Facing environmental responsibility
It is possible to improve your bottom line while improving the environment
By Mike Baker -- Industrial Distribution, 12/1/1999
Hardly a day goes by when we don't read about some major environmental issue facing a business or community, and often businesses get a bad rap for responding slowly or poorly to those issues. Businesses are too often on the defensive rather than the offensive when it comes to environmental issues.During the past nine years, I've been actively involved with environmental issues in the community where I live and work, Monroe County, Indiana. What I've found is that business leaders can have a positive effect on the process of addressing environmental concerns by providing a much needed balance to debates regarding those environmental concerns.
The major issue I chose to get involved with had the potential to affect the entire Monroe County community and our business. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, county, city and state governments were entangled in a complicated battle deciding how to clean up five major PCB contaminated sites in the community. The proposed cleanup plan to burn the contaminated soil seemed worse than the contamination itself to citizens who were fighting the government. Businesses were silent for fear of alienating the government or potential customers.
But by working within the process, I discovered it was possible for a small group of business and professional people to gain community support for opposing the original cleanup plan and to force all parties to consider alternatives. Communication between all parties improved and although there were many disagreements over the specifics, the final outcome was that the EPA and governmental parties scrapped the original plan and have moved toward implementing a cleanup that is more accepted by the community. In fact, several sites have been cleaned to residential standards and are now available for productive use.
Often what is lacking in environmental debate is an understanding of how government and businesses operate. As a business leader, by using some of the same skills you use to run your business, you can help champion environmental causes in your company and community. Your involvement will not only show your employees and customers your commitment to the community, but it can encourage other business leaders to get involved, which improves the quality of life for everyone.
There are a wide variety of ways to get involved in environmental issues. You are helping the environment, for example, when you talk to a customer about how to reduce their scrap, consolidate chemicals, or find a better product that lasts longer. By becoming active in local community environmental issues, your customers will see that you are serious about making the world a better place to live and that you are truly investing in the community.
There may also be tangible benefits to increasing your environmental awareness and actions. For example, there can be real cost savings for companies that implement recycling programs, switch to safer cleaners and paint systems, and review their waste stream: the larger the waste problem, the greater the potential for cost savings. It is possible to improve your bottom line and at the same time improve the environment around you. The return on your investment of time and energy may be the largest of your business career.
Mike Baker is president of Quality Mill Supply Co., Inc., in Bloomington, Ind., and winner of the 1999 American Eagle Award for the outstanding distributor environmental program presented in May at the ASMMA/I.D.A. convention in San Francisco.
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