Sustainable Business Tip: Consider the Source
Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Jul 08, 2010
In today’s economy, many of us are looking for ways to save money or get a better deal, both at home and in our businesses. Unfortunately, the cheapest choices are not always the best options for our planet. Doing business cheaply can neglect steep environmental costs. Fortunately, this is also a time when consumers are looking for both sustainability and value. Customers are more satisfied with green businesses. For many people, it is worth spending a little extra money to help protect the planet.
For this reason, it is important for sustainable businesses to manage their operations with the planet in mind each step of the way. This means more than just reducing, reusing, and recycling. Companies also need to consider where their physical resources are coming from. Wal-Mart operations are a good example of the need to consider the sources of both products and raw materials. Wal-Mart’s big sustainability push has made Wal-Mart consider the sources of their low-cost products to hold up under the scrutiny of environmentally conscious consumers. Wal-Mart now insists on high standards in labor and environmental practices in the factories they do business with. Chemical dumping and using rainforest wood are not acceptable, for example.
Another question green companies should ask themselves is where their services are coming from. Sustainable businesses should look for services such as green real estate companies, green printing presses, green catering, green IT, and green banking / investing firms whenever possible. Green utilities are even more important. Traditional electricity sources may be relatively cheap, but they have a much higher environmental cost. Purchasing green energy is a choice to purchase a premium product that is better for the environment and helps expand a green customer base.
Some even choose to take the search for green utilities even further by producing their own green power. The University of New Hampshire, for example, is now largely powered by a system that utilizes waste methane from a nearby landfill. This technology is now well enough established that many businesses and organizations could easily tap into this energy source considered to be renewable by the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership, provided they are located near a landfill.
With a little creative thinking, businesses and organizations can extend the sustainability of their operations to encompass both products and services from their source.