Hey, SMBs: How’s Your Sustainability Going?

Reflections from Jen…

Been thinking about small businesses this week. I received story pitches from a handful of PR folks that either focused on small and medium businesses (SMBs) or at least mentioned the challenges that SMBs face when it comes to sustainability. A few years ago, SMB leaders often cited cost savings and efficiencies as the top benefits of sustainability, but at the same time they named monetary considerations as the biggest barrier to entry.

SMBs face similar challenges today, and while sustainability is clearly no longer solely the domain of the giant corporations, work needs to be done to help smaller companies make progress in their environmental initiatives.

“To make sustainability profitable on Main Street, it takes a relentless focus on building density,” says David Rachelson, VP of sustainability for Rubicon, a waste management and recycling solutions company. This means getting as many small and medium sized businesses to join together on programs that offer sustainable solutions, “because only with scale can we find truly profitable opportunities for reuse and recycling,” he says. But the responsibility does not rest solely on the shoulders of the SMBs themselves. Solutions providers should be considering the problem, as well. “We are starting to approach a point where we can start to bring the types of solutions that we offer to our national accounts to Main Street businesses,” Rachelson says. “It’s a journey, but one on which we have a clear focus.”

But reaching SMBs is not always easy for providers. Brett Feldman, principal research analyst at Navigant Research, wrote in Forbes that SMBs are being left out of demand-side energy management programs because they are hard for utilities to reach, for example. “There are too many of them for utilities to have dedicated account managers, they typically do not have staff resources focused on energy issues, and mass marketing does not easily penetrate their conscience,” he says.

For my part, I’d like to explore the topic of how SMBs are handling sustainability. While initiatives and news from the majors are important and informative – such as those I covered this week from P&G, 7-Eleven, British Airways and Patagonia – and can offer useful ideas to sustainability managers at any size business, it would be exciting to see how SMBs are joining the charge. What initiatives are they finding successful? What’s not working? What’s still too expensive? I’ll be seeking ideas on some of these topics. In the meantime, if you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks and, as always, have a great weekend.

Jen

[email protected]