By Johannes Kotilainen
Sustainability is about performance, maximizing output from input
without waste. When this is applied to a business it means fatter bottom lines
through trimming overhead, maximizing material use, minimizing energy use, and
minimizing waste output. However it also means getting more from employees,
reaching new markets and increasing profitability.
On the straight cost of operation, sustainable practices drive down
costs. Every pound of waste must be paid for two fold; through its disposal but
also that pound of material had to come from a supplier, which required it to
be purchased. This is just the tip of the iceberg. All of the lights,
electricity, heating, cooling, transportation, packaging, paper etc., also add
to costs.
Sustainability is like a lens to see these waste that are normally
overlooked and, in reality, can add up to a large percentage of the overhead.
Companies that embrace sustainable practices and drive down their waste, also
drive down their production and operation cost, which provides a competitive
advantage. To fully achieve sustainability in its true definition involves meeting
the needs of today’s generation, without sacrificing the needs of future
generations. It can’t stop there, though. Further improvements are required,
but none of it can happen instantaneously. It’s a process that takes time.
Our current economic system is beginning to take these steps instead. Companies
that lead the way now, will insulate themselves from the rise in supply costs
and the cost of adapting to meet new compliance standards. Both of these will
only ever increase in the long run if we look at history as a benchmark. Some
argue that companies will only accept sustainability when it is forced upon
them, however those that wait to follow will lose out on the current cost
savings and market share gains that current leaders of industry are already
profiting from now.
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