The 5 minute Sustainability Strategy for Small Business

I’m a sustainability consultant, mostly for small/medium businesses. I’m also a small business owner, running 5 separate hospitality venues including cafe’s & a bakery.

I regularly find myself advising clients whilst not taking heed of my own advice. But on the flip side, I understand the pain points; running a small business is hard, and finding a few more hours in the day to reduce your environmental impact? Well there often aren’t any.

One thing I can say with a degree of certainty, is that we all overthink the process. We paralyse ourselves, viewing sustainability as this huge undertaking; yet with just a small level of dedication each day, by the end of the year we could make huge progress. We’ve all heard ‘the 1% rule’.

SO, it’s my mission to get you over the line, and at least beginning to view your company as one that can benefit the planet as opposed to only taking from it.

Below is a framework. Not attached to any particular industry or business model, but I’d say is applicable to most. To create the skeleton of your plan, it should take you no more than 5 minutes; and I like to think this will be enough to give you the clarity needed to take the next step.

This plan will be an ever evolving tool; starting with the bare bones, and becoming…