Corporate Housing Providers like Compass on the East Coast and apartment complexes like Las Mananitas in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are turning to environmentally friendly methods like Seventh Generation cleaning products and compact fluorescent light bulbs to reduce their impact on the environment. Element, a hotel outside of Boston, seeks to be the most environmentally friendly hotel on the planet. The cutting-edge sophisticates who populate upper management these days are looking to lessen their impact on the environment. What’s more, CHPA has newly created a Go Green! Award for the most-environmentally-friendly provider.
Here’s how to get in on the trend:
- Use environmentally friendly cleaning products- trust me, they work just as well to clean up tough messes. Seventh Generation can be found in almost any grocery store.
- Use compact fluorescent light bulbs- Energy Star estimates that if one American home replaced their old standard softlight with one of these little buggers we would save more than $600 million a year in energy costs.
- Work with apartment complexes and property owners who offer recycling in addition to trash pick-up.
- And then there are the basics–which will reduce your bottom line anyway. Turn off your computer at night, use Skype rather than drive to meetings, email vs snail mail, print on both sides of the paper, and wear layers in the winter rather than turn your heat up.
- This is my absolute favorite: organize a environmental charity fundraiser with your staff. This not only improves team morale but it promotes community within your community. Here are some fun ideas for fundraisers: organize a yard sale, a walk-a-thon, or a golf outing where each participant pays a fee for attending. You could also do a silent auction, or a raffle.