Picture this. A company posts its green initiatives all over its website. The company president tells an audience about its environmentally-friendly practices. Then, one day a member of that audience arrives at the company for a meeting. He is offered bottled water, but declines. He is then offered coffee, which he accepts, but it is served in a Styrofoam cup. And, he questions just how serious this company can be about going green.
 
“If you’re not being genuine in your thoughts and deliberate in your actions, all of sudden everything you’re saying about your initiatives becomes untrue,” said Levi Muller, Manager of Global Product Marketing.
 
Levi was an early advocate of creating a Green Team on campus at Tupperware headquarters in Orlando, so he quickly agreed to take the lead in coordinating the effort modeled after the diversity and networking groups. The Going Green @ Work Team was given the green light just in time for Diversity Day where they set up an information table in the campus cafeteria along with the other affinity groups. Interest in the Green Team was strong; sixty-five people signed up.
 
The initiative launched at the end of Q4 2008 with every employee on campus receiving a Tupperware commuter coffee mug and a divided, three section dish to replace the Styrofoam products. “People are very excited about the direction in which we’re headed,” said Levi. “As individuals, more people are becoming inspired to do things like change their driving habits or bring their own cloth bags to the grocery. We’re at a point where people are serious about making these types of changes in their working lives as well.”
 
In a survey by Adecco, an international HR company, 52 percent of employed adults felt their companies should do more to be environmentally friendly. And in a survey conducted by National Geographic magazine, over 80 percent of U.S. workers said they believe it is important to work for a company or organization that makes the environment a top priority.
 
Growing individual concern about the environment has led to volunteer-driven Green Teams at companies around the world. Green Teams are helping businesses operate in a more environmentally sustainable fashion and typically focus on day-to-day improvements in areas such as recycling, use of more sustainable office supplies, and basic energy management and efficiency. 
 
Tupperware’s Green Team has already identified new recycling opportunities, new policies at our Cafeteria from the types of supplies purchased to ensuring they are non-disposable, which will reduce costs for the company. They are making plans for an Earth Week celebration that will tie in to both Earth Day and Arbor Day. Levi is also looking forward to promoting participation in Earth Hour. “This will be the third year for Earth Hour and it’s really catching on. On March 28 at 8 p.m., people around the world turn off their lights for an hour; this act alone saves a tremendous amount of energy.”
 
By using the company website, intranet, and other communication avenues, the Going Green @ Work Team will build awareness for their initiatives and invite ideas and participation. They also plan to measure the environmental impact of their activities and report those through the company website.
 
All of this has been a growth experience for Levi. “I do recycle at home, but I wasn’t a real advocate of teaching people to do the same. But it just hit me as we started talking about sustainability that this was a real way we could all walk the talk.”