Green Business Ideas: Make Money without Harming the Environment

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With lots of pollution, excessive mining, and the constant use of natural resources, it is no brainer that environmental-conscious individuals are actively considering green business ideas.

The best part is that while making money with these business ideas, you’ll be making the world a better place to live.

There are several green business ideas available, but how profitable are they? I have carefully listed out the best green business ideas in terms of profitability and startup cost in this post.

Let’s get started.

1. Mushroom Farm

This is a type of business that focuses on growing mushrooms just like you would do with every other farming activity.

The demand for mushrooms is inherent in their health and medicinal benefits. Also, this deal has to do with the type of mushroom cultivated.

Nevertheless, if as a person, you don’t have any issues with using your hands to dig up soils and also meeting people, go for this business. The mushrooms grown can be sold in bulk to large buyers or you can go the retail route. With this, you can do proper packaging of the mushrooms and sell them to retail stores.

You can as well decide to sell it yourself. All you require is just proper marketing and word of mouth can also help you to reach more people.

2. Repair and Refill of Ink Cartridges

Most people who use printers don’t know how to refill the ink cartridge when it gets finished. In addition, these ink cartridges are good pollutants and can cause stains which may completely damage your clothes.

Furthermore, it is more economical to have a refillable ink cartridge than go for those that are for one-time use.

As one of the most profitable green business ideas, you’ll have customers seeking your service. This is simply because they don’t want to go through the hassles of refilling their cartridge.

3. Sell Paper Cups

Paper cups are made from hygienic food-grade paper. These are mainly disposable cups that are sealed with wax or plastic to stop leakage.

One thing that makes selling paper cups one of the profitable and trending green business ideas is that it is made from renewable materials. In most events, rather than going for the conventional reusable or plastic cups, paper cups are being preferred.

In addition, this is an industry with a projected market capitalization of $22.1 billion by 2026 in the USA alone.

Furthermore, with the growing food business industry, the use of disposable material has soared up. If you intend to start this business, do note that there are two major types of paper cups. The cold and hot paper cups.

The major difference between the two lies in the fact that while hot cups are coated only on the inside, cold cups are coated on both sides.

4. Hydroponic Farming

Ever thought of venturing into farming but don’t like the idea of dealing with the soil and often, getting yourself dirty? Then, owning a hydroponic farm is the best route to go.

What makes this type of farming method unique is that rather than using soil, water solvent is used. As one of the most profitable green business ideas in the farming industry, you can grow and sell mainly vegetables and flowers.

With good marketing and partnership, your farm produce can then be sold to restaurants and grocery stores.

Hydroponic farming usually leads to the production of tasty and nutritious farm yields that are also high quality. Interestingly, you wouldn’t bother yourself too much about pests and other farm-related diseases since it is done indoors using greenhouses.

In addition, this is a highly environmentally friendly type of farming that doesn’t necessarily involve the use of pesticides. Moreover, the major downside to this business model is the fact that it requires a huge amount of capital to get started.

You’ll need a large land space, pay for consulting, set up the greenhouse, and construct the hydroponics to be used. Nevertheless, all that should not scare you because you’ll have the opportunity to make your farm produce available all year round.

SEE: How to make money with your farm

5. Selling of Paper Bags

This is one of the green business ideas that are currently gaining traction and will continue to be on the rise. There are even established laws banning the use of plastic bags in some states of America.

This is a business idea that has a large customer base. You can sell to retail stores and grocery shops for onward usage to package items for their customers.

As part of regulatory compliance, most businesses are expected to use biodegradable packaging, thereby surging the growth of the business.

6. Start a Garden Blog

If owning a brick-and-mortar business isn’t your strong suit, consider starting a gardening blog. In today’s world, starting a blog does not necessitate a lot of technical knowledge.

As one of the top green business ideas, you can easily begin by planting a miniature garden in your backyard and then blogging about your experience.

The fact that there are folks just getting started in their garden adventure is why this business idea is a game-changer. You can simply provide appropriate assistance and informational articles to such persons through your blog.

Google AdSense is one of the ways you can make money from your blog. You will need to apply for the Google AdSense program, once accepted, you can begin to show ads on your website. To maximize your blog’s income potential, you can adopt affiliate marketing.

If you have flair for teaching, you can charge your readers for a one-on-one session. If you have enough experience, creating an e-book and selling it on your blog is a viable option. You will keep all of the proceeds from the sale of your product.

SEE: How To Make Money Blogging

7. Apiculture

Yes, bees sting but they are a good source of income if you know what you are doing. The importance of bees in the agricultural ecosystem cannot be easily wished away.

There are lots of benefits you can get from beekeeping. First, the honeycomb and honey you get from your beehive can be sold for profit. Secondly, if you grow crops near your beehive, the bees can help to get your plants pollinated quickly.

In addition, if you have the skill, the raw honey from your bee farm can be used to make body lotions and bathing soaps.

Conversely, you can consider selling the honey produced to beauty product companies, to be used to make body lotion and other beauty products.

The major downside to this green business idea is that it’s not something that can be run on the side. Therefore, what this means is that you must be ready to put in the time and effort.

8. Bicycles Repairing

Making use of bicycles to commute is one of the eco-friendly ways of getting around. Unlike cars and other means of transportation, it doesn’t pollute the air and leaves no carbon footprint.

How then does repair of bicycles made this list of green business ideas? It cost considerably much to own a bicycle. Most e-bikes cost as much as $7,500. When these bikes develop any fault, rather than getting a new one, their owners prefer to opt for repairs.

Of course, your service charge will vary and will mostly be based on the extent of fault involved. However, one major determinant will be the cost of the bike itself, as more expensive bikes will likely cost more to repair.

In addition, one major benefit that this business model has is that it can be started from your home. If you have a large garage or an extra space, your bicycle repair business has just got started.

One way to make more money from this business and boosting your bottom line is to snap up some old bikes and fix them up. Vintage bikes can be purchased, refurbished, and sold at the nearest garage sales location as well.

9. Sell Handmade Products

One of the creative green business ideas is to sell hand-crafted products. This is one of the businesses you can start even with low capital.

You must note that unlike products produced in the factory by machines, handmade items require lots of time. However, the major selling point for this type of business is the uniqueness in each of the items produced.

Handmade products you can make are sculptures, jewelry, hats, gift baskets, etc. You can easily sell off these products online or at tourist locations as souvenirs to tourists.

SEE: How to Make Money with Crafts

10. Selling Refurbished Electronic Items

The majority of people replace their devices when the existing one has a malfunction that is beyond their ability to repair. Instead, if you have the technical skills to repair these devices, you can take advantage of this opportunity to make some cash.

You can simply post a simple request for these products on your local community forums or social media groups, and people who want to get rid of their old devices will respond.

Visiting thrift stores or garage sales where old properties are being sold is another option to get your hands on these objects.

Since most problems with these things are caused by broken wires, damaged ICs or components, or a filthy motherboard, they are simple to fix.

The best aspect is that you don’t even have to undertake the repairs yourself. Set up a shop and employ an expert to handle the repairs if you don’t have the necessary skills.

Finally, before trading off any refurbished item, you must be prepared to provide complete disclosure and a money-back guarantee.

SEE: How to make money with scrap

FAQs

What is a green business?

Any form of business that helps to reduce carbon footprint in any way, is regarded as a green business. This form of business is also called eco-friendly business.

There are various green business ideas available. But one major convergence for all green business ideas is that their materials are recyclable and they are eco-friendly.

What green business should you start?

If you have the money, hydroponic can be a viable option for you. On the other hand, if you don’t want to deal with clients directly, look in the direction of being a garden blogger.

There is no cast in the stone answer to this question. However, after looking at various green business ideas, go with the one in which you have enough experience and interest.

Conclusion

That’s the end of this post on green business ideas. One major concern with most people is if green business ideas are profitable.

As this article has right outlined, the green business ideas in this post are currently in high demand and some are still in their budding stage. There is no right or wrong approach, just pick the idea that catches your attention.

My recommendation from the lists of green business ideas in this post is to get started as a garden blogger. To start a blog is not expensive and will only cost you a few hundred bucks. Blogging is easy to start using Bluehost.

If you’re looking for other options to explore, this post contains a massive list of business ideas that can help jump-start your entrepreneurial journey.

Thanks for reading.