Sustainability issues in the business arena

There are increasing numbers of eco-friendly business decisions being made now by individual small businesses and large multi-nationals alike. Multinational franchises too are going green with the multiplier effect having ripple effects across their global coverage. In the restaurant industry two such franchise organizations are McDonald’s and Subway.

I’ve mentioned McDonald’s first LEED certified restaurant in Savannah, Ga in a previous blog-post. Another is planned for Chicago. Other initiatives include McDonald’s Energy program which they say has saved 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions – and saved the company thirty million dollars, so a win-win for all concerned.

Subway too have worked closely with the U.S. Green Building Council to follow (LEED) certification requirements, to build stores that conserve both energy and water. Subway have now opened several "Eco Stores," the first in Kissimmee, Fl., with subsequent eco-stores in St. Helens, Ore., and Keizer, Ore. There are plans for a fourth in Laplace, La. Other Subway initiatives include napkins made of 100 percent recycled materials, saving 140,000 trees a year. Also, by redesigning their shipping packaging, they’ve eliminated over 97,000 pounds of plastic annually. See the National Restaurant Association’s Conserve website: http://conserve.restaurant.org/conservenow/success_subway.cfm

The ink and toning franchising industry is another field where environmental sensitivity is on the rise. I was speaking with the owners of several CartridgeWorld franchises in Tennessee who said that 350 million cartridges are tossed into land fills annually in the United States alone and that it takes almost 1 gallon of fuel to produce a new laser cartridge. On top of that I’m told a cartridge takes around 450 years to decompose.
They said that customers are happy to give their cartridge refilling service a try when they learn that they’re not only ‘becoming more green’ but at the same time are ‘saving some green’ (around 40% to 50%, on new print cartridge prices).
It’s nice to see ‘green economics’ becoming a reality for the consumer.

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