5 ideas for eco-business: how to make money taking care of nature

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Eco-tours, a shop without packaging and other ideas that will allow you to make money and be proud of your business.

Green is the new black. One after another, global companies are joining in sustainable production: H & M presents collections made from recycled materials and organic cotton, while BMW and Mercedes produce electric cars. Sustainability has become Investing in the global green economy: Busting common myths a global global trend, the relevance of which will only grow.

Until recently, this trend has bypassed Russia, but with the emergence of the "garbage problem" it has become relevant. Eco-business is still a free niche, which is just beginning to gain momentum, so if you take the market first, you can make good money. An additional motivation for eco-businessmen is a sense of belonging to an important cause.

1. Organization of ecotours

Start-up capital: 50-70 thousand rubles.

To start a business you will need:

• Registration as an individual entrepreneur or LLC.
• Online checkout.
• Scenic route.
• Camping equipment.
• Guides along the route.
• Website and social networks for business promotion.

If you like to be outdoors and know cool places in your region, you can start organizing ecotours - short travel times for residents of megacities and foreigners.

Eco-tourism is different What Is Ecotourism? The International Ecotourism Society is different from the usual in that the participants of the hike go to places with untouched nature and treat it responsibly: they do not leave trash and fireplaces behind. Such a vacation involves spending the night in tents, camping meals, swimming in the river, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms - for city dwellers and foreigners this is exotic, as close to nature as possible.

The opportunity to live a village life is also relatively popular: to work with your hands, communicate with pets, bake pies in the oven, take a steam bath and drink tea from a samovar. For such a trip, you need to negotiate with the locals or have your own house in the village.

To launch an ecotour, you will need serious organizational skills and money for promotion.

I have several ecotours: educational - to Buzuluk Bor, a combined hiking and sup-board tour of the forest lakes of Buzuluk Bor, a tour to an eco-farm with a tour of thatched and domed houses, a trip to an ecovillage of the Krasnodar Territory and winter ski trips with overnight stays in snow houses …

Strictly speaking, not all of my tours are completely eco-friendly: I drive my car. But I basically switched it to gas fuel with minimal emissions. The rest of the ecological components are present: I introduce people to the peculiarities of ecosystems, forest issues, general concepts of sustainable development and environmental friendliness. Depending on the route, we collect garbage, plant trees, help with housework as volunteers in eco-villages, learn minimalist tourism.

Touring was my hobby, there was no start-up capital. He was not required: many have their own equipment, there are equipment rentals. Now it brings me income, but I still combine business with work. Next year I plan to take a large minivan, convert it to methane fuel for environmental friendliness and expand the geography of travel.

I look for all clients via the Internet: I just drop tour announcements into partner groups. I don't invest in advertising: word of mouth works. The main difficulty of the business is the pronounced seasonality and specificity of ecotours. If this is not Moscow or St. Petersburg, but a provincial region, you will have mostly local clients. Due to the level of their income and lack of understanding of the features of eco-tours, many are not ready to pay for “just going with a backpack”. Plus, to reduce anthropogenic impact, you cannot drive large groups.

If we omit these difficulties, you just need to test several main routes, make an announcement with dates and descriptions for the whole season ahead, clearly and methodically lead groups, not forgetting about advertising and promotion in social networks. It is advisable to hire an in-house photographer and videographer.

2. Production and sale of eco-friendly bags

Start-up capital: from 20 thousand rubles.

To start a business you will need:

• Registration of an individual entrepreneur or LLC.
• Sewing machine.
• Eco-fabrics and sewing accessories.
• Website and social networks for business promotion.

If you know how to sew, cut or knit, try creating your own product that will save the planet from destruction. These can be shopping bags, bags for storing fruits, vegetables and cereals, canvas bags with a beautiful print, jute bags, wax napkins or reusable shoe covers.

Such a business is a relatively new niche, but some areas have already become popular: eco-bags and shopping bags offer dozens of Instagram accounts. But wax napkins and jute bags are not yet so promoted.

To make a profit, you will have to come up with an original product and decide how you can reduce the cost: find a supplier of high-quality fabrics at low prices, think over the delivery and sales market. For example, negotiate partnerships with small shops, shops and market vendors.

3. Shop of goods without packaging

Start-up capital: 50 thousand rubles.

To start a business you will need:

• Registration as an individual entrepreneur or LLC.
• Online checkout.
• Premises.
• Goods for sale.
• Dispensers and other containers for bulk products.
• Retail store equipment.
• Salesman.
• Website and social networks for business promotion.

The most popular product in Russian supermarkets is plastic bags. Every year they are sold The best-selling product: how the business of plastic bags works 65-80 billion pieces, and they all end up in landfills. At the same time, paper and biodegradable plastic bags are no better: they also harm Which bag is better: plastic or paper? ecology at the production stage. In addition, many products are sold in polypropylene (pasta, cereals, cookies, bread) or cardboard packages (sweets, cosmetics, breakfast cereals).

The solution is not to use packaging at all. A business works like this: an entrepreneur buys goods in large quantities from a supplier and sells them by weight. The buyer comes with his own container - as a result, the consumption of plastic is reduced.

So far in Russia this is a free niche: in large cities, shops selling goods by weight are just beginning to open. The difficulty is that few buyers are ready to give up packaging, so you will have to devote a lot of time to education and invest in promotion on social networks.

Lyubov Sorokina Opened the first “Unpacked Shop” in Russia in Petrozavodsk.

My unpacked store is the first in Russia. We opened it in the fall of 2017. There was a slight fear of the launch, so my husband and I did not immediately invest in a retail store, but first worked online in delivery mode. We started with 50 thousand rubles, it was our own funds. Later, to open the store, they took on credit another 40 thousand, when their money was already running out.

Nine months later, we realized that our business was going on, and decided to open a sales outlet. For an entrepreneur planning to start such a business, it is important to understand whether there are people in his area or city who are ready to buy without packaging. How developed is the eco-movement? How enlightened the people are in environmental issues?

The hardest part is the grocery store. There are many requirements for him (Rospotrebnadzor and other government agencies), and turnovers, as a rule, do not allow them to quickly recoup their investments. My start-up capital was very small, so my store has already paid off. In general, I think you can reach payback in 3-5 years.

When purchasing goods, it is important to first of all look at the quality, and then at the packaging and volume. Food storage is also special. For example, we immediately shift marshmallows and marshmallows and store them in containers so that they do not dry out. The tea is also tightly packed so that it does not absorb moisture and does not evaporate the aroma.

As a rule, the cost of cereals, vegetables, confectionery and other products by weight is lower due to savings on packaging and packaging. Therefore, you will be able to attract buyers not only due to the environmental friendliness of your business, but also due to low prices.

4. Second hand

Start-up capital: from 100 thousand rubles.

To start a business you will need:

• Registration as an individual entrepreneur or LLC (if you work with foreign suppliers).
• Online checkout.
• Commercial equipment (hangers, hangers, mirrors, shoe rack, marking guns, scales).
• Premises.
• Clothes for sale.
• Salesman.

Taking care of the environment is responsible consumption, and second-hand clothes give clothes a second life. Here you can sell things that for some reason no longer wear or bought in vain, and not send them to a landfill.

The main difficulty in opening a second-hand is finding things. The traditional way is to buy clothes by weight in special warehouses in Russia or Europe. Suppliers can be found by searching for “purchase of second-hand clothing” or “second-hand wholesale”. These companies offer different categories of supplies depending on the quality and sorting of the garments.

The cheapest supply is unsorted items, among which there may be worn out, unsuitable for sale. More expensive supplies often include new and branded clothing.

The disadvantage of bulk purchases is that you get a pig in a poke, especially when you just start working with a supplier. Therefore, you can select interesting wardrobe items in European second-hand stores and bring them to Russia, but this significantly increases costs.

Often, second-hand shops are small shops, so things hang tightly to each other. Some shoppers are willing to spend hours looking for something stylish, but these are a minority. To sell products faster, take high-quality photos and post them on social networks. Create stylish looks and show how cool you can look in clothes from your second-hand.

Alexander Snetkov Founder of the second-hand Fatcatshop in St. Petersburg.

The idea to open a second-hand shop arose in 2010 after the successful sale of surplus clothes through VK. The first trips to Europe, where there are many small shops with selective vintages, and treasures can be found in flea markets, greatly influenced.

The start-up capital was then a ridiculous amount - about 30 thousand rubles. This money was enough to rent, paint the walls, build a fitting room and purchase the first, rather modest, batch of clothes.

We brought things from the Kaliningrad region, making purchases once a month. Due to its proximity to Europe, it was a mecca for second-hand lovers. They returned to St. Petersburg with huge checkered trunks stuffed with stylish branded clothing. We have never bought in bulk - only selectively, strictly selecting and evaluating each item. After the increase in duties on the import of used clothing from Europe, we have found new supply channels and are now purchasing goods in the Baltics.

The hardest part in business is finding a good supplier, but dedication and self-confidence help to do this.

5. Book second-hand

Start-up capital: from 70 thousand rubles.

To start a business you will need:

• Registration as an individual entrepreneur or LLC.
• Premises.
• Book shelves.
• Online checkout.
• One or two chairs for visitors.
• Salesman.
• Truck for going out to get books (you can hire a cargo taxi).

Another business idea is a second-hand bookstore with used books, magazines and vinyl records. In order for the business to pay off, you need to find premises with an inexpensive lease, and to generate additional income, arrange a mini-coffee shop and coworking space - for this you need to purchase desks and a coffee machine (by the way, it is rented by suppliers of coffee beans).

You can accept books from those who do not need them: many people just throw them in a landfill. Another option is to negotiate with printing houses and take defective batches of printed materials to your store. Put aside books in poor condition (with torn spines and yellowed pages) for scrap paper, sort the rest by genre and tell about unusual finds in the store's social networks.