Staff at co-ops often ask, “If we can’t commit to a full-blown sustainability program like Co+efficient right now, what can we do to get started?” A great way to energize your sustainability program at any stage is to launch a green team.

A green team is a group of staff from all levels of the co-op that leverage their collective experience, knowledge and passion to identify and carry out sustainability initiatives. Green teams:

• Identify needs, propose and launch programs
• Increase staff engagement and often get better results at creating cultural change than from top-down decisions
• Benefit the co-op’s brand by generating stories of cooperation and success

NCG has created the Green Team Guide, a handbook that walks stores through the process of putting the team together, identifying opportunities, launching initiatives and evaluating progress with the goal of improvement.

Because green teams include staff from different levels of management, experience and departments, they naturally generate a wide ranging and honest level of input that is valuable in discovering the “low-hanging fruit.” Day to day observations can lead to quick and easy fixes or point out the need for long term strategies.

For example, a green team might conduct a discards audit and learn more about what your co-op is throwing away every day. Improving recycling rates can be as easy as seeing what is routinely missed and putting out more labeled bins for that type of waste (plastic, paper, etc.) or more complicated, like identifying and contracting with a composting facility to pick up food discards and teaching staff to separate compostable matter. Arm your new green team with our Discarded Materials Audit Guide and your co-op is on its way to some big improvements.

Although priority is usually given to improving efficiency, green teams can also help create cultural shift and educate your community by organizing events, activities or campaigns. Biking incentives, green movie nights or neighborhood clean-up activities send the message that your co-op plans to be there for the long haul. In other words, you are striving to be a sustainable business.