7 Green Startup Ideas for Eco-Friendly Entrepreneurs

Every day an entrepreneur somewhere in the world will attempt to start their own business venture in a bid to better their lives, but imagine the satisfaction of starting a business that better the lives of everyone on our entire planet? Being green and looking after the environment is becoming increasingly important to consumers, and there are certainly industries and markets with opportunities for a whole range of green and sustainable business ideas.

Have no ideas on where to start? Here are 7 eco-friendly startup ideas to help get the ball rolling for a better tomorrow:

1. Green cleaning service

With our busy working lives, with families to look after and many other personal commitments, finding the time to clean as often and as thoroughly as we would like to can be a difficult task. Consequently, interest in cleaning services companies has been on the rise and it has quickly become a very competitive market – so how can you differentiate your company? Green cleaning! Green cleaning involves the use of natural and non-toxic ingredients, and offers a fantastic USP for a new startup.

2. Create a green app

There are a number of great app-building courses available today, and creating your own app has never been easier. The concept can be absolutely anything, so long as it’s related to being green! You could create a children’s game that promotes an eco-friendly activity, a guide that offers daily advice on being green, or even a log to help users keep track of their monthly bills and informing them of various environmental tips to save money each month. The possibilities really are endless.

3. Bicycle repair

It can sometimes seem like a lot of effort to dig out your old bicycle, load it onto your car, and drop it off at your local bike shop for repair. Well, that is quite a lot of effort actually. Why not start a business where you do all the repairs yourself? You could either operate a mobile service and repair customer’s bikes on site at their work or home, or collect the faulty bikes and return them the following day fully repaired. Not only is using a bicycle to travel short distances far better for your health and the environment, your business would also encourage more people out of their cars and onto their newly repaired bikes!

4. Furniture refurbishing

With the ‘fur’ sound featuring in both of these words, there’s certainly a clever business name to be had – but I’ll leave that down to you! With just a little DIY know-how, it can be incredibly easy to fix, ‘upcycle‘, refurbish or transform old furniture to make it look brand new or give it a smart new feel. Creating a service of this nature will stop people unnecessarily throwing away perfectly good furniture or materials, which is also far better for our environment as a whole.

5. Recycling centre drop-off service

A trip to the recycling centre doesn’t often feature highly on many families’ to-do list for the weekends. It probably isn’t the most enjoyable of activities, but recycling is enormously beneficial to our planet. So why not setup a business where you can do it for them? You could supply people with a variety of waste containers for their homes, and then collect and drop them off at recycling centres weekly – that’s a sure fire way to see an increase in recycling.

6. Balcony gardens

For many young adults or professionals living in the city, a property with a garden is completely out of the question. This is a real shame as it makes it impossible for many people to grow their own plants for vegetables. What many apartments and smaller properties do have however, is a balcony. One solution could be to create balcony-sized trays that provide people with a (very small) garden – but big enough to experiment with their own vegetables and herbs.

7. Eco-friendly consulting

If you already know all there is to know about being green and environmentally friendly, why not help others learn the same? From small energy saving tasks such as placing reflective foil behind radiators, to larger tasks such as loft insulation, many people (and the environment) are in need of your expertise.

Paul Smith (2 Posts)

Paul Smith works for Ecocleen, an environmentally friendly cleaning company. Ecocleen only use eco-friendly products, and no chemicals.

Hire Me - did you enjoy this post? Let me write thought provoking environmental and green living articles for your website or blog