4 Companies That You Probably Didn't Know Were Green

Consumers want to buy from companies with eco-friendly business practices, and more companies are joining the green revolution. MIT's 2011 study showed 70 percent of corporate agendas include sustainability. Companies that make a commitment to going green benefit financially and provide benefits to their customers, communities, and the economies that support them.

Four companies you probably didn’t know have green business practices include new and established businesses and brands.

Google

You may not think of an online search engine company as going green, but that’s just what Google has been doing since 2007. The company has been taking active steps to reduce its carbon footprint by 32 percent in one year, according to TodayEco.com. From 2012 to 2013, it has created a huge reduction of carbon emissions.

Google users and investors share a commitment to the environment in the following ways:

• Google has made investments of more than $1 billion in renewable energy projects, green power purchase agreements, and other energy efficiency improvements.
• Google enables customers to decrease their environmental impact by almost 98 percent through using Gmail.
• Google data centers use 50 percent less energy than typical data centers.

Overnight Prints

Overnight Prints is a green company that sells printed postcards online, as well as other items like business cards, brochures, and letterheads. They use cardstock made from environmentally sustainable forests, processed without harmful bleach and chlorine, as well as recycled paper made from 100 percent post-consumer chlorine-free recycled fiber. Overnight Prints uses an exclusively waterless print process that saves water and trees and reduces air pollution and waste.

Their waterless print process does more than save water. It also:

• Produces better quality printing
• Eliminates emission problems
• Produces less start-up waste

Overnight Prints customers help the environment by purchasing printed materials from a company that is environmentally responsible and uses eco-friendly printing processes. You can let your own customers know that their printed materials are available on eco-friendly papers produced on paper made from sustainable sources processed without bleach and chlorine, and printed with a waterless print process.

Bank of America

According to the Environmental Sustainability sub-page on its website, Bank of America is going green by reducing the weight of its ATM receipts, saving paper and reducing the paper processing pollution and waste. The banking giant is also saving on transportation expense and pollution, reducing storing and handling expenses, and reducing their paper usage by making reports available online instead of printing hard copies. In turn, BofA is saving money.

This means less ATM receipts burried at the bottoms of purses, stuck under car floor mats, and fluttering around the bank parking lots. Bank of America customers can be proud that their paper waste now has less of an impact on our environment than it used to. Bank of America’s paper reduction web page details how they are reducing the weight of ATM receipts and the consequences for customers and the environment.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola saved tens of millions of dollars by cutting down on packaging. They have a long-term global vision of zero waste and are working toward it by designing efficient packaging, eliminating landfill waste, and using recycled and renewable materials.

Coca-Cola’s 2011/2012 Sustainability Report, found on Coca-colacompany.com, details the company’s commitment to environmental responsibility, including:

• Water stewardship
• Energy efficiency and climate protection
• Sustainable packaging

The next time you are enjoying a cold Coca-Cola, or a Coke product, you can drink it knowing it has less of a role in landfill waste and pollution because the company has an active vision to manage its environmental impact.