Each week, we answer your questions by tapping our network of experts in companies, nonprofits, government agencies, and consultancies.

We started an environmental efficiency program last year and now we're wondering: How we can measure our results?

According to Lee Jimerson, manager of manufacturing and architectural accounts for Collins Wood Company, what you need are eco-indicators to map your progress. Eco-indicators are, in their most basic form, a quantification of resources used or product/waste generated. Examples include gallons of water used, pounds of mail received, or tons of wood chips consumed. To bring eco-indicators to "life" so that they have meaning to the employees, you need to add a denominator. Adding a denominator to the examples above gives you

Each week, we answer your questions by tapping our network of experts in companies, nonprofits, government agencies, and consultancies.

How do I know if that unpleasant smell in my company’s factory is hazardous to my health?

It can be very difficult to determine whether an odd or annoying odor is actually a cause for concern, says Michael K. Peterson, MEM, environmental health scientist at Intertox, which offers toxicological evaluation and public health risk-assessment services. However, he says, one approach is to first determine what product is causing the odor, and then use the Material Safety Data Sheet to find what hazardous chemicals are contained in the product.

Assuming that one of these is responsible for the smell, you can look up information on each

Each week, we answer your questions by tapping our network of experts in companies, nonprofits, government agencies, and consultancies.

How can we increase the energy efficiency of our office lighting?

The lighting fixtures most commonly used in commercial settings today are T8 lamps and ballasts, says Gregory Crew, president of GreenOrder. It is possible, however, to further increase lighting energy efficiency through the use of newer T5 lamps. These lamps deliver more light for fewer watts than T8 lamps. In fact, standard T5 lamps are 12% to 18% more efficient than T8 lamps, averaging about 96–106 lumens per watt. High output T5 lamps generate nearly twice the light output of standard T5s, as well as T8, and T12 lamps.

In addition to the energy savings, it has

Each week, we answer your questions by tapping our network of experts in companies, nonprofits, government agencies, and consultancies.

Where can I get rid of one hundred 55-gallon drums (super clean) a month?

There are a number of options, according to Karyn Kaplan, recycling coordinator for the University of Oregon. For example, you can:

Ask the supplier that originally shipped them to you to take them back when they are empty.
Donate them to a local non-profit reuse center.
Put an advertisement in a local paper for free barrels.
Locate a materials exchange nearest you and list the items. Materials exchanges are computerized matching services for those seeking or disposing of surplus or waste materials. Exchanges are located throughout the U.S.

Each week, we answer your questions by tapping our network of experts in companies, nonprofits, government agencies, and consultancies.

We have old carpet that we are replacing. Is there any way we can prevent it from ending up in the landfill?

According to Seshadri Ramachandran, reclamation business manager for DuPont Flooring Systems, your business can make use of the nationwide DuPont Flooring Systems network, which removes and collects postconsumer carpet and then ships it to a DuPont recycling center. When commercial carpet is removed and replaced, the old carpet is guaranteed not to end up in a landfill regardless of the carpet manufacturer, type of fiber or how it is constructed.

DuPont continues to develop new products from postconsumer carpet and

Who or what can you trust these days? Certainly not the stock markets as many of us helplessly watch our investments dwindle away and our college tuition and retirement funds disappear. Corporate executives and accountants are rapidly losing their credibility when, every day it seems, a new scandal hits the headlines. Senators and congressmen don’t fare much better. Members of both parties, I recently read, are backing off from implicating business wrongdoers in the opposing party because they themselves cannot withstand close scrutiny. The government let us down big time when security and intelligence lapses allowed the events of September 11th to occur. How many of us trust our health insurance companies to accurately pay benefits according to the terms of our plans? Not anyone

Websites, online discussion groups, listservs, and databases are relatively inexpensive methods of global communication for campaigners, which means that pressure groups can, for a very low cost, potentially reach an audience of millions. And, as customers and consumers become more informed about corporate responsibility, they are able to exert more pressure on companies.

This was highlighted when police faced thousands of demonstrators at the meeting of the World Bank and the IMF in 2000, compared to the few dozen protestors that had turned up the previous year. The increase in numbers was attributed, in a large way, to the internet, which allowed activists to get together, communicate their grievances and swell their ranks. The event put online activism on the map as a

The past decade has seen increased discussion of sustainable business and “corporate social responsibility” (CSR). Still the discussion has, for the time being, outpaced the solution to business-relevant environmental problems. Progress made thus far has been through gradual steps by business, civil society and citizens working together towards a common goal of a profitable, sustainable economic system in a healthy environment.

This article presents one more opportunity for businesses to achieve profitability through sustainability. It focuses not on technology, but rather on the people who manage risk, spark innovation, and solve problems.

Sustainability in the HR Department

The worldwide conversation on sustainable business has, for the most part, focused on

On April 4, 2002, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was launched as a permanent, independent global institution at the United Nations in New York City. Its mandate is to make sustainability reporting as routine as financial reporting while achieving the highest standards of consistency and rigour. The launch was an important event for businesses worldwide because it cements GRI as the leading authority and standard on sustainability reporting.

GRI was established in 1997 as a multi-stakeholder effort to develop globally applicable guidelines for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social performance of companies. It has involved hundreds of people in shaping and publishing two editions of detailed guidelines. A third is currently in draft and open for public

The surrealistic rise and fall of Enron, a firm “Fortune” magazine ranked as fifth largest company in the world in terms of revenues, has provoked a myriad of governmental investigations into the company’s shocking lapses in ethical behavior.

For those in the corporate world, missing in the debate over Enron is what lessons we can learn about corporate governance in the critical realm of environment, health, and safety -- the place where corporations are often under pressure to keep liabilities off the balance sheet. Ironically enough, truly independent external audits of a company’s environmental liabilities present some of the best opportunities to add value to not only shareholders, but to the general public alike.

Some 25 top corporate managers from firms