Environmental Impact of Business Practices

There are three areas where any business can reduce its waste, carbon footprint, and overall environmental impact.

Office Waste

Nine percent of all disposed paper in California is office paper. Of this amount, 58% comes from commercial sources, making business the chief culprit in paper waste. In the United States, pulp and paper production is the third largest producer of air, water, and land pollution. By reducing paper waste, a business can drastically lessen environmental impact. Simple ways to reduce office paper waste:

• Provide recycling bins at each desk
• Program printer to print on both sides of the paper
• Use a computer program to convert faxes to electronic attachments
• Eliminate fax cover sheets whenever possible
• Reuse file folders
• Use old envelopes and outdated letter head for interoffice mail
• Distribute documents via email not hard copy

Junk mail also accounts for this waste. Every year, the US alone produces an estimated 6 million tons of junk mail, 78% of which is thrown away. Junk mail not only wastes paper, but also produces greenhouse gasses with its transport.

Transportation

For every gallon of gas burned, an estimated 20 pounds of carbon is released into the atmosphere. With an average gas mileage of 23 miles per gallon, and an average, roundtrip commute of 50 minutes per day, each American releases 40 pounds of carbon getting to and from work. By providing and promoting alternatives to driving for its employees, a business can drastically reduce its carbon footprint.

Business travel has greater environmental impacts. The airline industry is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases. Passenger planes account for nearly 3% of the earth’s total carbon emissions. Of all domestic air travel, 18% is business related.

Cleaning and Landscaping

The routine upkeep of outdoor areas and indoor office space can have unseen environmental impacts. Traditional cleaning supplies pollute water, air, and can exacerbate employees’ allergies. See Buying Greene. Likewise, landscaping has unintended consequences. For example, when fertilizers and pesticides are overused, they run off into storm drains and pollute local waterways.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How can I reduce the amount of junk mail the office receives?
• How can I reduce shipping packaging?
• How can I limit the waste in the employee break room?
• How can business travel be reduced?
• How can travel be greene?
• How can I encourage employees to carpool, take public transit, and ride their bikes to work?
• What are other ways to limit transport impact?
• What are the benefits of telecommuting?
• What is greene cleaning?
• What is greene landscaping?

How can I reduce the amount of junk mail the office receives?

There are several ways to stop unwanted mail:

• Remove the name of your business or employees from the major mail databases. The two largest are Dun & Bradstreet and InfoUSA. They require a written request to remove any name or business, and it may take several months for the request to be processed.
• Get off specific company mailing lists. Many companies do not use direct mail databases but require individual employees to make requests case by case. Print requests on a standard postcard to streamline the process.
• Purge former employees from existing mailing lists. The Ecological Mail Coalition allows businesses to remove employees from marketers’ lists for free.
• Prevent companies from adding your business to mailing lists in the first place. Specifically ask to be excluded from mailing lists at conferences, events, and while placing orders.
• Limit phone books delivered to your business to reduce paper and shipping waste.

How can I reduce shipping packaging?

The easiest way to reduce shipping materials is to save and reuse received packaging. Boxes, bubble wrap and packing peanuts are easily reused. Scraps from the paper shredder are an excellent source of padding material.

How can I limit the waste in the employee break room?

• Purchase reusable dishes, silverware, cups, and glasses.
• Provide a dishwasher to encourage employees to wash and reuse dishes.
• Provide a staff fridge and microwave or toaster oven to encourage employees to bring food from home; reducing the waste of take out.

If you create a pleasant break room, perhaps with an outdoor area, employees are less likely to go out and still feel like they are away from their desks.

How can business travel be reduced?

Meetings that formerly required extensive travel can remain in the office with telecommunications and internet technology. Teleconferencing/Webconferencing is an umbrella term, which refers to:

• Videoconferencing, discussion via television screens
• Audioconferencing, discussion from multiple locations on one phone line
• Webconferencing, discussion and presentations via a computer and the internet

Equipment and installation costs vary with complexity of the system, but reducing travel saves time and money. A successful consultant we know has been engaged by numerous Fortune 1000 companies across the United States without ever having a face-to-facte meeting.

How can business travel be greene?

If travel is necessary, you can offset its impact by lodging at green hotels, and purchasing carbon credits for air or car travel.

How can I encourage employees to carpool, take public transit, and ride their bikes to work?

• Encourage carpooling with a bulletin board to coordinate ride sharing. Provide special parking spaces for those who carpool. Use public agency programs to facilitate ride sharing.
• Encourage alternative transportation with public transit maps and discount passes. When relocating offices, consider their proximity to public transportation.
• Encourage cycling by installing safe places for bike parking. Provide showers and changing rooms.

What are other ways to limit transport impact?

For other needs, such as transportation from one business campus to another, provide routine shuttles and use alternative fuel vehicles.

Reduce commutes by limiting office time for employees. Compressing the workweek from five 8-hour days to four 10-hour days, eliminates one day of commuting. Another option is to give employees the opportunity to telecommute full or part-time. Electronic Medical Record Systems keep you informed with real time data and allow your staff to be mobile, reducing auto reimbursement expenses and eliminating wasted trips to the office to drop off documentation.

What are the benefits of employees telecommuting?

The US Department of Transportation lists the following benefits for telecommuting:

• Limited greenhouse gasses from commuting
• Increased productivity
• Reduced impact on office space and resources
• Fewer sick days and lower health care costs
• Reduced stress
• Saved time and money

What is greene cleaning?

Green cleaning means using biodegradable, non toxic cleaners that have limited environmental and health impacts. For more information, visit Buying Greener – For Business.

What is greene landscaping?

Green landscaping is designing the outdoors to limit water waste and pollution run off from fertilizers and pesticides. Essential components are:

• Using drought resistant plants
• Composting clippings to reduce waste
• Limiting the amount of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
• Monitor water schedules to coincide with seasonal demands.

Greene Meetings and Conventions

In addition to the greenhouse gasses emitted from long distance travel, meetings and conventions also generate 730,000 tons of waste per year. Below are several tips on greening up any event.

• Select an event center that adheres to green business practices (e.g. recycles, uses green cleaning products, minimizes waste).
• Promote and refer attendees to green hotels near the event site.
• Arrange carpools, shuttles, and provide information about public transit.
• To avoid excess paper, don’t pre-stuff information packets: Let attendees pick what they need.
• Use reusable name tags and collect them at the end.
• Post agendas and event programs instead of printing copies.
• Clearly label and place numerous recycle and trash bins in prominent places.
• Provide reusable canvas bags for event materials and promotional items.
• Provide drinking water in pitchers or in coolers instead of individual water bottles.
• Select a caterer who sources local, organic food; uses reusable dishware or supplies “finger food” such as sandwiches to limit the need for utensils.
• Promote your efforts at the conference by announcing how you limited the event’s environmental impact.

Benefits of Greene Practices

When businesses make the initial financial and organizational investment to streamline its practices, cost savings result. For example, when using paper more efficiently, businesses save money by reducing paper consumption. Telecommuting and teleconferencing results in less wasted travel time, and fewer employee sick days. The more efforts you make to green itself, the more you can promote and increase your business profile.

IBM Success Story

By implementing a comprehensive recycling program for aluminum, paper, glass, cardboard packaging, and printer toner cartridges, Broderbund Software Inc., a diversified software company, dramatically reduced its waste and saved over $20,000 annually in disposal fees.

IBM estimates that 25% of its workforce worldwide telecommutes full or part time. The company claims this saves $700 million in real estate costs while making employees 50% more productive.