Green a firm boost

New clients have emerged for Tahi Estate. Photo / Supplied

It's the new buzzword of business but does being sustainable have any tangible benefits to a company's bottom line?

Two small businesses with a focus on sustainability say it can - but it takes work.

Auckland firm Soar Printing won the medium business category at the Sustainable 60 Awards this month, the same day the firm met criteria to become New Zealand's first printer offering certified carbon-neutral printed products and services.

Managing director Fred Soar said: "There is huge pride in our team that our vision of being New Zealand's most sustainable printer is coming to fruition. Sustainable values are fully entrenched in the company's strategic focus and management structure."

The firm was started in 1920 by Soar's grandfather, also Fred Soar, and has grown to 70 staff and a $20 million turnover.

Financial director Jenny Carter, the original Fred Soar's granddaughter, said everyone in the business wanted to think they were balancing the bottom line against the needs of the community and environment.

She said the entire staff had to be persuaded to buy in to the environmental efforts and being a family firm, the idea of leaving something viable for future generations was familiar.

Soar said being able to claim environmental credentials had attracted new clients and helped the company win tenders during the past two years.

Using resources more effectively also reduced costs, said Carter, and eliminated a lot of waste. As a result, gross profit as a percentage of sales had improved by 2 per cent and costs of energy, water, waste and carbon emissions had dropped 40 per cent.

Carter estimated the carbon neutral programme had resulted in savings of $160,000 over two years, mainly through reductions in the cost of power, fuel, waste to landfill and water.

Northland honey producers Tahi Estate has also made a significant investment in sustainability and picked up the Sustainable Business Network's Trailblazer Award for a small to medium business.

Manager John Craig said the focus on sustainability initially was costly but attracted an audience the company would not have been able to tap in to any other way.

The 5-year-old company claimed carbon neutral status because it was able to offset the carbon used in producing and exporting its honey. Tahi Estate expected to become financially viable next year. "People can go as far as they want [with sustainability]. We've chosen to go further than most."