Big Voice of Small Business

In my manufacturing business, I set out in early 2000 to reduce my carbon footprint. I didn’t know where to start but my journey took me on an exciting adventure. Over time, my team was able to eliminate operational resin and chemical usage, change our processes to dramatically reduce energy consumption, transition to a renewable energy mix with a solar array, and reduced office, production, packaging, and shipping waste in our facilities. While doing this my team worked with our suppliers to follow suit, and together we signed a green pledge to work together on continuous improvements. The results were startling and we found significant value in lower costs, innovations in our processes, and better brand appeal (especially among younger customers). Plus, we got green-certified and won numerous accolades, including Jerry Brown’s Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award (GEELA), California’s highest environmental honor. 

When I tell other companies about the work we have done, I always get the same good question: ”Where do I even start?” Here are 12 things that you can do on sustainability, regardless of the type of small business you own or work for:

1. Start with a commitment. Big, small, this is where to start. Whatever you decide to do, write it down and make it formal. The “doing” will come later, but making a commitment to change is bigger than you might think.
2. Next, involve your whole team. Ask for ideas, even wild ideas. You never know where ideas will come from. Keep refining, keep asking, get feedback, run it by suppliers, stakeholders, customers, everyone.
3. Now mold the feedback and harness the excitement into an Action Plan. Now you’re getting somewhere! This is your roadmap, although not a static one, but instead one that will change and evolve as you go. Create your own or try templates from others (here is one example).
4. Time for doing. Start somewhere, and I recommend reuse and recycle. Yes, easy and everyone does it, but look hard at how you can be GREAT at it. Start by looking at what ends up in your waste stream. Break it down by source, then reduce what is there first and recycle the rest. Look at paper, plastics, packaging, organics, electronics, whatever pertains to your business. Rubber scraps was a big one for us. Be sure to push the envelope!
5. Celebrate your victories. Remember, even small things make an impact, and add enthusiasm and a sense of pride to your culture. Write it down, share it around the office, post on your website, write a song about it. Well done!
6. Refine your Action Plan with the things you’ve learned. This is important to continue to build on what you know and how to do it better, different, backwards, whatever it takes. Be creative. Be innovative. Don’t be afraid.
7. Tackle your next thing, whatever is central to your beliefs. This will likely depend on the type of business you run. For me, it was working with my supply chain to save time, materials, distances, energy and people power. Trust me, you will know what is next for your business.
8. Every business has to tackle energy usage. Don’t shy away as this can be big savings — both energy usage and dollars. Consider all forms of usage from building (lease or owned), transportation, delivery network, everything do and impact. And then find ways to reduce through efficiency, upgrades, different processes, less of some things and more of what works well. Get an energy audit, reach out to your local utility, hire a consultant, find alternative energy partners, make your operations more efficient. If solar, for example, is in the cards, find Federal, State and even rural business support programs. Pick one area and start, then another, and another, until you are better than you were before. Trust me, you will get there and this is a rich area for change.
9. While your doing your Action Plan work, share your experiences with suppliers, vendors, and/or customers. Share successes, share mistakes, give them a feeling for costs vs. effort. Help them do the same things you do, maybe even easier, and learn from what they do too! This magnifies your impacts, which is a great thing.
10. You will likely find community partners along the way. You don’t have to invent the wheel as your locality in all likelihood has resources and people who are doing the same things and maybe unique things that might help you. Join the community and find ways to make it a joint effort.
11. Tout your wins! This encourages other businesses to do the same (like I did with the opening to this post). This can galvanize your employees, customers, and supporters to see what you are doing. And don’t be afraid to share what didn’t work. Maybe solar was too expensive, maybe the energy audit showed you were already good, maybe recycling dropped off. Share that too! This folds your work into the fabric of your company culture, and adds to your brand.
12. Keep going. Sustainability is not a static thing, but instead something to continue to nurture and build. It takes time, effort and a long-term commitment. Continue to find your path, update your Action Plan, and don’t stop with the easy, as the hard is where you will find the most results.

To these suggestions, add your own specifics that matter most to you and best fit your specific type of company. This general path customized to you is how to find your successes, your own Action Plan, and your own brand of sustainability. I hope this helps you find your own unique approach.