Apr 21 2008
Vistage International, a business coaching organization for chief executives, today released its Earth Day report on the corporate benefits of going green. In a recent Vistage poll, 31 percent of CEOs reported that vendors' eco-friendliness was a moderately or highly important factor in making purchasing decisions. As Main Street business attitudes shift, what can companies do to gain ROI by going green?
The report, entitled “Profiting from Green Business,” includes nine articles ranging in topics from energy audits of facilities to best practices for marketing eco-friendly products and services. The report was first offered on the members-only Vistage Web site and is now available to all “Main Street” businesses worldwide and can be downloaded in full at www.vistage.com/green
Below are eight easy-to-implement green practices taken from the report:
- Replace incandescent light bulbs with high-efficiency bulbs
- Provide recycling bins
- Distribute memos, reports and other documents in electronic rather than paper format
- Work with existing suppliers to secure the best pricing on recycled products
- Lessen employee carbon emissions by offering telecommuting, carpooling or mass transit subsidies
- Phase out pesticide use on landscaping to decrease ecosystem impact
- Ask for volunteers to convene a “green team” to brainstorm the best ideas for your company
While some changes can be made immediately, the report covers more in-depth practices such as energy audits and product life-cycle assessments that can lead to long-term profits.
Many companies, such as Engineered Compost Systems, a Seattle-based compost equipment provider, are adopting green practices as part of their business strategy. “We use high efficiency lighting, offer our employees bus passes, maintain our HVAC systems, recycle, and minimize waste in manufacturing. These combine to reduce expenses and increase productivity,” said CEO Tim O’Neil. “Our external efforts are larger in scale. We facilitate the recycling of over 700,000 tons per year of organic materials, which saves energy and water and decreases the production of agricultural chemical products.”