How to Make Your Small Business More Sustainable

1

Sustainable packaging

Packaging is one of the easiest practices to update in your business. The key is to try not to over-package. While it might look pretty, it’s ultimately more for customers to recycle or throw away. The golden combination is a single, recyclable outer, a sheet or two of tissue paper, and some simple, print-at-home stickers to keep your costs down. Win, win!

As well as this, you can recycle your own packaging. You could give the option to customers to receive their parcels in old packaging you’ve collected at home. Those Hobbycraft boxes are a great way to ship your precious cargo.

2

Go digital

From order confirmations to instructions, customers are more than happy to go digital in 2025. Think about what areas you can cut down your printing and overall paper use.

Perhaps you have craft kits with instructions and tutorials. Why not film a video instead, or upload them to a digital link? You can then add a scannable QR code or link to a single postcard for customers to access when they unbox your kit.

Reducing the number of printed materials in your orders will not only help to make your small business more sustainable, but it’ll also help keep costs down – an essential for independent business owners.

3

Reduce your carbon footprint

It might not seem simple to reduce your carbon footprint as a small business owner, but did you know, if you implement shipping days, you could do just that? By choosing to only ship on certain days of the week, that’s less collections for one or two parcels, which means less demand on your courier of choice and, ultimately, less vans on the road!

Even this small change adds up over the course of a year. And a small change can make a big difference if we all do our bit!

4

Update your workspace

A large portion of small business owners work from their homes or from studio spaces that could benefit from some small sustainability tweaks:

• Switch to LED bulbs: Lighting uses around 20% of all electricity generated in the UK, according to The Carbon Trust, so changing to more efficient bulbs will not only reduce your electricity bills, but you’ll be doing your bit for the planet too.
• Make your workspace more heat efficient: Make sure windows are properly sealed and check your insulation. This will help to reduce the need for heating in your home overall, bringing your bills down. If you need to make temporary tweaks, textiles are a great way to warm up your home.
• Install smart plugs: Setting up smart plugs in your workspace can help to reduce standby power wastage, plus they’re simple and easy to control from your smart phone. Set them up for your working hours and they’ll be ready to go when you are!