure you make your customers aware of the various ways that your products/services/processes are eco-friendly. This will make them feel good about their purchasing choice whilst also being confident in the knowledge that you are doing your bit for the planet? And with the added benefit of making a profit? Win/Win!
- Offer reduced price refills to customers so that they re-use their original container
Judges will be looking at how your business is sustainable and will award marks for this in the sustainability/global world category and also in the innovation category. Plus … this year we are awarding a new ‘Green Go Getter’ Award kindly sponsored by the EPA
Whoever coined the phrase “every little helps” was spot on. Together, we can all make a difference. Individually, your student enterprise can make a world of difference. Don’t underestimate your power to help make a change.
Check out some of our former SEP winners who championed sustainability with their student enterprises:
Barrelda (2022 Senior Winners) Go Green Now (2021 Junior Winners)
