Running a company in more sustainable ways is becoming common among businesses in Pleasanton, according to the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce.

"Operating your company efficiently saves money, period," notes the Chamber. "Whether you call it clean, lean, or green, efficient business practices keep your company current, competitive, and in environmental compliance. Business practices that save waste and resources also improve employee morale, meet community and customer expectations, and increase your chances of attracting positive press coverage. Smart businesses in Pleasanton know that green business is good business."

A variety of Tri-Valley businesses have discovered the benefits of becoming a Certified Green Business through the free Bay Area Green Business Program. The Bay Area Green Business Program, a founding member of the California Green Business Network, recognizes small businesses that protect, preserve, and sustain the environment. To become a Certified Green Business, companies must comply with all applicable environmental regulations and implement any additional green measures required by the program for the relevant industry.

More than 400 Alameda County businesses and public agencies have been certified as green businesses, according to the Alameda County Environmental Health Department. It is possible to become a Certified Green Business in nearly any industry, including auto services, printing, hospitality (hotels and restaurants), landscape design and maintenance, remodeling, garment cleaning (wet cleaning or CO2 systems exclusively), dentistry, wine, janitorial services, retail, and industries involving general office work.

Green Business practices include measures to conserve water and energy, reduce solid waste reduction, prevent pollution, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The program works with local environmental agencies and utilities to assist, offer incentives, and verify that participating businesses conserve energy and water, minimize waste, prevent pollution, and shrink their carbon footprints.

Why Businesses Go Green

There is no fee to participate in the California Green Business Network, which promotes certified businesses on its website and allows businesses to promote their certification by using the Certified Green Business logo on their websites and in other marketing material. There are other direct benefits as well.

Depending on business size and type, Certified Green Businesses can expect to save between $100 and $5,000 per year on operating costs. Program experts say companies see most of those savings as the result of using a green business framework to use energy and water more efficiently, as well as generate less waste overall. That, in turn, can result in lower costs for waste management. Improved staff health and productivity are also seen by some Certified Green Businesses.

Other program benefits include becoming recognized as a good business neighbor and operating as part of a recognized green supply chain, which is important to many existing and potential customers. Certified Green Businesses are also eligible to receive onsite technical assistance and instant referrals to efficiency rebates and resources.

While it may be impossible to calculate a cash value for business efforts to reduce pollution, waste, and other harmful impacts, those efforts provide very real benefits to the local community as well as future generations. Both the direct operating benefits and the environmental benefits led two Hacienda businesses to become among the many Tri-Valley companies that are Certified Green Businesses.

ImageX offers creative solutions for marketing collateral, printing, packaging, promotional, direct mail, and web-based client needs. Earlier in its history, ImageX worked with clients to produce products using soy-based inks and recycled papers. Today the company offers clients FSC-certified print projects using 100% recycled FSC papers. FSC, the Forest Stewardship Council, is an international non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world's forests.

The company's very business model is environmentally friendly, according to ImageX, because ImageX has "the flexibility to produce work anywhere in the country, which reduces transportation cost, time, and environmental footprint that shipping long distances can create." Even so, it is not the work that ImageX does for its clients but the way it runs its business that has allowed it to become a Certified Green Business.

That is true for Hacienda's management office as well. The Hacienda Owners Association earned its certification as a Green Business in part by following green business standards for recycling and office product purchasing. Many formerly paper-intensive activities have been converted to completely electronic processes. Moreover, Hacienda does not use bottled water nor paper cups. When the office must use paper products for collateral materials, it produces them using 100% recycled material.

How to Become Certified

Becoming a Certified Green Business is a three-step process. The first step is for a company owner or executive to register and apply to the program on the California Green Business Network website.

The second step is for the network to review the application and offer assistance with any part of the process that may seem challenging. Once the application process is completed, the network will schedule a final evaluation. It will also tell an applicant about potential rebates and free technical assistance.

The third step, after the application is approved, is for the new Certified Green Business to create a company profile on the network website to help promote its new status. Since 1997, more than 3,000 California businesses and public agencies have been certified as California Green Businesses.

A variety of organizations and public agencies act as partners with the California Green Business Network as well as offer resources for helping organizations learn to reduce waste and pollution. StopWaste.org, for example, is an Alameda County public agency that helps local businesses, residents, and schools waste less, recycle more, and use water, energy, and other resources efficiently.

For additional information or to enroll online, please visit greenbusinessca.org.