Interested in Living a More Sustainable Life? Consider becoming a member of The Growing Green Co-op! Member benefits include participation in a state-wide delivery of sustainable goods - biofuels, local produce, organic bulk foods, raw food to go boxes, toxic free house cleaning products, organic linens, eco-friendly body care lines and other "green" products/services will be delivered to co-op members state-wide starting this July that will grow our local economy.
Simple Steps to "GREEN" Your Small Business By Imani & John Zito, owners of The Alchemy Juice Bar Caf in Hartford
Finally, "green" is the buzz word these days. New concepts of sustainability, environmentally friendly, renewable, carbon neutral and bio-degradability are beginning to infiltrate the world of business. We know the tipping point has been reached when "big business" is implementing sustainable practices. Regardless of our personal opinions of big corporations, their market decisions are paving inroads to newer products and ways of doing things as consumers demand more and more earth friendly products. Small businesses will follow in the wake of this shift in order to respond to the changing market. "Business as usual" irregardless of environmental impact will no longer be an acceptable practice.
This change is taking place in several different ways. As consumers become even more aware of the realities of global warming, they are looking for both products and services that are good for the planet. In addition, they are beginning to inquire about the sustainability of raw materials and their sources, the processes involved in manufacturing those products, and the operational practices of the businesses themselves. We are becoming a generation of "label readers" for everything we consume, armed with knowledge and scarce on trust. Honesty and disclosure in the marketplace will become the hallmark of successful companies. Corporate commitment to sustainable practices will be held paramount in the eyes of the customer base as the impact of global warming becomes increasingly obvious to the general public.
As a business owner, you can begin preparing by "greening" your small business with some simple steps. First, take a look at what your carbon impact is both as an individual and as a business. Changing our carbon footprint is about changing our habits of living in the world. We are more effective if we holistically apply simple steps to all areas of our lives. For example, one of the biggest things we can do immediately to curb climate change is switch to clean energy options in both our homes and businesses. Many big corporations are touting that their facilities run on renewable energy sources: wind, solar, landfill gas and hydro. This is a good place to start. Energy produced by fossil fuels is one of the largest contributors to climate change. In Connecticut you can switch your energy options of your electric bill simply by choosing The Clean Energy Option. Sterling Planet and Community Energy are the two available options in Connecticut (see www.ctcleanenergyoptions.com).
Next, we can look at ways we can reduce our energy usage. Simple things, like switching to CFLs and turning off and unplugging all computers, monitors, chargers and major appliances can conserve lots of energy and save us money. Most people are unaware that electronic devices continue to use energy when turned off unless they are unplugged. You can have your computer station hooked into a single power strip and turn them all off with one switch. Computers in the business sector unnecessarily waste $1 billion worth of electricity per year.
Just as simple as conserving energy, is to make sure that we use our own reusable mug and dishes when we eat at the office. Eliminate single use plastic water bottles use by switching to a water filtration system (see Cooler Waters for a bottle-less filtration system right from your tap; an up and coming small business here in CT, www.coolerwaters.com). And, of course, buy Fair Trade organic coffee and tea as well as organic food for business related events.
Begin to become acutely aware of the amount of waste around you from napkins to copy paper. The United States is the top global warming polluter in the world. It is critical that we take a look at our current recycling practices. The amount of recyclable material that ends up in our landfills continues to rise and includes everything from office equipment to paper to water bottles. Currently only about one tenth of all trash gets recycled with one third of our trash from packaging alone. We are a consumer based culture and our habits are filling landfills across the country. Interesting facts from www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts
The average American uses 650 pounds of paper a year. Each year, Americans trash enough office paper to build a 12-foot wall from Los Angeles to New York City. Americans toss out enough paper & plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. The average American office worker goes through around 500 disposable cups every year. Nearly 44 million American workers purchase or eat lunch out every weekday. Americans make nearly 400 billion photocopies a year - about 750,000 copies every minute of every day. U.S. fax machines sent 30 billion faxes in 1990. U.S. businesses now use about 21 million tons of paper every year. That's about 175 pounds of paper for each American. Save endangered old growth forests. Only use recycled toilet paper and printing paper. Use both sides of paper when printing, create personal notepads with the back sides of old documents. Avoid color printing and print in draft mode when possible. Buy chlorine free papers with a high percentage of post consumer recycled content. Office Max now offers "green options" in their new Green Book catalog, available to Business Solution Division customers which contains over 2,300 products with recycled content or other environmental benefits. You can also order eco-friendly office supplies online from places like www.treeco.com, www.greenlinepaper.com and www.treecycle.com. Always recycle toner and ink cartridges and buy remanufactured ones. Earth friendly options exist! Use your consumer dollars to produce positive change in the market place!
Environmental waste, also known as e-waste, is the most rapidly growing waste problem in the world. In the work place, computers lead the way with most having an average life span of two years. Computers are comprised of over 1,000 materials, many of them toxic, such as chromium, brominated flame retardants, PVC, plastics and gases and heavy metals such as lead and mercury. When buying a new computer, make sure it is enegy star rated and PBDE free (toxic flame-retardants called polybrominatediphenylethers that off gas from your unit as well as attach to dust particles that accumulate over time).
Technology must mitigate its landfill factor by becoming completely recyclable. Fifty percent of computers today are discarded purely for the purposes of upgrading to the latest technology. This techno trash is contributing to our landfills consisting of 70% heavy metals as well as 6.32 billion pounds of plastics, 1.58 billion pounds of lead and 162,000 pounds of mercury. Worse yet is what happens to that trash. Statistics estimate that 80% of our poisonous PCs are shipped overseas to parts of Asia and India where kids and peasants are often found to be picking them apart for as little as a $1 a day. In America, inmates dismantle some of the most dangerous and poisonous electronic waste. A recent report revealed that "75% of the computers and electronics shipped to Africa supposedly for re-use (are) actually junk, unrepairable and unsalable...much (is) dumped and burned in open air dumps and ditches, posing health threats to local residents and workers". For more information, check out www.computertakeback.com. It is our responsibility to dispose of these items properly and wisely.
While trash is the obvious environmental hazard of modern times, indoor air quality can be deceptively toxic due to its invisible state. Create a healthier work environment while doing your part for the planet. Use only non-toxic cleaners (this includes air fresheners and anti-bacterial soaps) free of hazardous chemicals that are routinely sprayed into our air and washed down drains into our waterways. Indoor air pollution created from toxic cleaners, body care products, furniture and electronic devices is one of the leading causes of illness today. Most people are surprised to discover that our indoor air is more polluted than the outside air, totaling around 900 contaminants concentrated within well insulated spaces here in the United States. It is not surprising then that the EPA has ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health due in part to the fact that typical Americans spend 90% of their time indoors. Fill your office with plants that naturally purify the air, use salt rock lamps next to electronic equipment and find ways to let fresh air in.
Not only is being more "green" better for the environment by preserving precious resources and reducing carbon emissions, but it will also positively affect your bottom line by cutting energy and trash costs, eliminating purchasing expenses of disposable items and increasing visibility in the marketplace.
