Sustainability in Your Local Small Business – A Compelling Case Made by West Roxbury Shop Owners

By Jacob Robinson and Jenna Lang

Despite the commonly-held belief that living in an environmentally-friendly way is expensive and difficult, switching to sustainable practices often saves you lots of money for a little effort. This is especially true for small businesses.

Large corporations have dedicated staff and resources to improve sustainability and manage their environmental impacts. Unfortunately, small businesses like the mom and pop shops along our Main Streets often aren’t sure where to start. Perhaps surprisingly, it’s one of the most important sectors when it comes to addressing large-scale environmental challenges. Consider that 99.9% of all businesses in the U.S. are small businesses and nearly half of all Americans (47.5%) are employed by small businesses. These statistical viewpoints demonstrate the scale of the opportunity that the small business sector has to protect ecological systems and combat climate change.

Many aspects of small businesses can be made more environmentally and socially responsible — sourcing of materials or ingredients, shipping and packaging, energy-efficiency of equipment and buildings, waste reduction, and water use. Sustainability is also interconnected with other social practices that small businesses may already be engaged in, such as supporting employees and customers of color or advocating for beloved community resources such as parks. We’ve listed a few resources at the end of this article to get you started (Let us know if you have any to add!).

Fortunately, there is a growing movement of small businesses leading the way.

In Spring of 2021, West Roxbury Main Streets partnered with Mothers Out Front West Roxbury/Roslindale Chapter to take part in an innovative, cross-collegiate program through Colleges of the Fenway (COF) that’s focused on addressing local sustainability challenges. The program, organized through the COF’s Center for Sustainability and the Environment, formed a student project team tasked with capturing insights from local business owners that were successfully embedding environmental sustainability into their businesses.

The student group interviewed the owners of Ashmont Cleaners, Delini Gelato, and Waves Car Wash about how they have embedded sustainability into the operations of their small businesses.

[Check out this video we produced to hear why these business owners see sustainability as a business priority.]

Our small businesses in West Roxbury are city leaders in sustainability, and they are seeing great business benefits for their work.

Delini Gelato, located at 5 Bellevue Street, embeds sustainability practices across all of their operations.

Delini Gelato has made sustainability a core operating principle. Owner Viki Petkova uses all organic ingredients (many from local farms) to make her gelato, which she serves with compostable cups and spoons. Customers support her environmentally-friendly practices (and delicious gelato) by returning to her shop. In her second year of operations, she excitedly reported that “99% of my customers from last season are coming back this season.”

Ashmont Cleaners is located at 2046 Centre Street in West Roxbury’s Main Street district. Their machines save on water, energy, maintenance, and produce less chemical waste than conventional technology.

Ashmont Cleaners, a local dry cleaning business, understands the business case for sustainable practices. Andrew Kourus, the owner, found that a sustainable washing machine helped grow his customer base. He told our team, “There are people that will actually travel 30 minutes to come to my shop, which is kind of unusual for a dry cleaner, knowing that I am using one of the eco-friendly [machines].” The new machines also save on water, energy, and maintenance costs, as well as produce less chemical waste.

The students also spoke with Adam Korngold, the owner of Waves Car Wash. Many car washes are energy- and water-intensive operations. With a more sustainable water system, installation of rooftop solar panels, and LED light bulbs, Adam can now wash a car using only 20 gallons of water (many car washes use over 100), and he saves over 30% on his electricity bill. When asked for his advice to other business owners, he said, “Businesses should always look at the different rebates that are available and invest in new technology that’s going to save them money in the long term and give them sustainability. There’s a lot of sustainability that makes economic sense.”

Waves Car Wash, powered by on-site PV solar panels, is located at 1680 VFW Parkway in West Roxbury.

Adam’s advice summed up our key takeaways from this project. Making a small business more sustainable is often not only good for the planet, but also for business. Sustainable practices help West Roxbury’s small businesses bring in new customers, retain existing customers, and save on operating costs.

Their sustainable practices also support other local businesses, such as the farms that source Delini’s ingredients or the energy company that installed Waves’ solar panels.

As many businesses are already exploring new models and practices due to the pandemic, now is a great time to also consider making a small business more sustainable. There are many resources available to help a small business become more environmentally-friendly. A few are listed below. West Roxbury Main Streets and Mothers Out Front are also available for more personalized advice and support. All of West Roxbury’s small businesses deserve the cost-saving benefits that sustainable practices can offer, and all of West Roxbury’s residents deserve the environmental benefits of a greener neighborhood.

Sustainability Resources for Boston Small Businesses:

WRMS extends a special thanks to our local Mothers Out Front chapter and also to Colleges of the Fenway’s Center for Sustainability and the Environment, and the student project team, which consisted of Ben Clough, Josey Wermuth, and Oscar Rodriguez.