Utilizing business funds to provide gifts at corporate events is a great way to show appreciation for employees, partners, and others attending your event. Purchasing eco-friendly gifts is a great way to sustainably allocate extra funds and uphold social responsibility while enhancing brand image. Businesses both big and small making sustainable choices to help the environment is a huge step in saving the environment and advocating for change.

The Reality of the World Today

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, humans have consumed more resources in the past fifty years than ever before in history (U.S. EPA, 2009). We live in a culture of constant consumption and instant gratification, resulting in products that are manufactured cheaply with no environmental factors considered. In fact, in the ten years between 1990 and 2000, Americans wasted enough cans to manufacture enough aircraft to completely reproduce the entire world's commercial air fleet 25 times (Container Recycling Institute, 2002). The keyword here is "reproduce". Though we consume a lot, a lot of the materials and products that we use can be used to reproduce other items. Their use can be extended, and these products can be turned into new things. What if we repurposed our materials instead of adding to the mass amount of trash worldwide? Instead of creating more waste, what if we were reusing things over and over again? Can you imagine the impact?

If we coupled recycling with the production of biodegradable products and the elimination of single-use plastics, we would save our planet and reverse the mass amounts of damage that we've done. Unfortunately, this isn't something that individuals can do on their own. Businesses and corporations are huge world leaders in pollution and waste. From the single-use cups used at the water stations in your office to the mass amount of paper that gets thrown in the trash bin, companies produce a lot of waste. Corporate events are a huge place for single-use products and waste due to pamphlets, cheap gifts, and other things that are just going to end up in the garbage and landfill. What can be done to make a change?

Why You Should Consider Eco-Friendly Products for Your Businesses’ Next Conference

A small step that can be taken to start the journey of being eco-friendly is to purchase eco-friendly products as gifts for your businesses' next conference or corporate event. We've all attended events that hand out goody bags filled with whistles, pens, and other heavily branded products that will never be used. What if these products were eco-friendly instead? What if the biggest businesses in the world took it upon themselves to only buy sustainable products for corporate events?

Eco-Friendly Brand Image

Being environmentally friendly is a fundamentally sound choice for any individual, but what about for companies? Though you may agree with sustainable choices and recycling materials personally, it’s important to understand how implementing these priorities into a business model helps the business to succeed.

Today, there are more sustainable and eco-friendly products than ever before. Single-use products are now multi-use, many electronics are biodegradable, and the world is scrambling like never before to implement environmentally friendly changes to help reverse the damage. Within this flight to sustainability, there are consumers. These consumers are looking for products and companies that support the missions that they find important.

Spending company money on environmentally friendly gift options is a great way to practice what you preach and reinforce priorities within your business. Being eco-friendly is essential to the well-being of the planet, but it is also essential to business stability. As the fight to become more sustainable continues, companies that do not conform are left behind. Adopting eco-friendly changes on your own is a great way to enhance your brand image and encourage consumers and partners to do business with you.

Eco-Friendly Gift Options

Finding eco-friendly corporate gifts may seem like a difficult task, but there has never been a better time in history than today to be eco-friendly. Sustainable products may take a bit more research and planning time, but they are well worth the investment.

Anything that you are looking to buy for your event as a regular product can be found as an eco-friendly product. Customized gifts can be packaged in no waste materials and produced using only recyclables. Instead of using a plastic gift bag, you can opt for a recyclable paper bag or a bag that is made out of recycled materials. Whatever the object is, there is another object out there that is its eco-friendly twin.

Some examples of creative eco-friendly gift ideas may include things like:

• Reusable sandwich bags or cling wrap
• Solar-powered phone chargers
• Stainless steel or paper straws
• Reusable grocery bags
• Reusable water bottles
• Natural beauty products
• Jewelry made from recyclables

And many more!
The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to eco-friendly gifts and the available options.

Corporate Social Responsibility to the Environment

It is every corporation, business, and individual's responsibility to do what they can to reduce waste and try to reverse the damage that has been done to the environment. Purchasing eco-friendly gifts for your next corporate conference or event is a great step in the right direction to making these changes throughout the company and encouraging corporate social responsibility.

Purchasing 1,000 compostable cups instead of 1,000 plastic cups doesn’t seem like a huge change until you realize that you have four conferences a year and you’ve been in business for 20 years. How much space would 80,000 cups take up in a landfill? Though these changes may seem small, they add up and make a huge impact.

Increasing social responsibility and encouraging environmental, social, and corporate governance throughout your company is a necessary obligation. Eco-friendly gifts are a fun way to give back to those who have helped you, while also giving back to the environment.