Are you spearheading a new sustainability initiative for your company? Looking for ideas to refresh your existing strategy?
We scoured the internet for examples and definitions of corporate environmental sustainability and compiled them here.
Ask anyone to define sustainability and you’ll probably get a different answer every time.
While some focus on the environmental side of sustainability, others include economics, communities, infrastructure, and health.
For example, the UN’s sustainable development goals encompass a broad spectrum of environmental goals such as clean energy and climate action as well as goals for economic growth, hunger, poverty, health, education, equality, peace, and justice.
Companies often categorize sustainability into three pillars: Environment, Social, and Economic.
This article focuses on corporate environmental sustainability.
Whether you are starting from ground zero with a corporate sustainability plan, or looking to refresh your existing program, keep reading for plenty of examples and inspiration!
If you’re starting a corporate sustainability program from ground zero, you’ll need to justify your time and resources. Here are four reasons to invest in corporate sustainability:
To organize the examples, we broke them down into three categories, or hierarchies. Click on any of the buttons below to jump to that section.
Pollution can occur in the air, water, or soil. Pollution prevention, sometimes referred to as P2, refers to reducing or eliminating waste at the source. Goals such as waste reduction and reducing carbon footprint ultimately support a much broader objective of pollution prevention.
Examples:
Resource conservation refers to the practice of using resources such as water, energy, and raw materials efficiently and ethically.
Examples:
Real World Examples:
Having a zero waste to landfill goal means you plan to eliminate all discharge to landfill. It means you are not shipping any wastes for treatment at a landfill.
While zero waste and zero waste the landfill are often used interchangeably, zero waste to landfill is a component of zero waste. When a facility acquires the zero waste to landfill (ZWTL) status, it means that absolutely no manufacturing waste from the facility goes to landfill sites.
Some issues with a zero to landfill goal is that a company could incinerate their waste and still claim zero landfill. Unfortunately, Waste to Energy (WTE) can produce large amounts of ash that must still be landfilled.
Real World Examples
Waste reduction is the method used to achieve zero waste.
According to the EPA, waste minimization refers to the use of source reduction and/or environmentally sound recycling methods prior to energy recovery, treatment, or disposal of wastes.
If zero waste is too ambitious of a goal, you can start with a goal of waste reduction or waste minimization.
Example
Real World Example
Thousands of manufacturers achieve waste reduction with reuse laundering programs for towels, mops, gloves, and oil absorbents.
The video below shows the environmental impact in just one year from reusable oil absorbents.
Zero discharge means to eliminate discharge pollutants from a point source (such as a building or processing plant) to local waterways.
Zero discharge can refer to a plant eliminating all pollutants (for example, Gold Inc. has zero discharge from their processing plant) or a specific pollutant (for example, Bronze Inc. has zero copper discharge into receiving water from their operations).
Part of zero discharge includes being a good water steward. According to the Water Council, good water stewards understand their own water use, watershed context and shared risk in terms of water governance, water balance, water quality, and important water-related areas.
Examples
Real World Example
Reducing your carbon footprint is to reduce your carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming.
Examples
Real World Examples
Lean manufacturing is a systematic method for waste minimization within a manufacturing system without sacrificing productivity. These wastes refer to defects, excess processing, overproduction, waiting, inventory, moving, motion, and non-utilized talent.
A reduction in excess processing and defects, in particular, can have a substantial impact on environmental sustainability.
Alternative energy refers to all non-fossil-fuel-based energy sources and processes. Examples include solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, wave power, nuclear, hydropower.
Responsible consumption means using our resources and energy efficiently. Responsibility lies in the hands of everyone – manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers.
Responsible waste management falls into the hands of every person, and company, that generates waste. It means that waste is properly segregated and handled accordingly. According to the EPA’s waste management hierarchy, source reduction and reuse are the preferred methods, followed by recycling, energy recovery, and finally, treatment and disposal.
Recycling means turning an item into raw materials which can be used again, usually for a completely new product. Reuse, in contrast, refers to using an object as it is without breaking it down.
Reuse is preferred over recycling because recycling consumes more energy.
For more ideas, check out these 25 ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle industrial waste.
Advocacy is the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal. Advocacy can be a powerful way for companies to effect real change in environmental sustainability.
Examples
Innovation can accelerate and even revolutionize environmental sustainability initiatives. It can come in the form of product or process innovation and is a key part of achieving sustainability goals.
Whereas LEED refers to the building sector, PEER refers to the power sector. PEER stands for Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal. It’s a rating system that evaluates a power system’s performance for reliability, safety, efficiency, grid service, innovation, and regional priority.
TRUE (Total Resource Use and Efficiency) helps organizations understand how materials flow through their facilities and identify redesign opportunities so that all products are reused.
TRUE-certified projects must meet a minimum of 90 percent waste diversion for 12 months from landfills, incinerators (waste-to-energy) or the environment.
TRUE is administered by GBCI and serves as a compliment to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
Six Sigma is a set of tools and techniques to help improve processes within an organization.
The primary goal of the Six Sigma certification is to validate individuals who possess the skills to identify errors or defects in a business process and eliminate them.
The Six Sigma certification comes in various skill levels: Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt. These certifications can be obtained through an accreditation body like the American Society for Quality (ASQ).
If your focus is on energy efficiency, waste reduction, and water conservation, you may want to consider LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is a widely used green building rating system. LEED applies strictly to a building or neighborhood, not a company. LEED buildings save energy, water, resources, generate less waste and support human health.
Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) is the exclusive provider of third-party certification and professional credentials for LEED.
Real World Example
ISO 50001 supports organizations to use energy more efficiently, through the development of an energy management system.
ISO 14001:2015 specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to improve environmental performance. ISO 14001:2015 helps companies manage environmental responsibilities in a well-defined, systematic approach.
Real-World Example
These examples will hopefully get your gears turning on how you can take your environmental sustainability initiative to the next level.
Remember these key steps in building and improving your plan:
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About ITU AbsorbTech
ITU AbsorbTech is a steadily growing environmental service company with a long-standing commitment to sustainable business practices. The company recently awards the Earth Day Sustainable Product of the Year Award for innovation with SorbIts® reusable Quilted Pads.
For over 90 years, ITU AbsorbTech has provided managed service programs for launderable, reusable textile products in support of cleaner, safer and more productive work environments.
Our environmentally preferred services include floor mats, oil absorbents, and towels.
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