Digital & Social Media Consulting in Tampa Florida

Over the course of the last ten years, Corporate America began to realize that sustainable business practices were not only better for our environment, but were better for profit margins as well.  The urge to splurge and the idea that bigger is better eventually became a thing of the past as CEOs saw dollar signs in the conservation of their own resources.  What no one expected was the broad appeal that sustainability practices would gain over the general public as we began to recognize and even demand environmentally friendly products and services.  This is how sustainability evolved from a simple way to increase revenue into a competitive marketing strategy that emphasized responsibility.  Here are the top ten initiatives that corporations took towards greener business practices over the last decade:

 

1.      Office Recycling Programs – For decades, residential neighborhoods have been recycling aluminum cans and glass bottles, but it took years for offices across the country to catch on.  Today it is commonplace to see plastic, glass, and paper recycling bins in nearly any type of office environment.  Most notably, recycling has become a key marketing effort for Coca-Cola; the world’s largest producer of aluminum, plastic, and glass bottling.    

2.      Waste Reduction – Reducing waste is probably one of the easiest and most efficient ways for a business to cut down costs.  By encouraging employees to use electronic filing instead of printing, offices use less paper, less ink, and less energy.  Companies such as Hasbro have even taken steps to reduce the amount of waste in their packaging.  These efforts not only improve their bottom line, but help clean up our environment as well.

3.      Energy Efficient Lighting – The adaptation of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have been a long time coming, but pioneers such as Philips have been strong advocates for the elimination of inefficient lighting within corporations. The use of CFLs have now become mainstream in homes and offices alike and are fast becoming one of the largest reducers of energy consumption in the U.S.

4.      The Four-Day Workweek – Most of us would dream of the day when we’d only have to work four days a week.  We never thought it could actually save energy and operating costs, but that’s just what state employees of Utah found out as they experimented with a four day workweek as reported by Time Magazine.

5.      Renewable Resources – As companies began to seek innovative ways to save, they learned that many of the resources they use in their offices could be renewable and reusable for generations.  Not every new office had to have new desks and new chairs.  Why not reuse what another business is getting rid of, like Maryland-based Honest Tea did when it came time for a new office space.

6.      Energy Efficient Appliances – If you’ve gone shopping for a new refrigerator or microwave in the last decade, you’ve noticed most new appliances are “Energy Star Compliant”.  This was an effort set forth in the 1990s by the U.S. Government to make appliances use less energy and meet certain standards.

7.      Water Conservation – Our country uses enormous amounts of energy just to clean and distribute the water that comes out of the tap.  Water bills are directly related to usage, so conserving water is essential for large corporations and institutions that provide water to thousands of people everyday.  Stanford University has found that modern bath fixtures such as efficient sinks, toilets, and shower heads can reduce water usage by 30 to 40 percent.

8.      Sustainability Management – As with any corporate overhaul projects, success is no easy task without proper management.  More and more colleges and universities now offer degrees in Sustainability Management.

9.      Doing Business Locally – Buying locally and selling locally has one huge impact on your bottom line; little or no shipping costs!  Plus, you give the environment a break when you eliminate the energy used to ship long distances.

10.  Employee Education – True sustainability takes a team effort and a team can’t be successful without education.  Many large corporations, such as Samsung have already established employee education programs aimed at providing sustainability knowledge to all employees.