By your company going green, this business strategy will help save your business money.

For example, a big part of going green is to reuse certain products and finding secondary uses for them. By using this business strategy in your company, you can find big cost savings. Depending on your industry, the savings garnered by reusing and recycling items could be significant. Some things may be obvious; others may take a little imagination.

For example, a law firm may encourage its associates to store their documents online instead of a filing cabinet and save its printouts and use the back sides for subsequent prints – they will be using half of their paper and thus save money on future computer paper purchases while improving productivity by storing documents online.

Going green also implies reducing what you use and waste; again, this can lead to considerable cost savings. Businesses of all kinds often have free coffee for their employees and a lot of money is wasted on the buying and disposing of styrofoam cups. By mandating all employees bring their own mugs, you will, over the long term, save quite a few dollars and since mugs can store more coffee than styrofoam cups, your employees will not object. Or, if you give free bottled water to your employees, simply encourage or mandate that they reuse the bottles when empty. In doing so, you will again find considerable savings.

Business strategies such as purchasing recycled paper and inks are beneficial as well. Because paper can be recycled about five times before the fibers deteriorate, a single sheet of paper will have 500% more uses than if the first one is just crumpled away, necessitating a fresh sheet. Because recycling paper reduces water and air pollution, you are obviously doing the world and its occupants a service, as over time there will be less pollution which in turn improves daily life for you and your employees.

Recycling makes sense because it saves on costs such as burning paper in incinerators or burying landfill sites while providing employment for waste management workforces. Recycling services are cheaper than trash disposal services, creating even more savings for your company.

In short, going green saves money and boosts productivity without a huge investment in time or money creating instant ROI.

What small green strategies save the most money with the least effort? List your suggestions below.

Companies are responsible to the people directly. They must use fair labor practices, not use child labor, give standard salaries and give back to the community in various ways, all the while maintaining their business sustainability .

The second obligation, planet, refers to a company utilizing positive environmental practices. Businesses should not engage in ecologically damaging practices such as massive polluting or creating products that can be harmful to the planet, i.e. dangerous metals or toxic chemicals. Whereas the first obligation is essentially to the planet’s occupants, this obligation refers to the planet itself in that companies should use renewable energy, reduce waste, and determine how to be environmentally responsible while maintaining a company’s business sustainability .

The third obligation is profit, but this is a different kind of profit than one’s accountant would be familiar with. Rather, this obligation refers to how society profits, or benefits, from the company’s green conduct. There have to be social benefits to a company’s profit instead of simply higher revenue.

The company’s methods must be environmental sustainable and socially responsible in addition to being financially sound – this combination is the kind of profit that advocates of triple bottom line refer to. Money still matters, but here it’s only one factor, and not the only one that will lead to a company’s business sustainability in the long run.

Understandably, members of green parties, in addition to those who are simply pro-environment, advocate of triple bottom line theory. They understand that triple bottom line corporations focus on how they affect environmental and social values within societies and that fiscal value should be only one factor in their behaviors.

Here, businesses behave environmentally responsibly, industries conform to these changing standards, and both people and the planet thrive. The profit, both real and fiscal, is realized in new innovations, new markets, and a new way of thinking.

Employees often find their inboxes inundated with various, costly reports outlining insignificant matters that are discarded after a two-second glance over (sometimes less). During presentations, an employee may print out hundreds of pages to be bound and handed to various people in the room even though these materials are virtually ignored during presentations. Unnecessary reports and excessive printouts can drain company finances, and methods of cutting costs should be employed to eliminate the needless ones.

To eliminate the excessive costs that accompany such unnecessary reports, the company owner should instruct his employees about when it is appropriate to make such printouts and when it is fiscally irresponsible. The company must have an enforced policy about what reports are worth printing out and which ones would be better off transmitted electronically. If the materials are absolutely essential, then perhaps in those situations a hardcopy version is warranted; however, if the materials are trivial or redundant, then the employees should be instructed that these printed materials have relatively little value and drain company finances. Less urgent materials should be transmitted electronically, with the intent to move more and more reports online over time.

To determine what is an important paper item and what is not requires common sense above all.

If your employees cannot determine what is worth printing – say a new policy that affects everyday life – compared to an unimportant one – say a letter about someone’s upcoming birthday – then your employees need be trained or retrained, and you must clarify that these methods of cutting costs are to be taken seriously.

By using these methods of cutting costs, the company will boost its productivity. No longer will employees stand by the copy machine wasting valuable time and money; rather, they will send unnecessary reports and transmissions via email, which will take a fraction of the time. Because employees check their email so often, then they will receive and read these messages just as quickly, if not more so, compared to yet another random report that was shoved into their tangible inbox.

As a result of these methods of cutting costs, the employees will have more time to spend working, the company will save money as its related printing bills start to shrink, and you will have a more efficient business. Also, you’ll also help save the environment in case that’s something else you’re into.

The State of Garbage

Business sustainability counteracts the materialistic nature of modern societies that creates an addiction to garbage and waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States department dedicated to municipal waste (MSW) management, businesses generate 45 percent of the total waste in the country.

According to data taken from the “State of Garbage in America” survey in 2006, the country generates 413,014,732 tons of garbage per year; however, only 35.5 percent (146,601,768 tons) of the waste is recycled or reused. The remaining 64.5 percent (146, 601,768 tons) can be found in one of 1,800 landfills nationwide, which defeats business sustainability efforts.

Waste in Relation to Business Sustainability

In order to build business sustainability one must plan and allocate resources according to current needs. The type of waste businesses produce depends upon the industry; however, common categories include paper products, electronics and machinery, hazardous waste, non-renewable energy, as well as expired products. According to the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, office workers use 10,000 sheets of paper per year; however, only 66 percent of office paper is recycled and reused. It is pertinent to utilize recycled products within the business to increase resource efficiency.

While recycling rates remain steady for paper products, business sustainability struggles to control electronic waste (otherwise known as eWaste). With the rapid development and innovation of computers, printers, and other office machinery, businesses are constantly replacing outdated, slow, or broken equipment. Due to the chemical composition of the equipment, the items cannot be placed into landfills and require special handling to correctly dispose of the parts. Electronics are by nature nonrenewable investments; however, there are methods by which companies can recycle them.

Managing Business Waste

In an effort to increase business sustainability, businesses utilize a variety of techniques, including source reduction, recycling, composting, waste to energy incineration, and landfills. Most businesses attempt to recycle their materials; however, it requires internal and municipal coordination, which adds administrative costs, and diminishes savings. Businesses can offset the cost and improve sustainability efforts by using recycled products within their organization, such as printer paper.

Internal sustainability efforts are complemented by municipal services, who compost or incinerate materials to offset the expanding landfills. Current business sustainability efforts are band-aids to larger problems. Source reduction prevents waste from entering the ecosystem by reducing the number of resources businesses utilize. Source reduction enables businesses to increase sustainability by changing internal manufacturing and purchasing policies.

Increasing ROI Through Source Reduction

The costs to administer aggressive source reduction campaigns are offset by the long-term savings on operational expenses. Source reduction is based on the principle of a zero-waste ecosystem in which businesses use every resource that is purchased. Companies spend billions of dollars each year on products that are not used, expired, diminished, stolen, or liquidated. Every manufactured good has a set shelf life, including ink cartridges, pens, and paper.

Additionally, discarding empty printer cartridges and broken electronics creates unnecessary hazardous waste. Cost reduction and business sustainability initiatives counteract these issues by obtaining extended warranties for electronics and utilizing printer cartridge refill services.

Reducing Waste in the Workplace

Cost reduction indicates most businesses spend large sums of money to buy office supplies in bulk. It is estimated that businesses waste one-third of these goods due to expiration or loss, which defeats any bulk discounts one would receive from vendors. Additionally, the supplies take up valuable warehouse space that could otherwise be reallocated. To effectively reduce waste, analyze company purchasing policies and contracts, noting areas of concern. Exceptions apply to these policies, as vendor agreements vary depending on their business sustainability practices.

Review company financial records, inventory databases, and purchase orders to determine the amount and rate of materials consumption. Monitor print and copy logs to verify the average number of pages printed per month and adjust toner and paper orders to reflect usage. Toner cartridges provide an estimated number of copies it can produce. When developing waste reduction plans, inventory the warehouse and sort them based on expiration date, using the oldest supplies first.

Implement Waste Reduction Programs

Cost reduction programs are key to increasing ROI and business sustainability. While every employee will not “go green” willingly, everyone is motivated by “the other” green – revenue. Form a committee at the corporate level and develop a sustainability plan, outlining goals and objectives of the operation while creating deadlines for major milestones. Once a basic plan is established, create a task force at the employee level, appointing two executives as the project managers.

The executive committee oversees the task force and communicates with the project managers, who work directly with business sustainability strategists. The task force will develop a mission statement that is aligned with corporate figures and creates a program outline that addresses the various goals and objectives. Task force members actively survey all of the waste generated by the company. By highlighting the problem employees realize the economic and environmental impact of the waste.

Through aggressive internal ad campaigns and memoranda the entire company will become aware of these issues. Business sustainability and cost reduction efforts increase profitability while positioning the organization as environmentally friendly.