Eight Steps to Environmental Sustainability
Whether you are starting a business or have an existing one, developing a plan for environmental sustainability is key. The steps laid out here are a good beginning to help you assess the environmental impact your company may have. They will also help you think about the way you do things, the materials involved, places where you can experience savings of all kinds, and develop a plan of action to go beyond compliance with the law.
This step-by-step process can seem complicated and, therefore, we encourage you to seek the assistance of the Environmental Business Advisor here at the NHSBDC. We want to help businesses improve their prospects for sustainability through education and information. We can help you in the areas of financing energy efficiency improvement, establishing environmental best practices, developing clean technology, management assistance and connecting you to other resources to build your sustainable business.
You will be well on your way to creating an environmental management program at your business, and then going beyond compliance with the laws if you begin with the following 8-step self-assessment process.
2) Know your regulatory landscape
3) Determine if you are in compliance
4) Identify ways to become compliant
5) Develop a strategy to become compliant
7) Implement your compliance strategy
8) Measure the success of your strategy through periodic self audits