Sustainability for small businesses and side hustles

Sustainability isn't a bolt-on extra for small businesses — it's often the same thing as running a tight, efficient operation. Cutting waste, using energy well, sourcing durably, and being honest in your marketing: all of these are also just good business practice.

Why sustainability matters for small businesses

Sustainability has moved from a nice-to-have into something that affects business in practical ways, even at the smallest scale.

• Cost savings. Energy efficiency, reducing packaging material, cutting waste, and buying durably all reduce costs directly. These aren't trade-offs — they're the same thing as running a lean operation.
• Customers notice. Across most markets and age groups, consumers increasingly consider environmental and ethical factors when choosing between similar products or services. This doesn't mean every customer makes it the deciding factor, but for a proportion of your audience it matters — and for some it's a dealbreaker either way.
• Regulations are tightening. Extended producer responsibility schemes, packaging regulations, and reporting requirements are expanding in many countries. Getting ahead of regulatory changes is easier than scrambling to comply later.
• Supply chain pressure. Larger businesses are increasingly passing sustainability requirements down to their suppliers. If your business sells to or works with larger companies, you may find sustainability questions appearing in procurement processes even if they haven't yet.
• It's easier to change now than later. Habits and systems set early in a business are cheaper to establish than changing entrenched processes later. A small side hustle has almost no inertia — it can pivot in a day.

Quick operational wins

Before looking at products, packaging or supply chain, look at how your business runs day to day. These changes often cost nothing and save money.

• Energy. If you have a physical workspace — a studio, shop, workshop or office — apply the same principles as a home: heat only when occupied, switch off lights and standby equipment, and consider switching to a green energy tariff. For those working from home, a portion of your home energy use is a business cost, so energy efficiency is doubly worthwhile.
• Go paperless. Digital invoicing, contracts and record-keeping eliminates a category of ongoing paper consumption entirely. Most small business accounting and admin can be handled digitally without any loss of functionality.
• Reduce single-use in the workspace. If you or your team use a shared space, switching to real cups, a filtered water source and reusable cleaning cloths takes minutes to set up and removes ongoing consumable waste.
• Recycle properly. Know what your local commercial recycling service collects and set up clearly labelled stations. If your business generates specific waste streams — cardboard, packaging materials, food — check whether specialist collection services are available in your area.
• Buy consumables in larger quantities. Buying cleaning products, packaging materials and office supplies in larger, less-packaged quantities reduces both packaging waste and cost per unit.

For more on this, our green workplace guide covers operational sustainability in detail.

Products and packaging

For product-based businesses, packaging is often the most visible sustainability issue — both to customers and in terms of material use and waste.

• Right-size first. The most sustainable packaging is the smallest packaging that safely does the job. Oversized boxes filled with void fill are wasteful and more expensive than a correctly sized solution. Audit your box and mailer sizes against the products you actually ship.
• Choose widely recyclable materials. Cardboard, paper and paper-based padding are recyclable in most municipal systems. Plastic films, mixed-material packaging, and laminated papers are often not. Where you have a choice, lean towards materials that your customers can actually recycle at home without a special facility.
• Avoid over-packaging. Tissue paper, multiple layers of wrapping, branded filler, and sticker assortments create a nice unboxing experience but generate significant waste. Consider what level of packaging genuinely serves the product versus what is purely aesthetic. Some customers appreciate the simplicity of minimal packaging — and it costs less.
• Reuse incoming packaging. If your business receives supplies in boxes and packaging materials, reuse them for outgoing orders before buying new. This is free and immediate.
• Look at refill or return options where practical. For some product types — cleaning concentrates, food, body care, loose items — refillable or returnable packaging is feasible. It's not right for every product, but it can become a meaningful differentiator if it fits your model.
• Consider the product itself, not just the wrapping. Durable products that last longer, can be repaired, or are made from more responsible materials are the bigger story — packaging is only one part of a product's total impact.

Shipping and deliveries

Every shipment has an environmental cost. Small businesses can't usually dictate the logistics networks their carriers use, but there are real choices available.

• Consolidate shipments. Batching dispatches — sending twice a week rather than daily, for example — means fewer individual movements. This requires managing customer expectations around dispatch times, but many customers are happy with a slightly longer wait if it's communicated clearly.
• Avoid unnecessary express shipping. Next-day or same-day shipping typically has a higher carbon cost because it can't be consolidated efficiently into full vehicle loads. Encourage standard shipping as the default and reserve express for genuine need.
• Reuse packaging materials for outgoing shipments. Good-condition boxes and padded mailers received from your suppliers can often be used for customer dispatch. This saves money and reduces material use.
• For local deliveries, batch your routes. If you deliver locally, plan routes to minimise total distance rather than responding to orders individually. Simple route planning saves fuel and time.
• Look at carrier choices. Some carriers have made more public commitments to fleet electrification or lower-carbon delivery than others. These commitments vary by country and their credibility varies — check specific claims rather than taking marketing at face value. This choice may not be decisive, but it's worth considering alongside price and reliability.

Suppliers and sourcing

Who you buy from matters. For most small businesses, purchased goods and materials make up the biggest share of environmental impact — often far more than operational energy use.

• Buy durable, not disposable. Equipment, tools and fixtures that last years have a lower long-term footprint than cheap items replaced frequently. Apply this to everything from office chairs to manufacturing equipment.
• Ask questions of key suppliers. You don't need a formal supplier audit process. Asking a few targeted questions — what are your packaging materials? what's your returns or take-back policy? do you have a published environmental policy? — gives you useful information and signals that these things matter to your business.
• Consider local sourcing where it makes practical sense. For some inputs, sourcing closer to home reduces transport emissions and supports local economies. But local isn't automatically better — quality, durability and the supply chain practices of a local supplier matter too. Make the call based on the full picture, not just the distance.
• Look for third-party verification on claims you rely on. If you're sourcing something because of an ethical or environmental claim — organic certification, recycled content, fair trade — check that the claim is backed by a credible third-party standard, not just the supplier's own description.
• Reduce the number of suppliers where possible. Fewer supplier relationships, better managed, tend to be more sustainable than a fragmented supply chain. Consolidating orders also reduces inbound delivery frequency.

Avoid greenwashing in your own marketing

This is worth a section of its own, because the consequences of getting it wrong — both for your brand's credibility and, increasingly, for legal compliance — are real. Greenwashing regulations are tightening in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and several other markets. What was once considered ordinary marketing language is coming under scrutiny.

• Be specific, not vague. "Our boxes use 80% recycled cardboard" is an honest, specific claim. "Eco-friendly packaging" is not — it's vague and unverifiable. Specific claims are more trustworthy to customers and less likely to attract regulatory attention.
• Don't imply more than you can evidence. Highlighting one green attribute doesn't make a product, or your whole business, sustainable. If your packaging is recyclable but the product inside has a significant footprint, say so — or at least don't imply the opposite.
• Be careful with carbon claims. Phrases like "carbon neutral" and "net zero" have specific technical meanings and are subject to regulatory guidance in several countries. Using them loosely — based on rough estimates or unverified offsets — is increasingly risky. If you're not ready to back these claims with a verified methodology, don't make them yet.
• Progress is honest. You don't need to claim to be perfect to talk about sustainability. "We've switched to recycled cardboard packaging and we're working on reducing our plastic use" is honest, proportionate, and actually more credible to many customers than sweeping claims.

Our guide to greenwashing covers how to spot it in the products and brands you buy — and the same principles apply when you're the one making the claims.

Engage staff and customers

Even a solo business benefits from thinking about how sustainability is communicated to customers. A small team has the advantage of being able to make decisions together and quickly.

• Make sustainability visible, not performative. If you've made real changes — switched packaging, reduced waste, changed suppliers — tell customers about it briefly and specifically. A single line in your order confirmation or product description is enough. It doesn't need to be the centrepiece of your brand if that doesn't fit your identity.
• Ask customers what matters to them. A brief question in a post-purchase survey, or simply paying attention to what customers mention in reviews and feedback, gives you useful signal about where sustainability features in their decision-making for your specific product.
• For teams: involve everyone in the sustainability conversation from the start. People closest to operations — packing, delivery, customer service — often have the best ideas for reducing waste. A short team session once or twice a year to review what's working and what to tackle next is more valuable than a top-down policy document.

A starter sustainability plan

1. Audit your waste. Spend a week listing what your business throws away — packaging, paper, consumables, food, returns. Identify the two or three biggest categories.
2. Tackle operations first. Switch off standby, go paperless, set up proper recycling, and reduce single-use in the workspace. These are quick and often free.
3. Review your packaging. Right-size your boxes and mailers. Identify any packaging you can replace with more recyclable alternatives. Reuse incoming packaging before buying new.
4. Consolidate shipments. Identify whether you can batch dispatches and reduce express shipping. Communicate dispatch windows clearly to customers.
5. Ask your key suppliers three questions. What are your packaging materials? Do you have an environmental policy? Are there lower-impact alternatives to what we currently buy from you?
6. Audit your marketing claims. Review your website, listings and communications. Remove or make specific any vague environmental claims. Ensure what you say is evidenced.
7. Set one goal for next quarter. Sustainability improvement works best as a series of specific, achievable changes rather than an overarching transformation. Pick one thing, change it, then pick the next.

• Listed the biggest categories of waste your business generates.
• Switched off standby equipment and gone paperless on admin.
• Audited packaging sizes and materials; removed any over-packaging.
• Identified whether shipments can be consolidated.
• Asked at least one key supplier about their environmental practices.
• Reviewed marketing claims for vague or unsubstantiated environmental language.
• Set one specific sustainability goal for next quarter.