Does a Green Business Need ISO 14000?
The ISO 14000 family, first introduced in 1996, is a set of international standards used for certifying businesses and organizations as equipped to manage their environmental impact. The standards, like the ISO 9000 family before them, focus on management systems, not environmental policies in particular. The reason for the focus on management and not actual environmental laws or policies was to establish an international set of standards, despite the necessarily different levels of environmental regulation throughout the world. Consequently, ISO 14000 does not verify the environmental quality of a product, but the oversight of environmental quality. In addition, the standards ...
Seattle Bans Disposable Food Packaging
The City of Seattle is leading the way to a more sustainable future, making history by becoming the first municipality to implement a ban on one time use food packaging. The ban affects the entire food service industry in Seattle—restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, delis, and even private cafeterias. Starting on July 1st 2010, they must provide customers with packaging that is either compostable or recyclable. That means no more disposable paper napkins, coffee stirrers, clamshells, cups, or lids. This is a monumental step on the path toward a zero waste future. In addition, food service facilities must also provide their customers ...
Greenwashing: How to Avoid the Typical Marketing Traps
Extracted from EnvironmentalLeader.com Robert Lilienfeld Editor The ULS (Use Less Stuff) Report “Greenwashing” typically refers to marketing and advertising claims that are based on environmental puffery rather than performance. Experience indicates that many claims, even those from sophisticated multinationals, fall under the “greenwashing” banner. While such claims may seem to make sense over the short-term, they create long-term potential for consumer dissatisfaction, regulatory challenges, and even monetary damages. While standards differ globally, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations are a good model to follow virtually anywhere in the world. Listed below are the four factors of ...
Green Restaurant Creates New Market
Here is a great example of how businesses are leveraging green practices and products to open up to a new market of customers. The novel restaurant, Otarian, calculates the carbon footprint for each item on its menu to helps customers choose low-carbon items (similar to the recent wave of choosing low-calorie items). The Australian-based restaurant is testing out the waters by opening four new locations in New York City and London, and so far they've been quite successful in attracting eco-minded individuals. Note that they have also greened their operations and save energy as well! ---Green Irene (Extracted from Springwise.com) Much the way ...
10 Ways to Cut Paper Waste in an Office
Using paper wisely is the easiest way for any business to cut back on its environmental burden. It’s also a great strategy to reduce budgeting costs. It’s simple, and any business—small or large—can do it! Here are ten practical tips for getting started: 1. Print only when necessary. Encourage your employees and coworkers to think about the environment before they print and to print only what needs to be printed. It’s hard to break the habit of printing everything, but with PDFs, unlimited email accounts, and large hard drives, many documents can stay ...
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5 Tips To Green Your Business Fleet
The 2011 Leaf - Nissan's New All-Electric Car. Many businesses have their own vehicle fleets to ship items or carry out business activities. Such businesses have a significant carbon footprint from transportation that can be reduced by taking simple and big steps towards reducing fuel consumption. In the long-run, most of these steps can accrue significant savings to businesses with vehicle fleets.... [Read more]
Video: 30 Rock Goes Green
Pressured by board members to set a good example during ‘Green Week’, Jack is faced with finding a way to cut energy consumption. I guess this is what people are referring to when they say don’t believe everything you hear on TV. Check out this hilarious clip from the hit NBC show 30 Rock: Read More →
Calculating Your Office Carbon Footprint
Knowing your office carbon footprint is an important part of moving towards a greener and more efficient business operation. Calculating your footprint can be a perfect first step in determining baselines for conservation and emission reduction initiatives. It also gives you an excellent tool for tracking the progress of conservation efforts, comparing your carbon footprint with similar businesses,... [Read more]
What Is Corporate Social Responsibility?
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of business self-regulation to incorporate social and environmental concerns. It represents a business model that adheres to laws, ethical standards, and international norms. As part of the business model, businesses have to take into account the impact of their activities on the environment, employees, communities, stakeholders, and other members of... [Read more]
Greener Disposable Tableware for the Office
I try to limit my use of disposables as much as possible. Reusing something is, after all, the greenest option. But it’s not always practical. For an office kitchen or corporate event, it may not make sense to have reusable plates that could be broken or lost. At the same time, all those boxes of plastic plates won’t biodegrade any time soon. In fact, they’ll probably still be around for thousands... [Read more]
