Next time you have to provide drinks at a corporate event, offer your clients refreshments, or find something hydrating on a hot day, consider this: tap water provides a safe, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly alternative to bottled water. Manufacturers have worked to convince customers that paying a premium for a disposable, plastic container full of water is worth the expense. Yet a growing body of research holds that bottled water might not be worth the hype—and that your business is better off without it.

Disposable water bottles are fast becoming a serious environmental hazard. In the United States alone, 30 billion water bottles are sent to landfills every year, and every bottle takes a shocking 1,000 years to decompose. That adds up to a lot of trash. Simply producing the plastic bottles themselves generates waste: it takes 3 liters of water to produce 1 liter of bottled water, the Sierra Club reports, and a United Nations study concludes that producing bottled water for the U.S. market requires 17 million barrels of oil per year.

Bottled water generates much more waste than tap water, and generates little heath benefit in return. In fact, because of the structure of federal regulation, most tap water might actually provide a safer and cleaner alternative. Regulation of bottled water is patchy at best. Between 60-70% of the bottled water sold in the United States is exempt from all FDA regulation, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reported in a four-year study. The same report revealed that about one fourth of bottled water is actually just bottled tap water.

Switching to tap water makes sense, both for the sake of the planet and the sake of your account book. In New York City, for example, an individual’s consumption of eight glasses of tap water per day for a year costs only 49 cents. Eight glasses of bottled water per day for a year, in contrast, costs a whopping $14,000.

Whether your business is a restaurant, a tech startup or a hair salon, offering employees and clients tap water rather than bottled water can add up to big savings over time. Providing pitchers of water in elegant glasses or reusable mugs can even serve as a marketing tool, and signal your company’s commitment to environmental responsibility. If you’re worried about the purity of tap water in your area, inexpensive water filtration systems provide a safe and easy alternative to water coolers. Encourage your employees to use reusable mugs and bottles, and if not, to recycle any bottled of water they purchase. As part of a Green Business Makeover, your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant can introduce you to many other water purity and waste reduction ideas, as well as to Green Irene’s full line of business products, including a premium 10-stage countertop water filter, reusable water bottles, modular recycling receptacles, and much more.

Sustainably yours,

Green Irene

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 themselves are not available to the public free of charge, unlike the vast majority of audits conducted in the United States.

The reception of ISO 14000 has been quite mixed internationally. While the program has been very popular in Japan, Germany and the UK, it has been slow to catch on in the US, with only a few hundred firms receiving certification thus far. In general, the lack of popularity of ISO 14000 in the US is attributed to our strict environmental regulations that are already in place. Many companies view ISO 14000 as a waste of resources when they already have a strong environmental management system in place to meet federal, state, and local government regulations. Compounding the issue, ISO 14000 certification is essentially meaningless to US governing bodies, who have not relaxed regulation in response to the adoption of the international standards. While in Europe, on the contrary, ISO 14000 has even been incorporated into national government standards.

The auditing process itself is not performed by the ISO, but independent third-party consulting firms. These audits typically cost more than $10,000 and take about a year, meaning they are a huge investment of time and money to smaller businesses. ISO 14000 is also more useful for manufacturers and exporters, because they have to deal with foreign companies and governments who have begun to incorporate the international standards into their business practices. Additionally, since the standards are not made public, it adds virtually zero marketing value toward consumers, and is only truly valuable for business to business relations.

Perhaps future ISO guidelines will be more successful in doing so, but currently ISO 14000 is not truly universal enough to apply to the many small businesses in this country. Instead, small businesses might be advised to green their practices in a manner to market directly to the consumer, not international corporations, while continuing to comply with local, regional, and national regulations.

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 most concern to the FTC regarding advertising claims of all types, but specifically environmental claims.

1. Specificity

The single most important point to remember when making claims is to be as specific as possible. Doing so will require that claims be substantiated by communicating all of the following:

• What is being claimed  (e.g., Reduced energy consumption during production…)
• By how much – (e.g., …by 12%)
• Compared to what – (e.g., …versus the previous product formulation.)

Claims that are general or vague are not only considered to be meaningless, the FTC considers them to be deceptive. Technically, this means claims that appear to be simple and harmless, such as “eco-friendly” and “green,” are actually open to scrutiny and legal action.

2. Clarity, Prominence, Comprehension

To further prevent deception, any qualifications or disclosures relating to claims should be clear, prominent and easily understood. According to the FTC, “clarity of language, relative type size and proximity to the claim being qualified, and an absence of contrary claims that could undercut effectiveness will maximize the likelihood that the qualifications and disclosures are appropriately clear and prominent.” Footnotes and other qualifying statements should thus be easy to find and understand.

3. Lack of Overstatement

Environmental claims, attributes and benefits should not be overstated. Both the absolute and relative merits of a claim must be considered.

Example 1: Claiming that a package has been reduced in weight by 50% would be considered deceptive if the package in question now weighed 1 gram, versus 2 grams in the past. However, a 50% move from 16 oz. to 8 oz. would probably be considered acceptable, based upon the absolute change in question.

Example 2: A resin is described simply as being “recyclable.” However, the current recycling infrastructure cannot handle this resin, or it can only be handled in a very few places. Even if the resin is technically capable of being recycled, the claim is deceptive since it asserts an environmental benefit where no significant or meaningful benefit exists.

4. Comparative Clarity and Substantiation

Comparative claims must be stated in a way that makes the basis for comparison as clear as possible. The comparison should also be substantiated.

Please not that in Europe, product comparison claims are either outlawed outright or considered to be a form of unfair competition. Always talk to your legal advisors before making any specific comparative claim versus another company or its products.

To sum up, the best way to avoid the perception of “greenwashing” is to relate advertising claims to clear and specific benefits (i.e., solid waste, water use, energy consumption), while providing meaningful information and data to support the claims. Doing so will help build trust in your company and its products among key stakeholders such as employees, customers, regulators and the media.

Robert Lilienfeld is editor of the ULS (Use Less Stuff) report. Published monthly, The ULS Report is a leading international source of information relating to waste prevention, source reduction, packaging, and sustainable practices. A full analysis of FTC environmental marketing claims by ULS Editor Bob Lilienfeld can be found at http://www.use-less-stuff.com/resources.htm

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 1^st 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 with the proper recycling and compost receptacles, and they are required to manage this waste properly. Seattle has partnered with Cedar Grove Composting to provide food service facilities with guidelines and an outlet for the gigantic outflow of compost. Cedar Grove processes the used organic material within a few months, and then they sell it back to consumers to use as a natural fertilizer. Already about half of the city’s 1700 restaurants have signed up with Cedar Grove to manage their compost collections.

There is still a temporary exemption on utensils, straws, and food wrapping—these items can be made from conventional plastic or foil, for the time being. By next July, they too will be included under the ban, which takes effect in phases. The significance of this is that it gives businesses time to adjust to the new rules, under which they can’t offer single use disposable products.

Businesses and restaurants in other cities might want to take notice, too. The Seattle Ban may be an indication of municipal action soon to come from other progressive cities, such as New York, San Francisco, or Washington D.C. As the country grows, more waste is produced, putting a greater strain on the landfills that large cities export tons of trash to each day. Waste reduction will become an ever more attractive option to solve this impending issue. On top of this, increasingly environmentally conscious consumers will look to businesses to be responsible. This is a trend that won’t ease up until it becomes more economical to dump garbage onto the Moon.

Green Irene's New Modular Recycling Receptacles

Some businesses might see this trend as a burden, but others might see it as an opportunity to appeal to a new market of consumers. By reducing waste passed onto customers and helping them manage this waste in a sustainable manner, they can attract new customers and hold onto others. Green Irene now provides top of the line waste receptacles, which are stylish and customizable to fit any waste reduction strategy, such as composting or recycling or both! We also have a line of compostable tableware made from bagasse, a derivative of sugar cane. Small to medium-sized businesses in need of an environmentally friendly image can also look to Green Irene to be their outsourced chief sustainability officer.        During a Green Business Makeover with Green Business Bureau certification, businesses can count on our local eco-consultants to help them anticipate new rules and trends by taking the initiative to be more sustainable.

Waste reduction can make a difference in your company’s bottom line and its environmental impact, but for California, commercial recycling is also becoming a legal requirement.

Most states already have laws in place governing the proper disposal of commercial hazardous waste like old electronics and fluorescent lighting. California is now taking the requirement one step further with AB32, a bill which would institute mandatory commercial recycling state-wide.

Under the rules currently being finalized, all businesses would be required to recycle all materials collected in their locality (or demonstrate that they do not produce waste with recyclable content). Each town or municipality would be responsible for working out the program’s details through local ordinances, and would also have responsibility for enforcement with fines for non-compliant businesses.

The program will be rolled out in California over the next two years, coming into full effect in July 2012.

So what are the implications for your business now? For those in California, get a head start by coming into compliance before the new regulations take effect. Your local Eco-Consultant can be a great resource in helping you to design and implement a company-wide recycling initiative as part of a Green Business Makeover. Your Eco-Consultant can also introduce you to Green Irene’s full line of waste reduction and recycling products, including modular recycling receptacles that can be customized to fit the needs of your business, and a durable “smiley” receptacle that will encourage employees and customers alike to recycle.

For businesses in other states, be certain that you understand the environmental regulations for your area. Making sure that you are in compliance with local regulations is important for avoiding fines or liability, and it also confirms your good stewardship of the local environment and your community’s health.

Since Green Irene launched the Activeion ionator EXP as part of our non-toxic cleaning product line, we’ve received a ton of questions about the underlying technology for the device. After years of using typical cleaning chemicals on employees desks, breakroom and other work surfaces, the idea of a totally chemical-free cleaning and sanitizing solution struck some as a little too good to be true. Many companies have an outside cleaning crew come through nightly or periodically, but you should have a say in what toxic (or non-toxic) products they are using in your employees work areas.

We were also skeptical until we tried the ionator ourselves and studied the independent lab results. This amazing device really works, and many businesses and institutions have already adopted the technology as part of their day-to-day cleaning toolkit. The technology driving the ionator products has even been used for decades in food processing plants, four-star restaurants, and large hotels.

So how can an appliance transform water into a safe cleaning and sanitizing agent?

Most cleaners work through chemistry by creating a reaction to break up dirt, stains, or germs. The Activeion ionator EXP works through physics: much like the freezing of water creates ice, and the heating of water makes steam, the ionator EXP gives water a tiny electrical charge. This process, called “water electrolysis,” actually makes tiny bubbles throughout the water that hold this electrical charge. As these “nanobubbles” build up on a dirt particle, the electrical charges push against each other (like magnets pushing away from each other), which breaks the dirt apart and suspends it in the surrounding water, making it easy to then wipe away.

Most typical sanitizers also work chemically, relying on a chemical reaction to kill bacteria. However, the ionator EXP uses the physical process of “electroporation.” The electrical charge held by the water creates holes in the cell walls of surrounding germs. This irreversible process kills bacteria, viruses, and other germs within 6 seconds of exposure.

The ionized water is completely safe; you can get it on your skin and it’s 100% safe for ingestion. (Don’t try that with the chemicals your cleaning company uses now!) The nanobubbles and the electrical charge in the water last only 30 to 45 seconds, after which the water returns to a completely regular state.

By eliminating the repeated expense of buying general-purpose cleaning chemicals to clean things like desks, whiteboards, windows, countertops and the like, the ionator EXP can give you a safer, quicker, and less expensive way to clean and sanitize. Your local Eco-Consultant can help you to better understand how the device would fit with your business’ cleaning routine. You heard it here first…just like every office has a vacuum cleaner, every office and institution will soon have the ionator EXP.

A recent Eco Pulse® survey showed that Latino Americans are not only the country’s fastest growing minority group, but are arguably the greenest group as well. In fact, results showed that Latinos are significantly more likely to be searching for greener products than other populations. When you consider that about 47 million Americans are Latino, or nearly one in six residents according to the Census Bureau, this is a market that small- and medium-sized businesses cannot afford to ignore.

In addition, according to MarketingProfs.com, buying power among the Latino population in the U.S. is also increasing at a rapid pace. Between 1996 and 2008, the median income of Latino households rose 36%, from $27,977 to $37,913, while the median for all US households increased at a slower 26%, from $39,869 to $50,303. And according to the Census Bureau and other studies, Latino buying power is expected to reach more than $1 trillion by 2011. That puts Latinos ahead of all other minority groups. In this day and age, the Latino audience carries significant purchasing power and simply cannot be ignored in a company’s green marketing strategy.

“Clients who have had a Green Business Makeover and earned Green Business Bureau Certifications may now resonate with a new demographic they haven’t previously considered,” says PJ Stafford, CEO and Co-founder of Green Irene. “This could definitely mean a growth opportunity for them!”

Latino consumers are more driven by emotion and direct experience, and less by data, than other consumers. To be successful in reaching the Latino audience, you must understand that the messages that work in the Anglo market can’t simply be transferred verbatim to the Latino market. Care must be taken to culturally adapt the message to capture its thought, meaning and feeling, not just the words.

In crafting your green marketing message to resonate with your Latino customers, keep in mind that family, especially extended family, takes center stage. Extended families are characterized by strong and close bonds that extend outside the nuclear unit to include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other, non-family members. Latinos buy to enhance their experience with family and community.

When developing marketing to address the Latino consumer, it takes more than the translation of your existing message to be successful. You must transcreate your message by adapting it to the cultural and community references that resonate with these consumers.  By framing your green marketing message in context that is experienced emotionally, you will open your business to new markets and enjoy the financial success that this brings.

The Eco Pulse® study, which looks at green consumer trends, found that:

• 75 percent of Latinos are looking for greener products, compared to 61 percent of Caucasians and 57 percent of African Americans.
• 25 percent said they felt “very personally responsible” to change their daily habits and purchases to positively impact the environment, compared to 13 percent of Caucasian respondents.
• 65 percent had conversations with their kids on conservation or an environmental topic, compared to 49 percent of all respondents.

We’re green! After making the investment in a Green Business Makeover and earning a Green Business Bureau Certification, that may be the message you want to spread. There’s nothing like it for attracting new business. People are becoming more eco-conscious every day, and businesses that heed this trend give themselves a distinct marketing edge.

While going green is a great story to tell – and a timely one at that – you should consider whether to use it as the main message in all your marketing.  The key to the success of your green message is to know your audience, how they’ll receive your message, and when a little green is just enough.

Know Your Audience

Face it, even though you and millions of others are concerned about the environment, some people just aren’t. Your marketing should focus mainly on customer benefits, which is why customers buy your product in the first place. While environmental benefits are important enough to influence the purchasing decisions of “deep green” consumers, they aren’t the primary reasons ordinary consumers prefer one product over another.

When deciding whether to use green as your marketing message, ask yourself – does my customer demographic make purchasing decisions based on green issues?  Does the fact that our product or company is green impact its effectiveness in meeting customers’ needs?  If the answer to these questions is “yes” or “sometimes”, then incorporate green into your message.

Know the Media

Today companies have more channels than ever to get their marketing messages to their customers.  There’s traditional print media, social media, email marketing, promotional items and many, many more.  When considering whether to use green as your message, consider how the message is being delivered.  Don’t print a green message on a media that is not eco-friendly.  Printing “We’re green!” on a single-use plastic bag or on a gas-guzzling SUV is contradictory at best and damaging to your business at worst.

On the other hand, marketing vehicles like newsletters, blogs and social media sites allow you to develop a dialogue with, and educate, your customers.  Use these media to discuss the sustainability, recyclability, compostability and other green aspects of your product.  Invite third parties such as independent research firms, trade associations, industry institutes or other unbiased voices to comment on the efficacy of your product and the validity of your claims. Take advantage of the opportunities these methods provide to engage consumers at an emotional level, thus building “green” brand equity.

When a Little Green Goes a Long Way

You may find that your consumer demographic and the way you are communicating with them doesn’t support a strong green message.  What might you do then?  As Green Irene clients who have earned Green Business Bureau Certification, you can use your seal on all your marketing materials to let consumers know about your green commitment, without being too heavy handed.  In other words, sometimes just a little green does the trick!

Places to use your membership seal:

Email signature

Business cards*

Stationery*

Vehicle signs/wraps

Brochures*

Quote sheets/invoices*

Signage/flags

Packaging

Print advertising*

Yellow pages listings

Corporate apparel

Press releases

*Be sure these materials minimize waste and environmental impact in order to avoid being contradictory. Perhaps use materials that contain partially recycled content – you can advertise this too!

Looking for simple ways to reduce costs and your carbon footprint? Consider biodiesel!

Unlike fossil fuels, biodiesel is a renewable fuel source made from vegetable oilseed crops grown in America. The fuel can even be derived from restaurant waste oils. Biodiesel can be used alone or mixed in any amount with petroleum diesel fuel. A 20% blend of biodiesel with diesel fuel is called “B20,” a 5% blend is called “B5” and so on.

Biodiesel is rapidly biodegradable and non-toxic (making handling and transportation less dangerous), and it greatly reduces the environmental impact from emissions (with 78% less CO2 emissions compared to petroleum diesel). This lessened environmental impact also translates into lower risks of health impacts: According to the American Lung Association biodiesel emissions are 90% less toxic than petro-diesel and will reduce incidents of health hazards such as asthma, emphysema and lung cancer.

Still not sure if you’re ready to make the switch? Consider how easy the transition can be:

• Biodiesel runs in any conventional diesel engine. No engine modifications are necessary to use biodiesel.
• Biodiesel can be stored anywhere that petroleum diesel fuel is stored. All diesel fueling infrastructure including pumps, tanks and transport existing trucks can be used with biodiesel.
• Biodiesel has superior lubrication quality than that of diesel fuel. It increases engine life and can be used to replace sulfur, the acid-rain-causing lubricating agent in petroleum diesel.
• Engines running on biodiesel run normally and have similar fuel mileage to engines running on diesel fuel. Auto ignition, fuel consumption, power output, and engine torque are relatively unaffected by biodiesel.
• Biodiesel saves money. Engines running on biodiesel have been shown to need less maintenance. Also, biodiesel use allows federal fleet managers to keep existing equipment on the road longer and still adhere to new, stricter emissions standards.

If your business currently uses diesel fuel, Green Irene recommends making the switch: use biodiesel in your diesel trucks, or even in any furnaces that use heating oil. As part of a Green Business Makeover, your local Green Irene Eco-Consultant can help to guide you in making this transition. Contact your local Eco-Consultant today, and get started on reducing your costs and your carbon footprint with biodiesel!

Excerpts from Tri-State Biodiesel