7 no-brainer ways to 'go green'

By Rieva Lesonsky

Q: "Go green." Lately, that seems to be all I read or hear about. While I am concerned about the environment, I'm not really sure how, outside of recycling, my 17 employees and I can participate.

A: Every year when Earth Day (April 22) rolls around, there seems to be an up tick in the "green" news and how we all need to be more environmentally conscious. Many Americans are now insisting that the companies they do business with commit to being more eco-friendly.

This concern isn't exactly new. As a teenager in the late 1960s, my friend Barbara and I used to trek into New York City to volunteer for an environment group. We sold "Save the Environment" buttons for 50 cents outside the famous library on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street. Despite our valiant efforts, 60s activism faded and environmental concerns seem to only crop up once a year, around Earth Day.

But today that's just not good enough. In a Yankelovich survey conducted late last year, 34% of consumers said they were more concerned about the environment than they had been the year before. Another survey conducted around the same time, 88%of Americans labeled themselves "conscious consumers" and "socially responsible, while 86% said they were "environmentally friendly." More important: 87 % said they are more likely to buy from businesses that "commit to environmentally-friendly" practices.

So your customers expect you to do your part—all year round. How can you meet this expectation? Well, there are the obvious ways: ban Styrofoam coffee cups and ask your employees to bring their own mugs; use recycled products whenever you can; establish recycling programs for paper, glass and soda cans (and encourage your employees to do so at home as well); make sure all lights and computers are turned off every night and that you're using energy-efficient lighting.

But you can—and should—do more. Here are other green ideas:

1. Plants (real, not fake) are not just office decoration. They actually help cleanse the air.

2. Communicate via e-mail rather than fax (unless you use a fax-modem) or regular mail. Don't print e-mails unless absolutely necessary.

3. When printing, use the double-sided document setting whenever possible.

4. Do you ship products? Make sure your packaging is recyclable. And don't use oversize packaging. I recently got a tube of mascara in the mail in a package that would have easily held at least 100 tubes. I made note to never order from that store again.

5. Make sure any appliances (or even vending machines) in your office are Energy Star Certified.

6. Ask the janitorial service to use non-toxic cleaners.

7. Encourage your employees to use mass transit (when possible) or car pool. Is there a way you can incentivize these practices?

These ideas are internally focused. But what about the face you put out to the world? Green marketing is hot and one of the latest trends is carbon offsets. This essentially means participating in environmentally-friendly programs to counterbalance (or offset) the damage caused by everyday business practices. Many big businesses have jumped on this trend. Volkswagen, for instance, vowed to plant enough trees to make up for the carbon emissions of the cars it sold over a four month period. (They were able to plant more than 900 acres of trees in Louisiana as a result.)

Do you use direct mail to promote your business? If so, investigate reducing the size (and quantity) of your mailings. The Direct Marketing Association reported that in a year their members mailed nearly one billion fewer pieces just by using the DMA's mail preference service.

You can't just talk the talk when it comes to going green. In a survey conducted by Cone and Boston College over half of consumers don't trust the eco-friendly claims from businesses. So you have to be transparent about what you're doing. About 67% of consumers said they'd view direct mail more positively if the mailings they received were on recycled paper or if the companies promised to plant new trees. Consider sending a marketing postcard printed on paper embedded with wildflower seeds. It's not only eco-friendly, these cards are still unusual enough to capture consumers' attention.

Kermit the frog has long proclaimed "it's not easy being green." But it's not as hard as it used to be. For more ideas, you might want to check out the new book, True Green @ Work from National Geographic. The authors, Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin offer 100 ideas for creating a more environmentally-friendly workplace.