Green Living - Three Steps in Greening Your Business

Green living - three steps in greening your business

During the late 1990's, there was a massive movement from different industries in changing the way they operate. From acquiring raw materials, manufacturing the products, shipping to consumers, and processing all business-related concerns in the corporate office, major companies today are redirecting their goals in attaining a more sustainable business. In order to achieve these goals, corporations are now more attentive in greening their workplace. 

Now there has been a lot of definitions of the word "green" because from a simple word describing a primary color, it has now evolved to something we relate to as environmental. The word has become a noun, a verb, and an adjective all at the same time just to put emphasis on its importance. 

But what does it really mean when you say "green"? Some would immediately relate it as being a "tree hugger" or "vegan practitioner" or even someone who just loves the environment. These are broad definitions and also limited in describing the word. In this context, the best definition is that going green is a process in investing all time and efforts in promoting environmental responsibility. And when I say process, it is a structure that all organizations follow in achieving their business objectives without sacrificing the environment. Having said that, greening one's business is a procedure in involving all aspects of the business to adhere the highest environmental standards possible. This is one of the reasons why an international policy-making body drafted the ISO1400 - an international standard for best practices in environmental management.

Going back in greening your business, there has been a lot of literature both online and offline, regarding the procedure in attaining total greenness. If you are not an environmentalist by heart or doesn't know anything about environmentalism, it will take several days if you try to comprehend all information available out there.  After doing my research and comparing notes from several sites, blogger, and famous environmental authors, I have come up with three simple steps in achieving a more greener work place. 

Green Living Step 1: Assess your business and determine where you are right now

This is a very important first step. You have to know where your business is right now in terms of performance because if you do not measure where you are today, you can't move forward in reaching your goals. When we say assess, you have to go down to the roots of how your company works in order to determine which part you can integrate environmental standards easily. This step is very crucial and no one can do this for you except you and your team. You can not outsource services in terms of itemizing how your company operates because you alone (as the CEO, or department head, or owner) can honestly declare what your processes are. I see a lot of failures in some of the major corporations today when they assess their company for standardization. Department heads try the best they can to hide things so that in the end, they can say that their department is the best. But I say shame on them because they are just fooling themselves. In order to achieve the highest standards possible, one must honestly list down ALL processes in making up a company. 

Best way to do this is try to segregate all processes by departments. You can list down all departments, an example would be your purchasing, marketing, sales, manufacturing, comptroller ship and even the services you outsourced from other companies, and from there you can be more specific in that department. In order to achieve great accuracy, an annual team building with your department heads is the best way to inject this assessment. With this, you can get the full details without sacrificing too much time. But be very cautious, you have to understand that not all department heads are open to this idea. You can have this session as one-on-one with each head or you can be honest with them and tell them exactly what you need in order to make your business booming without the unnecessary environmental side effects. 

And when you assess your company, it does not restrict you from the major processes involved in producing your main product but also the processes before and after. It means that you take into account the things you have to do before production - by asking yourself, "what are the things that I need to have and an estimate in order to produce these goods?" this will boil down in itemizing the major components and also the little things that are involved in the procedure. Account everything like how many papers you will need to print the contract or how long do you need to have the lights on during production, etc. And also after production - by doing an inventory of all the things you have used before and during the actual production including off site services.

Assessing also means looking at how your administrative functions contribute to the totality of your business. As simple as understanding your organizational chart will give you an idea on which part you can do without. This assessment can help you become a minimalist in the long run and be more efficient since you are trying to take away something that is not useful. Simply put, if it will only take 3 signatures to approve a project rather than 10 signatures then go ahead and remove those unnecessary signatories. When you look at it in a micro-perspective viewpoint, you are helping the environment in reducing the usage of more paper, ink for the printer and pen and also the energy spent in routing the document. 

Green Living Step 2: Green Procurement - go for greener materials

Step two is somewhat understanding the life cycle of a material. After assessing where you stand, you have to decide which areas of your company needs the change the most.  It doesn't mean you have to neglect the other areas but what it means is you have to prioritize where you will invest first and defer the rest since purchasing greener materials cost more than regular items. Organic materials cost more because the process in creating that product is more extensive than the regular products.

Best way to do this is going online or have a materials expert in determining the best items you can purchase in overhauling your system.  From Eco-friendly pens to going paperless is a great step. Investing in newer technology is also a great way since more and more goods today ergonomically made to conform to environmental standards.

In purchasing items, I would like to emphasize that whenever you buy materials, you have to know the life cycle of the product. Make that extra effort in knowing where the product came from, how it was made, was it imported, or as simple as looking at the label to know it's composition. For appliances and furniture, it would be best to consult the sales person where it came from and what is it made of so that you can make smart decisions in finalizing the things that you need for your company. This practice is known as product stewardship, the act of understanding how a material came about. I will be posting a separate topic regarding effective product stewardship so that everyone (especially consumers) are aware on the environmental effects of their purchasing power.

Green Living Step 3: Carbon neutralization - understanding your carbon blueprint

Third and final step is all about carbon neutralization. Every single living and non-living things have carbon blueprints and these blueprints are the key in maintaining healthy carbon emissions. Majority of environmental issues today are focused on global warming and how greenhouse gasses contribute to the dangerous climate change we are experiencing today. The melting of the polar caps and the shifting of power between species are results of global warming. 

By neutralizing the individual carbon emissions, both living and non-living things, you have to understand where its coming from. So in this final step, one must understand carbon calculation in order to set limitations in all carbon-emitting substances in the company. This is somewhat a hard thing to do if you are not an expert so in this part, I would definitely encourage every company to invest in outsourcing carbon calculation services. A lot of consulting firms are engaged in such business therefore they are equipped with the most recent technology in determining the total carbon emission of your company.

Upon determining your total emission, next step is to neutralize it. Again, since you are already consulting with third party agencies, try to ask them the best way in neutralizing your emissions based on their observations. This will help you eliminate excess emissions thus helping the world become a cooler place. One best option to neutralize your carbon emissions are through offsetting. After consolidating your carbon performance, you can easily determine which area your company is heavily producing carbon emissions. Only then you can offset it by decreasing the other areas of your business through organic ways. This is the part where the consultant will guide you on things you can and cannot do. Working together with your materials expert, you can then purchase the right green equipments and materials that will greatly enhance your company's environmental performance.

So there you have it. In a nutshell, first assess where you are right now, second is to go for greener procurement and lastly is to understand how to neutralize your carbon emissions. As easy as one, two, three. 

Before I end this article, I would like to give an added benefit when companies go for greener alternative. In the long run, these greener options, whether large or small choices, can eventually curb the unwanted expenditures since you are optimizing your company towards a greener and more minimalist way of operation. I made it as a last point because I don't want this article to focus on monetary value. I don't want people to go for greener options because it will add to their annual savings or revenue. I personally believe that when this is the focus of your environmental reformation, then everything else will revolve in this idea thus if you come to a dead end that doesn't give back in terms of monetary value then it is no longer considered to be an option for the company. While revenue is important for any business, making sure that each company contributes to the preservation and conservation of the environment is much more of a cause than personal gain. 

So I urge each and everyone to understand the necessity of environmentalism and why each and everyone of us are responsible in living a greener lifestyle.