A couple of years ago, I had lunch with an architect at a prominent Seattle firm known for its commitment to green building principles. At the time, I was considering whether it would make sense for our company to become more sustainable, or environmentally friendly, and so I wanted to hear from an expert.

By the end of the lunch, my architect friend had convinced me that not only should we do it, but we absolutely must. In this article, I’ll share with you some of what he taught me, as well as some additional lessons I learned as we converted our ceramic tile and stone distribution company, Statements Tile, into one of the greenest tile distributors in the country.

Why Green?

So is it really worth putting all this effort into “greening” your company, or is green just a passing fad? This is an important question for, as we all know, squandering resources on fool’s errands is a quick way to cripple a business. Here are the reasons why going green is imperative:

You’ll be doing good while you’re doing well. First and foremost, going green is the right thing to do. By preserving resources, conserving energy and limiting the use of dangerous toxins, we are providing our children and our children’s children with a great place to live. Who can argue with that?

Being green helps you to compete for customers and talent. It’s a rare business owner who can say, “I have plenty of customers, and never have trouble finding good employees.” For the rest of us, we need every advantage to find great clients and great employees. Being an environmentally sustainable company has allowed Statements Tile to attract incredible talent and generate new business leads.

Green products command higher prices and attract higher category clientele. In the midst of this current down cycle in residential construction, one of the strongest markets has been high-end remodels. High-end consumers are also some of the earliest adopters of green building principles. By offering green products and practices, you strengthen your appeal to clients who still have the money to spend on home improvements.

Better to go green now than to be forced to do it later. The U.S. auto industry is learning a painful lesson right now. Because the big three automakers failed to anticipate the economic and political changes in their markets, they are now scrambling to catch up to the European and Japanese car makers who started going green 15 years ago. The same combination of forces is affecting our industry as well. On the one hand, the economics of green building are improving each year, and on the other hand, politicians are mandating certain green building requirements. In other words, you can either adopt green principles now — and be a market leader like Toyota — or you can wait until you’re forced to — and be a market casualty.

How To Go Green

By now, I hope I have convinced you that going green is the right strategic decision for your business. Your next question is how. There are two aspects of making your business environmentally sustainable. The first is to use sustainable products in your jobs. What follows is a list of attributes to look for when purchasing materials. The more of these attributes that a product has, the greener it is.

Check to see if the material is made from recycled components. By reusing materials, we preserve raw materials, reduce the amount of energy that goes into manufacturing, and prevent perfectly good materials from ending up in a landfill.

Find out where the product is manufactured. Generally speaking, the shorter the distance between point-of-manufacture and point-of-use, the better for the environment, since less fuel is burned to transport the material.

Make sure that the material is free of dangerous toxins and emissions that will make an impact on air quality. In our tile business, we maintain a list of ingredients that are prohibited, including mercury, asbestos, lead and PBDEs. You can find this information on MSDS sheets or by contacting the manufacturer.

Determine how much maintenance and abrasive cleaning the product requires. If a product requires constant upkeep, especially with harsh cleansers, then it isn’t really green. Those harsh cleansers end up somewhere, and that usually means your local lake or groundwater source. 

Determine how long a product will last. The more durable a product, the fewer times it has to be replaced with new materials. In the ceramic tile business, product durability is a key green advantage over soft surfaces such as carpets and vinyls.

Finally, figure out if the material can be recycled at the end of its useful life. Materials such as glass, paper and metal come to mind when we think of recycling, but more and more materials are being salvaged for reuse. Just last year, we began offering a ceramic tile- and stone-recycling program for our customers. When our customers are replacing an existing stone or ceramic floor, they are able to bring us the demo waste, which we then turn over to an industrial recycler who grinds it up into aggregate for paving local roads.

Run A Green Shop

The second part of going green is to make sure that the way you run your business is as green as the products you install. Each business is unique, and so you’ll need to consider what impacts your business has on the environment. That said, any business can take a number of steps to improve its environmental footprint.

Use less gas. Carpool to jobsites. Encourage your office staff to take mass transit to work by providing them with bus passes. Upgrade your vehicle fleet to fuel-efficient cars and trucks.

Reuse or recycle as much jobsite waste as possible. Aside from saving on material costs and dumping fees, reducing waste is one of the most important ways that contractors can go green. Look for local vendors that provide recycling services.

Be conscious of water use. Fresh water is a limited and costly resource. On the jobsite and in your office, find ways to reduce your water consumption.

Reduce paperwork, recycle the rest. Instead of printing out invoices, statements and job plans, why not e-mail them to your customers and employees instead? Whatever paperwork you can’t get rid of, make sure to recycle instead of throwing away.

Finally, there are a couple of pitfalls to watch out for as you make your business more environmentally friendly. Don’t greenwash.

Greenwashing refers to marketing efforts that present a business or a product as environmentally friendly, when in fact it is not. Aside from the obvious danger of being caught in a fraud, you also risk alienating yourself from the key word-of-mouth marketers who will promote your green business. To avoid greenwashing, educate yourself well on the products that you offer and make your business as transparent as possible to your customers.

The next pitfall is failing to include your employees in the greening of your business. If you catch the vision, but then fail to pass it along, your green efforts will flounder as soon as you pursue the next project. Instead, provide training for your staff on what it means to go green and show real passion for the topic.

Finally, once you decide to go green, dive in, don’t wade. If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll find that your efforts to be sustainable will pay off in spades.