小飯店，大環保 環保經理肖竹的綠色實踐
Xiao Zhu works at a trendy pizza parlor, and she has a very unusual position. She is an environment manager at Gung Ho and by making sure the little details are all in the right places, she hopes to change the larger picture. As the environment manager of the pizza restaurant, her key performance indices are: proper garbage sorting and recycling, minimizing food waste and educating and sharing green ideas with the other staff. She's a fast-speaking, hardcore environmentalist with a twist in her philosophy. She believes that protecting the environment is not charity work but that it has value, should be worked at, and the effort should be paid for.
To practice what she believes, Xiao wants to make and save money for the company while protecting the environment, a middle path widely thought of as impractical. But she is not daunted, and determined to experiment and learn.
She left her lucrative IT project manager's job at a major multinational to practice what she preaches. "I have the passion and don't want to see it go to waste," she says.
It's difficult for commercial enterprises to go green, a strategy that is generally believed to add extra costs. For example, the most basic garbage sorting means more paid labor has to be invested. However, Xiao is getting a grip on the key to finding the economic incentives.
That's how she made it possible for a dozen of her colleagues to sit down for a talk on PM 2.5 particles and a sharing session of their weekend trip to a waste treatment plant.
To the average audience, what PM 2.5 particles actually are is anyone's guess, but with "Teacher Xiao" at the helm, the discussion speculates "it has something to do with carbon emissions".
Xiao explains everything, from causes to precautions. She also recommends an air-quality monitoring app and says, "Try to stay inside when the figure goes beyond 150."
Wang Cuiling, a 47-year-old cleaner who began the session blinking blindly at the screen says afterwards, "I can't wait to tell my husband what Teacher Xiao told us."
Xiao made the listeners gasp with some alarming facts in the "Where Does All the Garbage Go" presentation: Beijing's biggest refuse landfill will be full in four years. A plastic bag takes hundreds of years to decay. It can't be burned, or it will give off carcinogens.
About 10 staff members had volunteered to go on a weekend trip to the waste disposal plant and came back gushing with new ideas and initiatives for their workplace.
"Now they see why their work is worthwhile, otherwise sorting waste is boring and doesn't speak of necessity, " Xiao says.
Another upside to organizing green-themed field trips and lectures is that it boosts work morale. "I find our people bonding better. They feel respected and that they have become part of the restaurant and the city."
That reduces the staff turnover rate, a headache for human resources departments all over the city.
In the same way, Xiao lobbied for masks for Gung Ho's deliverymen. It costs an additional 3,000 yuan ($486) a year but Xiao has a calculated argument. Happier deliverymen who feel the company cares about their health and safety are less likely to quit.
In this way, a 3,000-yuan investment pre-empts frequent recruitment and training exercises, which may cost a lot more money otherwise.
Xiao also replaced disposable bowls and chopsticks at the staff canteen, saving more than 20,000 yuan for both the restaurant and its caterer.
To top that, "it turned out that everyone feels more at home with their own bowl and chopsticks," Xiao says.
That's just a few of the win-win solutions Xiao has managed to find. She attributes her knack of locating these sweet spots to sensitivity and passion.
Xiao grew up in verdant Guizhou province and has always found her sense of security in nature. "I talk to nature to calm myself down," she says. Polluted surroundings irritate her.
She began volunteering for various green NGOs since entering the University of Science and Technology Beijing. Then, during her four years with two large companies, she frequently found herself among the rare, eager ones to participate in corporate responsibility activities.
"My ex-boss once asked me what were my goals in the next 15 years. I said I wanted to develop a green, environment-friendly product that's profitable." Xiao has now come to see that the environment is more of a personal obsession.
"I told my husband, even if my philosophy doesn't work and nothing comes out of it, I can still be my children's model for pursuing one's dreams even though we can't afford private school," she says.
The owners of Gung Ho happened to believe in the same things, that green and business can work together and a big impact starts from small bits.
John O'Loghlen, the co-owner who has been looking for an advocate for their vision, says, "When we met her, we just clicked."
They set aside 1 percent of total revenue as the budget for Xiao's green responsibilities. Xiao joined Gung Ho last September and "Going green" is the company's tagline now.
In the first quarter this year, Xiao helped reduce 51 percent of waste, totally more than a ton. She sent food waste to an organic farm for fuel.
She says by the end of the year she expects more of her projects to turn a profit. And the green-management model that the restaurant works on is already outsourcing. An e-commerce company invites her to give a speech on disposal.
"We've only just started and I can't say how much value I'm creating, but I'm doing the positive, right kind of business."肖竹在一家新潮的披薩店工作。她的職位很特殊，具體說來，她是叫板披薩店的環保經理。
她的目標是想方設法地改善餐館的小環境，希望最終能改變大的。
她的績效指標則包括以下幾項：垃圾分類和合理回收，減少廚餘浪費以及向其他員工普及環保理念。
不難看出來，肖竹是個徹頭徹尾的環保主義者。不過，她的環保理念和其他人不大一樣，她認爲環保不是公益事業。她說，環境有價值，爲它付出應當得到回報。
爲了實踐這個理念，肖竹決心要做一件聽上去不可思議的事：既呵護環境，又爲公司創收。
要知道，環保一向被看作是隻消耗預算沒什麼進賬的責任事業，爲了檢驗她的環保哲學，肖竹從一家巨型跨國企業辭了工，從IT項目經理轉行成了叫板的環保經理。
＂我對環保特別有熱情，不想浪費掉它，＂她告訴中國日報。
一般商業公司牴觸綠色事業的原因很簡單–- 成本太高了。最基本的垃圾分類不需要多少硬件材料，但是所需要的人工投入就能讓公司卻步。
但肖竹找到了解決這個問題的辦法：從環保事業裏挖掘經濟利益。
就用這個祕笈，她成功地在一個工作日的下午聚集了一班員工，跟他們講解PM2.5的來龍去脈，和十幾人一起分享週末垃圾處理廠之旅的收穫。
叫板的員工大多隻有高中畢業，對環保原本不太重視，對空氣中漂浮的顆粒也不甚瞭解。但跟肖老師學習的時間久了，他們的思路也變得有跡可循，有人猜，＂PM2.5該不會跟之前講的碳排放有關吧？＂
肖竹細細講清了顆粒的形成，危害和防護，她還推薦了一個監測污染量的app，＂看到數字超過150就儘量別出門了啊。＂
四十七歲的王翠玲是叫板的保潔員，講座開始時她還一頭霧水地幹看着肖竹，等講座結束，她告訴記者，＂我真想馬上回家告訴老公今天肖老師教的東西。＂
週末綠色之旅的分享會上，肖竹列了幾個讓學員們倒抽一口氣的例子：北京最大的垃圾填埋廠不到四年就會填滿，一隻塑料袋需要好幾百年才能降解，處理塑料袋科不能靠燃燒，不然，產生的二噁英會致癌。
一道前往的十來個員工也聊得熱火朝天，表示自己日常的垃圾處理實在＂太重要了。＂
＂參加活動能讓他們真正知道環保的重要性，要不然，垃圾分類可是件挺枯燥的事情，＂肖竹說。
這樣的環保活動還有一個大好處：提振士氣。
＂大家關係更緊密了，員工們接了這個城市的地氣，感到被尊重，被需要，＂肖竹說，叫板的離職率因此降低，解決了人力資源部門的大難題。
肖竹也以同樣的理由說服餐廳給叫板大使配備口罩。這筆一年三千元的支出後還是肖竹的精打細算：快遞員感到關懷，也不會週轉得那麼快了。要知道頻繁的招聘、培訓成本可是高多了。
肖竹還換掉了員工餐廳的一次性碗筷，又爲供應商和餐廳節省了超過兩萬塊錢。
＂換上自己的碗筷，員工們還覺得更有家的氛圍呢！＂
這樣的雙贏綠色行動還有不少，之所以能找到這些平衡點，肖竹把她的特長歸功於她的敏感與熱情。
她今年二十八歲，在蔥蘢的貴州長大，總能在大自然裏找到安全感。＂自然讓我鎮靜，污染讓我感到煩心。＂
在北京科技大學讀書的時候肖竹就參加了許多環保組織的活動，在跨國公司工作的時候她又常發現自己是極少數積極參加綠色活動的活躍分子。
＂我前老闆有一次問我們，十五年後對自己的規劃是什麼,我當時就想要開發出一種又環保又有商業價值的產品，＂肖竹開始明白，環保正是她的追求。
＂我跟老公說，就算我的理念行不通，以後沒錢送小孩去私立學校，但是我起碼是個好榜樣，能教會他一個人要追求自己的夢想。＂
叫板披薩的兩位老闆剛好也想試着把環保和商業結合起來，從力所能及的事情開始，製造更大的影響。
老闆約翰一直想要找一個肖竹這樣的人，＂所以我們一見面就覺得不謀而合，相見恨晚，＂他告訴記者。
叫板爲綠色事業撥出的預算是餐館百分之一的年收入。但肖竹算了算，綠色的開源節流其實是盈利的，到年底，她的部門還會對餐廳有更大的經濟貢獻。
而在今年前三個月，叫板的垃圾減量已經達到了百分之五十一，餐廳的一部分廚餘也運往農場成了高蛋白的有機肥。
現在，肖竹雙管齊下的綠色運營模式已經小有名氣，前不久，環保組織自然之友就邀請她做了一回經驗分享。也有電子商務公司請她爲幫忙爲力所能及的環保措施出謀獻策。
＂其實我們的事業纔剛剛開始，我也不知道能創造多大的價值，但我知道，我做的事情很對！＂
