Sustainability is more than a business buzzword. For small business owners, it can be a way to eliminate waste, save money and reduce your company’s environmental impact.
We believe the private sector — especially entrepreneurs — can play a critical role in helping solve the world’s most pressing environmental and social problems and can do so by capitalizing on competitive opportunities.
We talked with Everett Community College’s new business sustainability instructor Miguel Hernandez about what sustainability is and how businesses can get started. (Full disclosure: We work for EvCC).
Hernandez’s expertise stems from a broad global education and work background in lean operations and environmental innovation. In addition, he has an master’s in business administration in sustainable business from Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Hernandez has worked on projects around the world including Mexico, France, Sweden, Brazil, Canada and the United States.
His background in lean operations and environmental innovation has allowed him to suggest performance-enhancing strategies to businesses for training and development, reducing waste and supporting teamwork among people with different languages.
What is a sustainable business?
The most important thing to consider is the Triple Bottom Line, which is people, planet, and profit, Hernandez explained. The Triple Bottom Line concept has to do with the way a company measures their own performance. In the past, performance meant profitability. In the new world of sustainability, the way to see success has to take into consideration the operation and profits along with how that affects the planet and people. The impact of sustainable business decisions includes financial, environmental, and social responsibility.
How to get started
Hernandez recommends four basic steps to help small businesses become greener:
Reduce waste: Recognize that in the current economy, businesses don’t have money to invest; however reducing waste is like picking the low-hanging fruit of sustainability initiatives. Become more efficient and get rid of the waste you have right now, which will save money. Eliminating waste can increase profitability.
Make a reduction plan: What is your company’s next step in the green climate movement? Sustainability can be overwhelming, and many businesses don’t know where to start. Establish a current carbon footprint, and begin a reduction plan. You’re on your way to a sustainable business.
Go lean and green: Once a company has determined the direction they want to go with their sustainability plan, they will need to become lean and green on the operation side and use green procurement on the purchasing side for materials. Green procurement is basically the consideration of environmental performance on raw materials along with traditional purchasing matrixes.
Ongoing evaluation: Each company practicing sustainability will need ongoing evaluation and improvement of the company’s sustainability projects.
Pat Sisneros is vice president of College Services at Everett Community College. Lynne Munoz is director for the School of Business Design. Send comments to entrepreneurship@ everettcc.edu.
Learn green
If you’re interested in creating a sustainable business or getting one of the 47,000 green- collar jobs in Washington state, Everett and Edmonds Community College have programs that can help.
Go to www.everettcc.edu or www.edcc.edu.
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