7 Simple Steps to Greening Your Small Business

Please welcome a guest blogger: Susan Seliger Editor-in-Chief, RiverWired.com - Good Green Fun

Small businesses are what make America great. And their influence – if they choose to go green – can be as big as the mighty corporations getting all the attention for joining the eco-friendly fray these days.

"Independent firms with less than 500 employees employ half of the private sector workforce and use half of the electricity and natural gas consumed by the commercial and industrial sectors, In 2006, small businesses accounted for 99.9 percent of the 26.8 million businesses in the country."

- Jonathon Bardelline, in The Big Impact from Greening Small Businesses at GreenBiz.com.

So here are 7 simple steps entrepreneurs can take to be a little greener  -- no matter what your core business may be.

1. Ask your employees for green ideas first.
You don’t need to hire a Director of Sustainability.  Ask the people who always have the best ideas – your team. After all, if they have to implement these plans, it’s smart to get their buy-in from the start. Offering bonuses for eco-ideas that save the company money wouldn’t hurt.

2. Buy everybody a mug.
Giving each employee the gift of a ceramic, reusable mug engenders good will – and it will save you a fortune on those nasty Styrofoam cups.  The average office worker uses up to 500 disposable coffee cups per year – and Styrofoam takes about one million years to fully decompose. If you put your logo on the mugs, you can give them to clients and visitors to use and then take home. Not a bad way to reinforce your identity as a company that cares.

3. Replace the office refrigerator, microwave – and all your equipment – with energy-efficient models.
Newer Energy Star-Rated appliances use up to 40% less energy than older versions. Look for star ratings on fax machines, copiers, printers and everything you use.

4. Recycle Paper – this is a big one – and easy, too.
Do we really have to remind you about this one? About 40% of the garbage in our landfills is paper that could have been recycled. Buy recycled paper – along with biodegradable paper plates and napkins. Encourage copying on both sides. Have bins for recycling paper in convenient locations – like next to the coffee machine – to give added incentive to toss paper in the right spot.

5. Apply the 3 R’s to electronics and office equipment, too
The eco-mantra, reduce, reuse, recycle, doesn’t stop at paper. You can refill ink cartridges. Recycle electronics safely – Staples and Office Depot are getting into the recycling act. When in doubt, go to Earth911 to see where to recycle – or donate – in your area. You may even qualify for a tax credit for donations to local schools or non-profits.

Other recycling resources: Top 10 Recycling Resources ;   Electronics Recycling;  Who Makes The Greenest Electronics?

6. Replace bottled water with a water filter
Bottled water costs too-to-three times as much as gasoline. Americans spend more than $8 billion a year on bottled water – and generate over 1.5 million tons of plastic that will not break down in landfills for tens of thousands of years. A water filter costs pennies per gallon. You do the math.

7.  Consider laptops – instead of desktops – for staff.
A laptop’s LCD screen uses 1/3 the energy of a typical Cathode Ray Tube. And employees can take laptops with them – at night or when they travel -- to get more done. Win-win.

Comments

[Abby Clubb]

Thanks for these tips! I work at a smaller InterCall office and we just started recycling paper. It wasn't a huge initiative - we simply put up 5 trashcans in areas near printers with recycle logos on them. I'll be taking the paper to a local school who is using paper recycling as a fund raiser. I was surprised that even people who do not consider themselves "green" are participating. That just goes to show that making recycling EASY is the best way to ensure participation.

[Russell Armstrong]

These are great ideas and in fact, we've already taken some of these steps. But as a company, how do you encourage (reward) employees for developing green ideas? What's the best way?

Also, it seems that most businesses are challenged with creating a Green culture. Other than taking the above steps, what are some things we can do to change how employees consume resources?

[Carolyn Campbell]

Hi Russell,
Good questions! As the "mother hen" who nags everyone about being green in our office, I have some tips...
Put up signs to remind people to do the right thing (turning off lights, recycling, and powering down at the end of the day).
Make containers for recycling very accessible, in the right places to catch the most traffic, and clearly label them.
From the IT side, you can set all PC's and monitors to "sleep" after 15 minutes of inactivity, to meet Energy Star standards. You can do that without asking your employees to do anything.
Overall, just try to integrate your initiatives into overall office policy, so it's accepted that you just run things this way, as in "We are a non-smoking and energy-conscious workplace."

[Carla Solomon]

As a remote employee, the contribution our company's green initiative may not be highly visible but its still pretty sinificant. I have not calculated the amount of carbon emissions cut due to my car being one less on the road, but I believe, every little bit helps, and although I am unable to participate daily in an office setting, we still take very simple measures in our home. Both of our PC monitors are set to "sleep mode" after 15 minutes, we turn out the lights, televisions, radios, etc. in rooms not occupied. We also recycle soda cans, water bottles, old cell phones and even clothes. It's not much but we believe every little bit helps,and what can be done in the office can pretty much be done in your home.

[Adi Aderhold]

I love these ideas. Every little bit helps. My company, www.virtela.com, already does a lot to recycle and we provide other companies with different options to be able to work from home. I think that this wave of "green ideas" is essential to our survival and I appreciate all the tips.

[Chris Rummel]

While I think all of these are great for businesses across the board, I think there is one thing that was left out and in the end is one of the easiest things to do. That simple things is turning off anything that uses electricity when it is not in use. It is amazing how much energy your company can save if employees at your compnay do some of the following things:
1) Turn your computer, monitor and printer off when you leave the office.
2) Turn off as many lights as possible in your office when you leave the office.
3) Turn back the A/C or heat during "off" business hours.
Just by doing these simple things, you will not only reduce your companies carbon footprint, but you will be also saving your company money on thier monthly electric bill and in the end, don't all companies love saving money.

[Christina Todisco]

I am also a remote employee working from a home office and agree with Carla…every little bit does count. I don’t have the opportunity to contribute to an office, but my family and I can definitely do our part at home. When working from home, I make sure all lights are out in my house except for the room I am working in.

As a family, we recently needed to purchase a new washer and dryer. We opted for the energy-saving models. We have also installed water-saving shower heads. Both of these not only benefit the environment but also help to lower our water and electricity bills.

Some other measures we take in our house to help conserve the environment is recycle; use energy-saving light bulbs; try not to use disposable plates, cups and utensils; don’t leave cell phone or other chargers plugged into the wall without the device plugged into the other end.

We all can take simple steps do our part at home and the office to help preserve our planet for future generations.

[Lucy Wilkerson]

Our company is rolling out a sustainability initiative and the advice provided here is solid. We are looking at factors that might not be so apparent. For instance, does anyone know how much electricity a 2-burner coffee maker uses vs. the one cup at a time maker? Is it worth is since those one cups require the individual plastic coffee pods?

Thanks!

[Wendi Adair]

According to the Saving Electricity website, a coffeemaker uses about 900 watts of electricity. It doesn't differentiate between the type of coffee maker. Check out the following URL: http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html for more information.

Also, any appliance continually uses electricity while it is plugged in, suggesting it would be wise to unplug the appliance when it isn't being used to save energy. I would also think that having to purchase special cups would cost more in the long run than the cost of electricity used by any individual coffee maker.

I hope this is helpful.

[Tana Mallard]

The two burner maker would use double the power compared to the single coffee maker. However, you should consider twice the amount of coffee is being made. The large pot holds 12 cups of coffee. The single burner that makes one cup is only an 6-8 oz cup of coffee (depending on the amount of water that was poured in to make that cup).
In the long run it would cost more to make it one cup at a time.

[Keri Dougherty]

If the two burner uses double the power for the same amount of time but makes 12x as much coffee. You would have to power the single burner for much longer just to get 12 6-8oz cups of coffee. The single burner would surpass the double power of the double burner after the second cup of coffee you brew. So, it would seem that it would cost more to power the single burner over the long run.

[merry vradenburgh]

i just looked up "carbon offset" and found this site with information...not bad...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_offset

[Tonya White]

I located this site in my research to the answer for the coffee pot question. It gives really good information on how to calculate the energy use and cost of appliances.