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Green Certification for Small Businesses

Written by: Jay Welsh

Article Overview: Alternatives to the costly ISO 14001 programs, put small businesses on a level playing field. The benefits of "Green Certification" are vast and they are growing every day. A simple environmental management program can help drive customers and protect you from rapidly changing regulations.

Green Certification for Small Businesses

Almost on a daily basis, we hear of another major corporation applying an environmental management system (EMS) to their operation. The reason is simple, change is coming and its coming faster than you think. As the new administration takes office in early 2009, one of their top priorities will be to study Europe's "cap & trade" programs and determine what will work here in the United States.

This is not a question of if, but a question of when and that question is going to be answered in the very near future. This is the reason that so many large corporations are taking a proactive role in applying new green policies.

The holy grail of ESM is the ISO 14001 family of environmental certifications and most third party audit companies are already being pushed to their limits to meet this demand. ISO 14001 may be the gold standard and all businesses in this country should aspire to this level of environmental commitment, but very few have this luxury. The reasons are simple, ISO 14001 is a complex and expensive program that only a select few companies with very deep pockets can incorporate.

While ISO 14001 might be the perfect choice for the "Nike's", "kodak's or the "Intel's of the world, not many of the small businesses that make up the backbone of this country can afford to participate.

Why this is so important to every small business owner is also very simple, its called trickle down environmental economics. ( if you'll allow me to coin a phrase) I'll give you the perfect and most recent example of how this works. Late last year, Wal Mart announced that they will be requiring all 60,000 of their vendors to incorporate some level of EMS into their businesses. Sure you can chose not to participate, but can your small business loose Wal Mart as a customer.

What are the options for small businesses if ISO is out of reach? There are several programs currently available to every small business and more are turning up each day. Even though I am the director of one such option, GreenScene EMS, I feel its my duty to present a broader plate of options. In consideration of this article, I don't feel comfortable promoting organizations that I'm not familiar with so I am going to offer only one alternative beyond my own. The first step for any small business is to research their local or federal EPA office. The EPA has a number of programs that small businesses can apply, some that are self-audited and simple, some that are complex and require a third party. But, all of these programs are available at a fraction of the cost of ISO.

Now, more than ever, small businesses in this country need to start planning for the rise of environmental issues related to their business. Your customers are already demanding it, your employees are demanding it, but most important are the higher standards and regulations that will be imposed by local, state and federal governments.

Jay Welsh
Executive Director
AE Media Group

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Article Tags: audit companies, backbone, certifications, daily basis, deep pockets, environmental commitment, environmental economics, environmental management system, esm, gold standard, holy grail, large corporations, new administration, perfect choice, proactive role, small business owner, small businesses, top priorities, trickle down, wal mart



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