Bill Matthies

Being Green: It’s More Than Just Saving Trees
November 27, 2007

I was in line to rent a movie at Blockbuster this weekend and saw something that was very strange to me. A woman in line next to me rented a single DVD and when the clerk tried to hand it to her, she asked him to put it in a bag. She left just as I did, and once outside she removed the DVD from the bag, threw the bag in the trash, got in her car and drove away. In total the bag was in “use” less than 45 seconds, and she walked no more than 30 feet before throwing it away.

Driving home I thought how un ”green” she was until I mentally listed all my conspicuous consumption habits including using a V8 to drive less than one mile round trip to rent my movie.  And me, a runner no less!  (In my defense I declined a bag and said a silent prayer for the whales as I drove home.)  Why are we like that? Sometimes we just don’t know there are options. 

Being green, or at least perceived as green, is good for business, any business  For example, the Subway sandwich chain is testing a concept they call “Ecostore,” which includes the use of 100% recycled material for napkins and food wrapping paper; plastic cutlery and cups made from polypropylene instead of polystyrene; and trash, plastic and paper recycle bins.  Recycling fast-food waste is harder than you may know, and if they pull this off, you can bet that Subway spokesman Jared will be talking about what they’ve done just as he now testifies to the effectiveness of Subway sandwiches in a weight loss program.

Going green, or at least greener, includes some things that are quite simple along with an array of others that become increasingly more difficult.  It is one thing to say “no” to the bag. It is something more to walk to and from Blockbuster, and it is much more difficult to unplug the 62-inch plasma, watching no movie at all. I wish it were otherwise but my female co-shopper and I need help with the more demanding things — at least a reminder of what we can do, possibly some incentive to do more, and therein lies a business opportunity for those who sell us stuff.

Regardless of what you think of Al Gore, global warming, etc., a growing percent of the public feels that being green is good.  Why fight it?  Do what you can, including giving your customers options to be ecologically positive in the way they buy from you. The least you will do is save some trees, and if it turns out Al’s right, that’s not a small thing.

Posted by Bill Matthies on November 27, 2007 | Comments (0)