Environmental Issues

By: Jonathan Hiatt


As an awareness of environmental issues continues to grow, businesses of all shapes, sizes, and industries are discovering the significance of the green movement.  Incidents involving green washing, a term which refers to “the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company's policies or products are environmentally friendly,” certainly indicate that the world of business has cultivated an appreciation for the marketable nature of adopting green practices and of offering green products.  But businesses with a “green sheen” – that is, the ones that falsely tote green values and put more effort into looking green than being green – may be missing out.
Going green really isn’t that difficult, and the chances are that even if it seems expensive to do so now, investing in ways to make your products and operations more eco-friendly could really pay off.  As for the moment, however, whether you’re a business owner or an employee, there’s a real possibility that you could start improving your company’s bottom line immediately by taking small measures to be more environmentally friendly on a day-to-day basis.  You probably already know all of this, but if you take a second to reflect on what these steps involve, the effort required to implement them, and the potential benefits of sticking with them over time, you’ll recognize that going green is money…

1.        Turn off equipment when you aren’t using it. This can reduce the energy used by 25 percent; turning off the computers at the end of the day can save an additional 50 percent.

2.        Communicate by email, but don’t print them unless you absolutely have to.

3.         Reduce fax-related paper waste by using a fax-modem and by using a fax cover sheet only when necessary.   And really, who “faxes” things anymore.

4.        Print double-sided documents whenever possible.  It’s eco-friendly and looks nicer, too, in my opinion)

5.        Don’t let water drip; always close faucets off tightly after use.   One drop per second would collectively waste 10,000 liters of water over the course of a year.

6.        Install displacement toilet dams in toilet reservoirs. Placing one or two plastic containers filled with stones  in the toilet's reservoir will displace about 4 liters of water per flush – that’s a major difference.

7.        Use printer paper with maximum available recycled content

8.        Work with suppliers (if applicable) who also use green practices. Chances are, if they really are green then they, too have “figured it out” and are smarter than the non-green suppliers…