Sustainability In The Corporate Environment

Sustainability in the corporate environment is more than a buzzword or industry jargon. It’s the intentional development of corporate policies and practices that allow businesses to grow, prosper, and thrive while meeting the needs of today without negatively impacting the ability of future generations to meet their needs as well. Sustainability provides ongoing, conscientious, advocacy and support for environmental issues and concerns. Corporate sustainability champions environmental responsibility through internal policies, external practices, and public awareness.

While the primary goal of corporations and their CEOs is business growth, development, and profitability, these issues are easy to align with environmental responsibility and best practices. Recent research indicates that companies who make sustainability part of their long-term business strategy experience greater community support and increased profits. One of the ways this can be done is by setting goals for responsible sourcing of raw materials at the executive level and sharing them company-wide. When your business establishes a clear, internal mechanism that addresses environmental responsibility, it sets the benchmark for everyone from retail clerks to custodial staff to the executive boardroom. Establishing a corporate policy for social and environmental responsibility helps everyone from the CEO to the consumer.

Many businesses consider sustainability in the corporate environment critical enough to warrant the hiring of a Chief Sustainability Officer. The person in this position helps the corporation they serve measure their impact on the environment, make corporate purchasing and partnering decisions that keep sustainability at the forefront of the appropriate decision makers, and create public awareness of their position on environmental advocacy. The CSO also develops policies, manages metrics, and analyzes and predicts current and future contributions of the company’s environmental impact.

At DPRINT, we have proudly established our Sustainability Policy which has a three-fold goal. The triple goals of our sustainability policy are:

1. To protect and preserve the environment
2. To enhance our competitive advantages today
3. To promote opportunity, equity and improved quality of life for our people

With these goals in mind, our principles and goals include a commitment to environmental health and safety requirements, compliance with local, state and federal labor laws, responsible stewardship of our environmental resources, and continuous application of lean manufacturing principles to sustain our productivity and efficiency. Our Sustainability Policy is clearly communicated to every member of our team to ensure compliance on every level.

Developing a clear, concise, compelling policy for sustainability in the corporate environment is easier than you might think. At your next board meeting, address the need for corporate sustainability practices, emphasize the importance of social and sustainability policies that address the needs and desires of your current and future ideal clients, and start creating the building blocks for sustainability goal setting.

Our commitment to social responsibility means the printed products we provide are responsibly produced in our Lakeland, FL facility. We’ve earned the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership certification – one of the first Florida-based printers to achieve this certification. We’re always happy to help you get started with your own environmental awareness campaigns, policies, and goals. We proudly recycle many of the products we print, so if you’d like some ideas on how you can recycle on your end, let us know.