Part 2

So how does the service sector make a strong green sustainability statement? In my previous article, I listed seven categories that are commonly used for corporate sustainability reports. The first category is conservation. Conservation of resources is the easiest thing to do. Simple things can add up in the world of conservation. For instance, just turning the lights out when you are not using a room and turning off equipment when it is idle will have an impact. Motion detection sensors on lights in little used areas, such as storage rooms and restrooms, are easy to install. Hot water heaters and HVAC equipment can be tied to programmable thermostats and timers which turns them off when they are not needed. The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have created the Energy Star program* that rates everything from computer screens to HVAC equipment on its energy efficiency. Consider this when you are purchasing new equipment. Offices are in a position to measure their energy efficiency in a very tangible way. It comes in the form of a utility bill each month. If nothing else, this impacts the bottom line of your business.

Part of conservation is recycling. Recycling is also a very easy task to do to make your business greener. Paper, plastic, glass and metal are the common items that are recycled. But don’t just stop there. I have a client who wanted to put a stamp on land, air and water ecology (the second item on my list of seven.) They heard about an initiative through the Arbor Day Society to plant 1 million trees in Tennessee. They had a very ingenious idea. They put a can crusher next to their soda machine, along with a dual receptacle for cans and plastic bottles. They sold the cans and bottles to a local recycling firm. With this money, they purchased trees for the Million Tree project. They let the employees know that every 2.5 lbs of recycled cans purchased a tree. In this way, they had 100% employee participation in the program.

Reduction of waste is key in producing green products, but often times we do not think about the amount of items that get thrown away in a service industry. For instance, do you have a coffee machine in your office? Every time you pour yourself a cup of coffee, what happens to the cup? It gets thrown in the trash, right? I have a client who used to purchase large quantities of Styrofoam coffee cups. They decided to do away with the disposable cups and purchased a ceramic mug for every employee. They spent $200 for everyone to have a mug with their name on it. They figured that each year they kept 50,000 cups from being thrown into the trash and they saved $2,000 in office expenses. I know a billing office that began to send out electronic invoices instead of paper bills. They saved $15,000 annually in paper, ink for the copier and postage. I know another office that stopped printing checks and paid their employees by direct deposit. They saved $24,000. If you take inventory of the way you are going about business, you will find that there are methods that could be changed to reduce waste.

What is the key to making this happen in your service business? First, you have to have buy-in from all employees. This cannot be an edict from management to the worker bees. I would suggest you begin by surveying your current staff to see if being green is important to them. I would also ask them to come up with a list of areas where your business could improve in conserving energy, reducing waste and recycling discarded items. Second, think beyond the typical. Is there a way for you to have a greater environmental impact on your community? Put some action behind your intentions. There may be local clean up efforts in your rivers and streams, or roadway beautification programs, such as adopt-a-street which your employees can collaboratively participate.

Finally, let the public know what you are doing. Record your green activities and put this in a sustainability report. This does not have to be long, but it does have to be an accurate description of what you have done to deem yourself a green business. There are many green designations that you can apply for and receive through trade associations and business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce. This should also be a part of your sustainability report as it lends credibility to your efforts. If you are going to market yourself as a green business, you will need this report to back up your marketing rhetoric.  Gone are the days when a company could claim to be green without any sort of documentation. Customers expect you to back up your words.

*For more information on the Energy Star program, go to http://www.energystar.gov