Mike Parsons
Most businesses need a warehouse of some sort. Of course, their utility and size vary – an office won’t need as much storage space as a shipping company does. Still, no matter their size, they often have a very strong and mostly negative impact on the environment. Warehouses have rather high power consumption levels, and they also tend to create waste build-up. In this day and age companies pride themselves on being environmentally friendly and “green”. Customers value this aspect more and more as well. For this reason, we suggest you handle your warehouse and try to lessen its environmental impact. Below you can find some tips and tricks on how to do just that.
Think about solar panels
Solar panels are slowly becoming more and more prevalent. If your company is located in a region that sees a lot of sun throughout the year, we warmly suggest you install a couple of panels. Not only are you helping the environment, you will also be saving a lot of money in the long run. Namely, properly set up solar panels placed in an area that gets a lot of sunshine throughout the year will pay for themselves in the long run through the energy savings they create. You can use them to power your warehouse’s utilities, or to charge up a generator that can refill battery-powered forklifts, carts, and whatever else you are using.
Without going into too much detail on how they work, just know that it doesn’t matter whether you are in a warm or cold climate. They don’t use heat as energy, but the Sun’s rays (or rather, they use the photons of light from said rays).
Store toxic chemicals properly
If you are storing toxic chemicals within your warehouse, no matter if they are used for a specific type of industry, scientific experimentation, or just for heavy-duty cleaning, you need to be careful. Packaging leaks, seals break, and spills happen. This is not only a serious safety hazard for your employees, it also can severely damage the environment. If the toxic chemicals leak into the ground, they can end up in local water supplies or bodies of water, just to give two examples.
You should handle this through two activities. First, provide your employees with the proper training, teaching them how to handle these chemicals and containers. Second, invest in proper packaging and storage. Getting high-quality polyethylene safety cabinets, invest in protective gear, getting the right containers, this all can save you from a disaster.
Logistics matter
A great way to save money and conserve resources (thus helping the environment) is by rethinking you’re the floor layout of your warehouse. Efficient and fast transport, proper handling, smart storage practices, this all leads to higher productivity. It also, however, leads to lower energy consumption, less fuel used, and just generally greater results achieved, and lower resource utilization.
Think about the layout, try to create efficient routes. Invest in signs that will further help people navigate your warehouse better, as well as adding clear, distinct labels that minimize confusion.
Environmentally friendly packaging is important
Similar to the previous point, you need to look at how you handle packaging, if you are in a line of business that requires it. Remember that eco-friendliness is not about removing all plastic usage, but rather, minimizing it. You want to minimize the impact you have, removing it completely is impossible (for now at least).
So, keeping your products safe and sound during shipping and transport can be done with biodegradable, eco-friendly materials. Unlike plastic, which takes centuries to properly decompose, biodegradable materials can be used as compost, they can be recycled, or they simply disappear after a very short time period.
Conclusion
And there you have it folks. If you want to go green and create an eco-friendly environment, there are a couple of things you can do. Work on making your warehouse and your packaging system as efficient as possible. Use biodegradable materials for your packaging needs, and minimize paper usage. Get some protective gear for your employees. , and learn how to properly store toxic chemicals. Finally, invest in solar panels to help the environment and save money in the long run.
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