You can implement sustainability initiatives until the cows come home, but if only upper-level management is involved, those initiatives are likely going to fall flat.
To get all its employees involved, Point Imaging initiated a program called, “Going
Green with Caffeine.”
“We were probably spending around $3000 a year on paper cups,” Mario Perez says, which was bad for the environment and bad for Point Imaging’s bottom line. To replace the paper cups, everyone was issued their own coffee mug with their choice of image on it. It wasn’t a major initiative, but it was one more step in the shop becoming a greener company, Perez says. And, it created awareness with its employees about the company’s environmental responsibility.
Carmen Rad at CR&A Custom gets her employees involved by rewarding them for their recycling efforts. “We try and get everyone connected to what our goal is,” Rad says. “They really make the effort to make sure everything that can, goes into the recycling bins, and not the trash. And, usually, if someone does see something in the trash that belongs in the recycling bin, they’ll pick it up and put it in the bin.”
Every two weeks, the collected recyclables are taken to the local recycling plant and the money earned is used for an employee pizza party. “We try to implement small programs, too, and even though they’re small, they really matter,” Rad says. “And the employees really love it. I mean, who doesn’t love a free lunch?”