Sustainability

the triple bottom line: from 'green' to profitability

Story by Jen Hiatt | University of South Florida

The movement is often termed “going green.”

Some prefer “sustainable” and promote “sustainability.”

And still others call it “efficient.”

Whatever terminology is used, the message is the same: to promote an approach that evaluates people, planet and profit – often referred to as the triple bottom line.

“We’ve all heard the environmental message before,” Jack Bevilacqua of ACTgreen Partnership said. “It doesn’t cater to large businesses … If you can put dollar signs in front of it, it becomes mainstream. This is the movement that is both the right thing to do and good business.”

The key to sustainability is to evaluate the environmental impact of products, businesses, services, and behaviors over its life cycle, from creation to disposal and possible reuse.  The triple bottom line balances environmental concerns with social well-being while turning a profit.

“Anything can be a sustainable job, anything can be a sustainable business,” Timothy Freudo of 3BL Consulting said. “It’s just a matter of thinking outside the box and reevaluating what needs to be done.”

 

efficient assistance from a green guru

For businesses, sustainability starts with a plan.

Freudo, who owns a sustainability consulting firm in Tampa, helps businesses create a sustainability plan that saves money by becoming more environmentally aware. He begins with an assessment of the business that includes evaluating energy use, determining life cycles of processes and products, and conducting carbon footprinting.

“I figure out what (businesses) are spending money on and help them save money over the long term,” he said. “They throw around green and sustainable but really it’s just making a business more efficient to save money.”

A sustainable business plan acts as a blueprint that outlines long-term sustainability goals. Freudo and his clients start with a 20-year goal to become a zero-waste facility. Then, working backward, they create a baseline for both energy and waste that provides metrics to determine the yearly goals for reduction. Freudo said the process is easy to implement and does not require a huge investment.

“If you have a plan to reduce energy by 10 percent in the first year, is changing all the light bulbs going to help or is just turning off the lights?” Freudo explained. “Start with the easy things and the cheap things and go from there … You don’t have to do everything in the first week or month or first year.”

In addition to saving money and increasing profit, becoming a more sustainable business can have marketing benefits as well. Freudo suggests local businesses promote their green initiatives in the community.

“I always give the example that I buy a lot of organic, but if you sell it and don’t promote it, I’m not buying it,” Freudo said. “It’s all about educating the business owners and showing them they can be green, they can save money and they can get PR for it.” 

 

building grassroots in the bay

In the community, sustainability begins with grassroots efforts, such as Bevilacqua’s ACTgreen Partnership.

ACTgreen is a nonprofit organization that seeks to “improve environmental health and sustainable economic development in Tampa Bay, through collaborative green initiatives and educational programming with existing nonprofit organizations.”

Bevilacqua, who recently served on the boards of The Sustany Foundation, Cure on Wheels and the United States Green Building Council Gulf Chapter, wants his newly formed organization to be project and “action-based.”

“The nonprofit world around here is so traditional,” he said. “We need to branch out and really do something different.”

By partnering with existing nonprofits, ACTgreen can become an implementation organization. One of ACTgreen’s first projects, the "Healthy Baby Initiative," provides low- and middle-income families with safe and healthy green baby items. 

“It’s part education, part giveaway,” Bevilacqua said. “ACTgreen will provide education to low- and middl- income families with young children and infants about the dangers and long-term negative effects of unsafe baby essentials.” These include bottles, water, formula, teething toys, pacifiers, among other baby products.

Another initiative Bevilacqua hopes to launch looks to improve the home living situations for children with chronic diseases such as asthma, blood disorders or cancer. Both Bevilacqua’s parents died from cancer, so the cause hits close to his heart.

“I feel strongly about helping kids with cancer … The living arrangements are what I’m most concerned with,” he said. “Almost like Extreme Home Makeover, but on a much smaller scale, and focus on the green aspects, the healthy aspects and not the design aspects.”

Bevilacqua’s vision includes providing air filters for ventilation systems, repainting walls with low volatile organic compound paints, adding window film to increase energy efficiency and replacing toxic-holding carpeting.

By targeting low- and middle-income families, Bevilacqua believes the green message will spread.

“You have to have a mainstream message to get anything done. You have to be very centrist,” he said. “Unless you make it accessible and put a worth on it, there’s never going to be a strong movement.”

 

Small business, big effort

For two small, local Tampa Bay businesses, green practices and community are intertwined.

Jennifer Dutkowsky, owner of the green-themed Why Not? boutique in South Tampa, sells eco-friendly gifts and women's clothing. The shop, located in a trendy shopping area of Palma Ceia, offers unique, and often fun, ways to go green.

"We are used to a convenient life. We are used to doing things that are quick, easy, simple, end of story," Dutkowsky said. "To me, being sustainable is about making simple changes in your life."

These changes, she suggests, can be as easy as recycling, taking reusable bags to the grocery store or using vinegar as a cleaning agent.

Dutkowsky's roots in the green movement began in the Northeast, where she said people are "extremely earthy-crunchy." She describes her childhood and young adulthood as sustainable, where the mantra was "buy local, buy often."

Armed with no retail or business experience, Dutkowsky opened Why Not? and sells recycled, reusable, natural, organic and fair trade items. Products range from organic cotton clothing to natural bath and body products to vintage up-cycled jewelry to vases made of recycled glass.

"You look at something and you either know that it's made from recycled material because that makes it interesting or you can't even tell," she explains.

The Tampa Street Market, in Seminole Heights, operates on the same premise. Owners Charles and Amy Haynie build, design and sell eco-friendly furniture, in addition to other green products produced by local artists. Their small business is the longest-operating green retailer in Tampa.

“If you look at green furniture out there right now, you cannot find anything that’s affordable,” said Amy Haynie. “So that’s what we try to do – create eco-friendly furniture for the masses. And it’s actually really easy.”

With prices that Haynie compares to Target, Tampa Street Market is trying to compete with large businesses by providing an affordable green alternative. Most of the materials used to build the furniture are found locally, ranging from steel to salvaged wood. Additionally, old materials are used to build new products, such as converting a crib into a day bed.

“All of our furniture, we like it to be simple-designed and simply done so that when its usefulness for you for the time (expires), it can easily be changed or warped into something else,” she said.

One of the most common myths customers have, according to Haynie, is that green products and a sustainable lifestyle are expensive.

“You don’t have to spend any money to go and do something that is not only green and good for the environment, but it's green and healthy for you,” she said. “You might spend a little bit more, but a lot of times you're going to get more and what you get in return far outweighs what you are saving.”

The shop also sells a variety of locally produced, nonshipped products such as artwork, jewelry and greeting cards. Haynie strongly believes in supporting the local talent of Tampa Bay.

“Each product that we make, with each product that we buy, we want to make sure it is environmentally conscious,” Haynie said.

But to have a significant impact, Haynie says it's essential that green businesses and programs realize they are focused on the same goal. The Tampa Street Market designs and constructs sustainable furniture for other businesses in the Tampa Bay area. The Haynies recently built tables for nearby Ella’s Café.

“One thing I don’t like about Tampa is there is a lot of competition," she said. "And in reality, what needs to happen is to come together and green businesses and green-minded people get together and find a way to market themselves together.”