THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020608
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Small businesses with environmental concerns often seem to have a drastic choice: profit or pollute.
But a study released Thursday by the Institute of Environmental Negotiation at the University of Virginia argues that small businesses may be able to both clean up their operations and save money.
Small companies usually can't afford to hire an outside consultant - let alone employ a full-time expert - to work on environmental problems, said Alan Beckenstein, professor at U.Va.'s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.
``Big business has the technical staff usually, with smaller businesses it's more of a daunting challenge because of the nature of the expenditures,'' Beckenstein said. ``Reynolds Metals doesn't need this kind of help.''
The study was sponsored by the Virginia Environmental Endowment and written by the nonprofit Management Institute for Environment and Business in Washington, which works with business schools throughout the country. It looked at six industries: marine repair, textiles, printing, furniture manufacturing, electroplating and dry cleaning.
Those industries employ 150,000 Virginians and generate $5 billion in annual revenue. More than 90 percent of the companies in those industries are considered small businesses.
The businesses in those six industries may together show impressive numbers, but as individual operators they lack money. For instance, the study sketches the average dry-cleaner as a five-person operation with less than $10,000 in annual profit.
With dry cleaning, the study found few opportunities for pollution prevention, especially since new Environmental Protection Agency rules have required many dry-cleaners to buy a new machinethat costs $6,500.
In the printing industry, though, the study saw a potential to develop an easy-to-use pollution prevention system for small printers.
Richard Collins, director of the U.Va. institute that performed the study, said the idea of reducing pollution without adding regulations meshes well with Gov. George F. Allen's vow not to add more financial burdens to industry.
``If it's a voluntary program,'' Collins said, ``that means you won't need to increase regulations.''
The next step by the report's sponsors will be to develop plans of action for a few businesses to test pollution reduction efforts. If successful, they will try to get small businesses interested in pilot projects.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is working on programs to assist small businesses, but Beckenstein said teams consisting of graduate students may be given more access to small businesses.
``Most small businesses are quick to tell you they're afraid to invite somebody (from DEQ) in before they know the status of their compliance,'' he said. ``They think, `What if they see 14 violations? They're obliged to write us up.' '' by CNB