The Challenges of Going Green with Your Business

“Finding products and components that aremanufacture a single hybrid vehicle. Why is this?
sustainably made is a combination of measuringBecause the sum total of all their environmental efforts
“footprints” and exercising good judgment andand products add up to an impressive environmental
common sense. Here are some things that you shouldrecord. They have no hybrids but among companies
understand when assessing the “ green creds”building cars in the US they have one of the highest
of any product.” - Wayne D. KingMPG ranking across their fleet. Add to this, just in time
The term green is an unregulated term that can meanand regionalized manufacturing and inventory systems
many things to many people, similar to "natural" withthat reduce their shipping and the fact that every one
food products.of their facilities in the US has achieved a zero carbon
A products green credential can be measured in manyfootprint and you see a total picture emerge that is
ways because there are many steps in themore sustainable than you might expect at first blush.
manufacturing process. For example, one of ourSo how do you measure the sustainability profile of a
products MOP, Maximum Oil Pickup is – without acompany that you are considering as a vendor?
doubt – the most sustainable product on the marketProducts and Processes
among oil absorbents. Yet there are a number ofTo begin with, you want to examine both their
companies laying claim to the “green-space” inproducts and their manufacturing processes. The
this multi-billion dollar industry. One competitor of MOPdegree of sustainability for any product can run the
uses a very energy intensive mining process to mine agamut from a product that is completely carbon
"natural" product which they label as a "green" product.intensive from start to finish to a cradle-to-cradle green
Since the product itself is a naturally occurring item, it isproduct that is produced sustainably and is completely
fair to say that the raw material for manufacturing thegreen itself - made from 100% recycled and natural
sorbent (the term of an absorbent product) is green,products, organic or fully recyclable.
but the manufacturing process is decidedly NOT green.Furthermore, it is certainly worth considering other
Some customers who are looking to be able to claimfactors that are relevant. For example a quart of
that they are using a green product may find thisstrawberries grown in your community may be grown
sufficiently acceptable, particularly if they are seekingusing a carbon-based fertilizer making them ineligible
"window dressing" rather than a genuinely sustainablefor the claim of organic. However, their carbon
product. Customers who are sincerely seeking tofootprint is surely smaller than the same quart of
reduce their carbon footprint will see through thisstrawberries grown organically but shipped across the
immediately. Furthermore, organizations that makecountry.
determinations about this will see immediately theEvery product is going to have a different story to tell
shortcomings of products that are "greenwashing".based on its component parts, its manufacturing
“Finding products and components that areprocess and its recycle-ability. The choices you make
sustainably made is a combination of measuringwill need to be based on both the goals of your
“footprints” and exercising good judgment andcompany and the profile of your clients/customers in
common sense. Here are some things that you shouldthe context of other obvious considerations such as
understand when assessing the “ green creds”price points for the products, shipping issues etc.
of any product.”Returning to the MOP product addressed at the
Choosing a green product in today’s environment isbeginning of this article, we were attracted to the
a challenging task. It’s important for two majorproduct from the beginning by its green power across
reasons:the broad spectrum of product and production.
1. If you are sincerely working to reduce yourUltimately, MOP achieves the highest possible level of
company’s carbon footprint, or working towardsustainability, a cradle-to-cradle level, by first utilizing
measuring your triple bottom line, you want to be ableonly recycled and organic materials and employing a
to choose a company that has a truly sustainableproduction process that uses green hydroelectric
product and manufacturing process.energy as its power source. Their claims regarding this
2. Consumers and watchdog organizations have ancan all be verified and validated allowing a business
increasing level of sophistication when it comes toconsidering utilizing their product the confidence to
products that claim some level of green-ness and areknow that they will not be subject to claims of
savvy when it comes to companies that aregreenwashing or individuals and advocates questioning
employing greenwashing techniques to positionthe validity of the claims or splitting hairs over whether
themselves in the market, but not really achieving athe sustainability of the product is counteracted by the
level of sustainability that reflects well on people whoproduction process. Assuming under these
use their products.circumstances that you can make the other aspects
Having said this, it is important to say that somework for your financial bottom line, a product like this
common sense and good judgement needs to becovers the social and environmental bottom lines to
employed in this process as well. For example: Suburuachieve success in reaching goals in your triple bottom
of America is arguably the greenest automobileline.
company in the US today, even though they do not