Easy Sustainability Wins for Small Businesses.
Running a small business is busy. Between managing staff, keeping customers happy plus watching the bottom line, sustainability can feel like one more thing to add to an already long list. But here’s the good news – taking meaningful climate action doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, some of the easiest wins cost very little and say a lot about who you are as a business.
1. Start with the simple stuff
Before anything else, take a look at what’s happening now at your workplace. From there, brainstorm ideas with your team to find other ‘easy wins’. For example – switching to energy efficient lighting, reducing single-use plastics, setting up a recycling system, encouraging staff to use public transport or cycle to work – all these small changes add up quickly and cost next to nothing to implement. Focus on 2–3 initiatives rather than trying to do everything at once. Get your employees on-board and maybe even start up a small ‘gung-ho green team’.
2. Look at how your team travels
Business travel can contribute to a company’s carbon footprint. Whether your team is flying to conferences, driving company vehicles or commuting long distances, there are easy ways to offset those emissions without taking away the car keys. Carpooling, video calls instead of interstate trips and choosing direct flights where possible all make a difference. We’ve written about how to make your flights more sustainable in this article.
3. Tell your sustainability story
Customers increasingly want to buy from businesses that share their values. Even small steps like switching to recycled packaging, sourcing locally or supporting community environmental projects are worth talking about. Share what you’re doing on your website, your socials and in your newsletters. When other businesses see what you are doing, it just might encourage them to ‘up the ante’ too.
4. Plant some trees
One of the simplest and most visible sustainability wins available to any small business is to sponsor native tree planting and this is where Fifteen Trees comes in.
We can plant any number of trees on your behalf. You choose the state, we handle the rest. Once your trees are in the ground, you can find them on our website and share the story with your customers.
Every tree planted supports community tree planting projects across Australia, restores native habitat and contributes to ecosystem restoration in places that need it most. It’s climate action that is tangible, transparent and genuinely meaningful and it gives your business a sustainability story worth telling.
5. Bring Nature Indoors
Low-maintenance plants like peace lilies actually purify the air, and they improve employee well-being too. If your office is particularly sunny, consider growing native shrubs in pots. Green offices are linked to improved creativity and lower stress levels.
Sustainability doesn’t have to happen all at once. Start with one or two things that feel manageable – swap a light globe, plant a tree, tell your customers what you’re doing. Then build from there.
The businesses that do this well aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets, they’re the ones that just get on with it, make it part of how they operate every day, and talk about it honestly.
If you’d like to know more about how Fifteen Trees can help your small business take its first, or next step, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Colleen <[email protected]> or leave us a message here.
Writer: Colleen B. Filippa
With a background in Environmental Science from Melbourne University, Colleen is the Founding Director of Fifteen Trees. In 2009, after 20 years in secondary and tertiary education institutions, Colleen left the classroom to start the company. Fifteen Trees is a social enterprise assisting individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by supporting community groups such as Landcare, and environmental networks.
