Locals get help going green

Local businesses have been given the green light to go ""Green Plus.""

The Institute for Sustainable Development is set to launch Green Plus next week"" which will assist businesses in achieving sustainability.

""The program is designed to help smaller enterprises" businesses and nonprofits reach better sustainability in the triple bottom line concepts" said Chris Carmody, director of the Sustainable Business Initiative at the institute.

The triple bottom line encourages environmental sustainability, social equity and financial stability.

An online tool, Green Plus will consist of 80 multiple-choice questions that address how well businesses currently meet and can improve on the three prongs of the bottom-line principle.

If companies meet certain standards for each of the three areas in the bottom-line principle, they will be eligible for Green Plus certification.

The interesting part is that this is not just a certification process" but is also a place where businesses can communicate with each other" said Joe Polich, a UNC graduate student involved with the program.

While Green Plus certification does not provide any tax subsidies for businesses, it recognizes their efforts to achieve the bottom-line principle. The program will publicly launch on Feb. 16.

This is a program to reward businesses for being sustainable"" Carmody said.

Barbara Jessie-Black, executive director of the nonprofit PTA Thrift Shop and chairwoman of Foundation for a Sustainable Community, offered her businesses to participate in the program testing.

Since using Green Plus, she said her business has begun recycling scrap metal wastes for profits.

The program should help businesses cut utility costs in the long term.

But because Green Plus has not launched yet, its overall economic impacts are still unknown.

Carmody said there are several elements to the program that could help the local economy.

He said it will make businesses more competitive in the marketplace.

Sustainability is becoming increasingly attractive, Carmody said.

By linking small businesses to formerly unavailable resources, the program promotes networking to share information.

The days are long gone where it's productive to be just an environmentalist or entrepreneur or social worker" Polich said.

To get everyone moving" it's going to take a bit more cooperation.""

Jessie-Black said she will further her efforts to reduce her businesses' waste stream. Starting Feb. 16"" she will try to become certified.

""We are" as an organization looking to expand and when we do that" we will be incredibly mindful to use as many green products as we can.""





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