77 Ind. businesses go green, maintain profits

If businesses join a new green business initiative, they may get to help the environment and their profit margins at the same time.

The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce’s Green Business Initiative has convinced 77 businesses to commit to being eco-friendly.

“There are companies that have directives or initiatives to work with green companies so membership will increase revenue,” said Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Director Angela Smith-Jones.

As well as increasing profits, advertising that companies have gone green is a helpful marketing opportunity, Smith-Jones said.

And being green doesn’t necessarily mean revamping a business’s infrastructure. Smith-Jones said the solution can be as simple as recycling.

“Some of the low-hanging fruits of the initiative are things like double printing, using e-mail versus paper mail and switching from paper cups to ceramic,” Smith-Jones said.

In September Clarian Health, an Indiana network of more than 20 hospitals, joined the Chamber’s Green Business Initiative.

Clarian Health will carry out green operations at three of its Indianapolis hospitals, including the IU Hospital.

“The environment affects everybody’s well-being,” said Clarian Health spokesperson Kristofer Karol. “We felt it necessary to practice what we preach and become the first hospital in the Chamber’s Green Business Initiative.”

In order to gain Green Business Initiative membership, Clarian Health had to demonstrate it performed one green practice in the areas of waste prevention, recycling, purchasing, energy conservation, water conservation and transportation.

Karol said Clarian saved more than $1.5 million using green efforts in 2008.

That money bought and installed new ceiling vents for Indianapolis’ Methodist Hospital. The vents cut down on dust and improved patient conditions.

Executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council Jesse Kharbanda affirmed the Chamber’s and Clarian’s efforts.

“Businesses represent an enormous percentage of the consumption in our economy,” Kharbanda said. “Being green-minded as a business translates into cost savings, a better public perception and obviously a lessened impact on land, air and water.”

Kharbanda sees the Chamber’s Green Business Initiative as evidence that businesses can both protect their profits and the environment.

“Green business is learning by doing,” he said.

In addition to being more competitive and boosting their profits, Smith-Jones said businesses can also rest easy with a greener conscience.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Smith-Jones said.