Green Business Practices

Mary Campbell, Urban Sustainability Agent, Pinellas County Extension

Becoming a more environmentally- friendly business is a choice that can reap big rewards. Green Business practices can help save money, attract customers, enhance your reputation and help make a business more efficient. A company policy of environmental stewardship or mission that includes sustainable practices will help create the vision. There are three main areas where a business can become more green and sustainable:

Improve energy efficiency and water conservation
Changes in work practices
Recycling and waste reduction

Improve Energy Efficiency and Water conservation
There are simple ways to reduce energy and water use and save money at the same time. An energy audit can be done by Progress Energy to review where there may be easy impacts to reduce energy use, as well as long-term investments for the future.

Implement staff guidelines for turning off computers, peripherals, as well as office and meeting room lights. Water conservation in outdoor landscapes can save thousands of gallons of water each year (see Florida Yards and Neighborhoods ).

Changes in Work Practices
To become a green business, employees need to be a part of the practice changes that will make it successful. Creating a green committee that promotes these new practices will be a good start, as well as educational programs for staff. Discussing green purchasing practices, energy conservation, double- sided copying, green meetings , reduction of paper use through electronic sharing, telecommuting and other innovative sustainable practices will help the team get started. Start small and build on these practice changes gradually until they become habits. Develop a staff pledge program and rewards around the new practices (take the Check Your Green Commitment At Work Pledge to get started).

Recycling and Waste Reduction
Reducing waste in an office can make a positive impact on the bottom line as well as reduce your carbon footprint. Get a waste assessment to determine strategies and options from Pinellas County Utilities Solid Waste.

Develop an Action Plan

1. Evaluate environmental programs that fit well with your vision and mission.
2. Communicate your environmental initiatives to customers and staff.
3. Report successes and get feedback.

Resources:
Ten Steps to Green Business Practices

Give a Hoot, Telecommute!

James Stevenson, Pinellas County Extension Specialist, Urban Sustainability

Many of us are looking for ways to save money and the environment these days. Although the price of gasoline has dropped from its all-time high back in the summer, that spike served as a wake-up call. It would seem that many people have now realized, first hand, what it means to have the price of a non-renewable resource reflect its availability.

Not surprisingly there were several stories in the local, state and national news about the practice of telecommuting. Telecommuting allows employees to carry out the same work duties from a location other than the primary work place. Generally speaking, telecommuting involves working from home, therefore forgoing the tedious and expensive commute into work.

In addition to reducing the cost of gasoline for the employee, each telecommuter is one less vehicle on the road, thus reducing traffic congestion. Fewer vehicles in a workplace’s parking lot might just be a welcomed advantage as well.

What are the benefits to the employee besides a reduced gasoline bill at the end of the month? Studies have shown that the level of trust that is necessary for this arrangement to succeed contributes to an increase in employee motivation and productivity. A happy employee is a productive employee!

Companies that have telecommuting guidelines and policies in place can choose which employees may be suited for this arrangement. Of course there are some jobs that can never be done “from home,” but with careful planning and a bit of experience, a work schedule can be devised that benefits the employee and employer alike.

Whether it is one day a week, three days a week or only one day a month, in a county the size of Pinellas each employee’s reduction of resource use could soon add up to environmental savings!