'Green' grows on Eugene firms.

Five small, Eugene-based companies representing very different industries came away from a city-sponsored sustainable business project with shared insight: It doesn't have to be hard, and it doesn't have to be expensive.

"People are always concerned about money, but people should do what they can to protect the environment," said Jeff Laramee, administrator of Holly Residential Care Center, a 24-hour care center in north Eugene for people with head injuries. "And it's easier and cheaper to do than you think."

Earlier this year, the city retained Good Company, a local research and consulting firm that helps clients measure, manage and market their environmental and social performance, to work with Holly Residential and four other small businesses that had applied for loans from the city of Eugene.

Officials at those businesses said that working with Good Company helped them better understand the life cycle of their product or service: from procuring supplies to disposing of waste. The consultant also helped the businesses identify ways to reduce their environmental impact at each step along that continuum.

"People often think about the environment as being a philanthropic thing they do on their own time," said Joshua Proudfoot, a principal at Good Company. "We show it can happen in your business."

Many of the participants said that Good Company introduced them to a new way of thinking about their business.

"I would say that a lot of it is changing the way that you notice opportunities," said Hanna Scholz, marketing manager at Green Gear Cycling Inc., a bicycle manufacturer in west Eugene. "It's a way of noticing waste: waste of motion, waste of materials, waste of energy."

Mazzi Ernandes, a partner in the Hideaway Bakery behind Mazzi's, his father's south Eugene restaurant, said that sustainable businesses think beyond short-term survival.

"For me, when I hear 'sustainable business,' it's a business that can sustain itself with its ... providers and its customers," he said. "So sustainability has a lot to do with decisionmaking and how you plan your future."

The five companies that took part in the project were Green Gear, the makers of Bike Friday, a folding, travel bike; Harlequin Beads and Jewelry; Holly Residential Care Center; Mazzi's Italian restaurant and Hideaway Bakery; and Plaza Latina, a supermarket specializing in Latin and Middle Eastern imported foods.

The companies, all recipients of the city's small-business development loan program, volunteered for the sustainability project.

"I've always been interested in environmental issues on a personal level, and to be able to tie it into the business in a more effective way was appealing to me," Harlequin Beads owner Stacy Bierma said.

"It was very educational," said Sam Recinos, president and general manager of Plaza Latina. "I think it's very important for the Hispanic community to get informed about this."

The sustainability message hasn't spread much in the Hispanic community because of the language barrier, he said, and the Spanish-language media don't emphasize it.

The city paid Good Company $20,000 - money the City Council had earmarked two years ago for sustainable economic development. The project took place against the backdrop of the Sustainable Business Initiative launched by Mayor Kitty Piercy in June 2005.

The initiative's goal is to propose a path for Eugene to become one of the nation's most sustainable midsize communities by 2020.

Similar consulting work by Good Company for a single entrepreneurial company would cost $4,000 to $8,000, depending on the company's needs, Proudfoot said.

He added that it is gratifying to work with entrepreneurs because they usually see the big picture of their business and they have a can-do attitude.

The local companies, he said, "took action on some of this stuff within a week. Some took action before our report even came out."

After an initial meeting with all of the companies, followed by several individual meetings with each one, Good Company produced a 10-page report for each company covering water and electrical use, waste and recycling, and marketing, or how to let the public know about their environmental practices.

Some of the actions Good Company recommended were relatively simple, such as choosing an environmentally friendly energy source.

Three of the companies, for example, switched to wind power as a source of electricity through the Eugene Water & Electric Board.

"The switch to wind added just $500 a year to our bill," said Laramee, the administrator at Holly Residential.

"It's something we're going to do because of our responsibility to the environment," he said. "We're not a manufacturer ... but our (emissions, including employee commutes) are still 20 tons of carbon dioxide a year," Laramee said.

Scholz, Green Gear's marketing manager, said the cost difference for her company to buy wind power was $510 a year.

(That's) "just teeny considering we spend $6,600 a year (for) electricity through EWEB, so $500 a year was completely worth it," she said. "We weren't aware wind power had become that affordable, so we called the next day and went 100 percent wind power."

Ernandes at Mazzi's and Hideaway Bakery switched to partial wind power and paid for the difference in his annual bill through money saved by reducing garbage pickups at the restaurant and bakery. Trash trucks used to make three trips out to Mazzi's a week; now it's down to two because Ernandes said he organizes the trash more efficiently for the remaining pickups.

Even before Good Company's audit of his business, Ernandes had installed solar panels atop the Hideaway Bakery to generate hot water for the bakery and restaurant.

"I stood out behind the restaurant many times and noticed all the sun and the roof space, said Ernandes, an organic farmer. "My mind searches for ways to waste less, to be more efficient and utilize what's around us."

Increasing efficiency and reducing waste are goals shared by many businesses these days. It turns out that those efforts are usually better for the environment.

Holly Residential has long striven for efficiency, Laramee said. "Being Medicaid-driven, the money's not growing on trees," he said.

Several years ago, the residential care facility installed cleaning fluid dispensers in its janitorial closets to reduce spills and save money.

After working with Good Company, Holly Residential switched from using some green cleaning products supplied by Portland-based Coastwide Laboratories, to all green products, which actually saved the center money. The facility also installed devices to pre-measure amounts of cleaning fluids being dispensed.

"Because people like me just go, `glug, glug, glug,' 'Laramee said, pretending to pour cleaning fluid.

"How many glugs do you put in it?"

The chemicals Holly Residential uses are 100 percent biodegradable, safer for employees and residents, and still meet the state regulations for cleanliness, Laramee said.

For Harlequin Beads owner Bierma, the biggest eye-opener in working with Good Company was attempting to research suppliers of the products she sells.

"One of the things I've always been worried about is what are the labor conditions like in the places where these things are made?' she said.

(Good Company) "brought me some information about mining metals, and it's a fairly bad environmental deal and the labor practices are bad," she said. "But I can't sell beads without selling clasps."

She said she's trying to locate suppliers of silver and gold in the United States.

Good Company also provided her with resources describing general labor conditions in various countries.

"That put my mind at rest for almost all of my European goods (glass and crystal). But the gem stones are mined all over the world and cut in China and India," she said.

Armed with a bit more information, "I've started to have the presence of mind and nerve to ask (wholesalers) what are the labor conditions in the places where these are manufactured?' she said.

"I think it's going to be a long process to research suppliers and switch suppliers and educate customers," Bierma said.

SUSTAINABILITY 101

FOR BUSINESS

Presentation planned at Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce

What: Consultant Good Company and companies involved in a city-sponsored sustainability project share practical information

When: Tuesday, 8 a.m.

to 10 a.m.

Where: Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, 1401 Willamette St., Eugene

Cost: $10 for members;

$18 for nonmembers

To register and get more information: Online at www.eugenechamber.com

or call 484-1314