Filed under: About the Company, Going Green, How We Work | Tags: car dealer, enviroment, Green, marketing, recycle, reduction
The world is growing by leaps and bounds as measured by the world population. In 1922 there were 2 billion people in the world. By 2000 there were 6 billion and by 2050 it is projected there will be 9 billion. With this growth the worlds natural resources will be much less available than they were just a few years ago. By 2050 there will only be 25% of the resources available per capita that people in 1950 had. For our children and grandchildren we save for college educations, health emergencies and weddings, but what about saving so that there will be enough clean air, water, fuel and soil for the future.
Some of the greatest threats to these resources are the things we throw away. When we send things to the landfill we risk damage to the environment as well as taking up a lot of space that is needed for our future growing population as well as the lifestyle we would like to maintain. As landfills are used up every person has to pay in some way to acquire additional space to put stuff.
Here are a couple of interesting facts:
- One quart of oil will pollute one million gallons of water
- For every ton of paper that is recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water, 380 gallons of oil and enough electricity to power an average house for six months
- A typical TV will run for six hours on the amount of electricity that is saved by recycling one aluminum can
- By recycling just one glass bottle you save enough electricity to power a 100-watt bulb for four hours
This is just one area that impacts our future environment. Add to that how we use energy water and clean air and this whole “green” thing becomes a big deal and it does impact everyone of us.
I am often asked the question of how can one person have any effect on a problem that is this big. That is exactly the point which is that with everyone doing just a little bit it makes a world of difference. A few examples of those little things each of us can do are:
- Make sure you turn off lights when you leave a room
- Change to energy efficient light bulbs as son as possible
- Set the thermostat back a couple of degree both for cooling and heating
- Seal leaks around doors and windows
- Switch to low flow faucets
- Use native plantings and limit irrigation to time it is only critical
- Fix dripping faucets
- Recycle everything you can
- Buy items that have recycle content
- Compost
People that do some or all of these thing will find they have reduce energy bills, lower water consumption and are sending less waste to landfills. All this results in lower utility bills in addition to the positive impact on the environment.
Filed under: About the Company, Going Green | Tags: dealership, environment, Green, landfill, recyclable items, recycle, reduce
Most everyone I know talks about that they believe in recycling both at work and in their personal lives. It is a good thing to do and we see and hear lots of things about the harm to the environment by not recycling everything we can. So why isn’t everyone doing it?
Personally, I tend to justify my less than 100% engagement of recycling by rationalizing that it does not always make sense. We believe it cost too much, it would create more pollution than it would avoid, etc., etc. Where we live and where my office is located we do not have curbside pickup of recyclable items. So how can we recycle and do what is right for the environment and future generations? What could I do so that I would not be saying it is right for everyone else but not for me?
I think you have to begin with the end in mind; that being a plan that you want to do everything you can to reduce the amount of things going to the landfill. With that being the ultimate goal then start considering what is going to the landfill today and determine is there any practical way to reduce that.
Every location has its own set of rules for what can be recycled and how it gets recycled. In order to be an effective recycler you will have to know what can be recycled from your location. When that is determined you are already part way there. Determine how to capture items that can be recycled and getting them into that system. But what about the items that are more difficult to recycle. Just because it is not easy does not mean it can’t be done. A great website to use in determining where and how to recycle a particular item is www.earth911.com
Next do not bite off too much at one time. Start with one item or at least one category and do the research as to how that item can be recycled or disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Once you figure one out and put processes in place to handle that one move on to the next. Often when you figure out what to do with one item several others can be addressed in a similar way. Just keep working on this with the idea of “how can we reduce the amount going to the landfill”?
Different than recycling is reducing but it may be an even better way to reducing landfill. Our office had ended up with a large number of magazines coming in each week. We had subscribed to lots of printed material much of which was a free subscription. This was creating clutter in the office and using up of storage space just in case there was any great article that we want to have on file. Then when we finally became overwhelmed we would throw it all away in big bunches. To improve on this we did an inventory of every magazine we were receiving and put them into three groups:
- Really want a hard copy for the shelf
- Wanted material but could receive it electronically
- It would be worth stopping the subscription, at least for a test
We found that the “wanted a hard copy only needed to be about 25% of what we were receiving. This really works and it is more than just having less to go to the landfill, the clutter reduction is the best thing we ever did.
Whether for business or at home the process of ramping up your recycle activity should be very similar and that is to take it a few items at a time. However, having said that you still need to begin with the end in mind.
As the volume of material going to the landfill is reduced work with you trash hauler to reduce the cost. Can the pickup be once per week instead of twice? Can we use a 6 yard dumpster instead of an 8 yard. A great measure of that is to look at the dumpster just before it is picked up. Is it half full or even less?
If a dealership is looking for recycling solutions look at our website at http://www.greendealersupport.com/ or contact us by clicking here.
This blog is a continuation of the roll out of Green Dealer Support and will be an added way to get information in the hands of our team members as well as other who have an interest in Green Businesses.
Your may have noticed that our company name has the word “Dealer” in it and could have actually have included the words “Car Dealer”. Many people have asked me why we took such a focused approach. If we provide a good service shouldn’t our services apply to any business and isn’t that market a lot bigger than just car dealerships? The answer is yes but we made a commitment to focus on a very unique group of businesses (car dealerships) who have a similar business model and are relative the same size.
When we built our business model we decided to focus on car dealers and to look at everything about the dealership operation that could fall under the umbrella of “green”. We have attempted to identify everything under that green umbrella and then help dealerships make decisions on whether/how to incorporate these green qualities into their operations.
We will be posting three Categories of Blogs:
- Going Green-Green ideas you can use in your business or away from your business
- Green Facts-Sorting out things people are saying about green
- How We Work-Some frequently asked information on how we go about doing what we do
Green Dealer Support 