3 Ways Your Self Storage Facility Can Go Green

By Nick Bilava, Storage.com

Storage facilities are always looking for new ways to improve their overall offerings. One such offering that’s gained traction recently has been “going green.” How can your facility go green? Here are a few options.

Add Recycling Programs

One of the easiest ways your storage operation can go green is adding a recycling program. This can be done in two ways.

The first is having a recycling center (or industrial recycling bins) at your facility where consumers can place stored items that can be recycled, such as old newspapers, business files, used moving boxes, etc. You can also open the recycling center up to the public during working hours. You can offer this free or ask for a small fee depending on how much is brought and how big items are.

In addition to a local recycling center for current tenants and the public, consider adding document shredding and destruction services for tenants. Document shredding and destruction will allow your tenants to feel at ease when they dispose of old files since they’ll know their shredded documents will be recycled.

Go Digital

It may be time for your facility to consider going digital (i.e., paperless) if it hasn’t yet. Going digital will give you the opportunity to make things a little bit easier on both your employees, as they’ll be able to quickly find paperwork through computer searches, and on your tenants, as they’ll be able to e-sign documents and leases.

When you decide to go digital, do your research on the self storage software available to you. Each one will provide different services, such as day-to-day operations or online rental agreement options. Find which options are best for you to begin with and work from there, as you can always add options later.

Add Solar Panels

The addition of solar panels can do a lot for your facility. For starters, you can help reduce energy costs. In some cases, storage facilities around the country have even reduced energy costs by millions of dollars.

When you reduce energy costs, you’ll have the ability to put money in more places than you could before. Your facility could expand, add new amenities, or even give your tenants rates that will outdo your competition—and who’s going to argue against that?

What makes the lower energy costs more appealing is that, according to earthshare.org, the price of solar panels has dropped 80%, making it less expensive for you add them to your facility. This means you can spend less upfront and see more benefits in the long term, helping you gain a greater return on your initial investment.