小饭店，大环保-- 环保经理肖竹的绿色实践

Her position is still unique in a society that is just waking up to the value of being eco-friendly. Sun Ye finds out more about a manager who has a very special job.

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萨店工作。她的职位很特殊，具体说来，她是叫板披萨店的环保经理。

她的目标是想方设法地改善餐馆的小环境，希望最终能改变大的。

她的绩效指标则包括以下几项：垃圾分类和合理回收，减少厨余浪费以及向其他员工普及环保理念。

不难看出来，肖竹是个彻头彻尾的环保主义者。不过，她的环保理念和其他人不大一样，她认为环保不是公益事业。她说，环境有价值，为它付出应当得到回报。

为了实践这个理念，肖竹决心要做一件听上去不可思议的事：既呵护环境，又为公司创收。

要知道，环保一向被看作是只消耗预算没什么进账的责任事业，为了检验她的环保哲学，肖竹从一家巨型跨国企业辞了工，从IT项目经理转行成了叫板的环保经理。

＂我对环保特别有热情，不想浪费掉它，＂她告诉中国日报。

一般商业公司抵触绿色事业的原因很简单–- 成本太高了。最基本的垃圾分类不需要多少硬件材料，但是所需要的人工投入就能让公司却步。

但肖竹找到了解决这个问题的办法：从环保事业里挖掘经济利益。

就用这个秘笈，她成功地在一个工作日的下午聚集了一班员工，跟他们讲解PM2.5的来龙去脉，和十几人一起分享周末垃圾处理厂之旅的收获。

叫板的员工大多只有高中毕业，对环保原本不太重视，对空气中漂浮的颗粒也不甚了解。但跟肖老师学习的时间久了，他们的思路也变得有迹可循，有人猜，＂PM2.5该不会跟之前讲的碳排放有关吧？＂

肖竹细细讲清了颗粒的形成，危害和防护，她还推荐了一个监测污染量的app，＂看到数字超过150就尽量别出门了啊。＂

四十七岁的王翠玲是叫板的保洁员，讲座开始时她还一头雾水地干看着肖竹，等讲座结束，她告诉记者，＂我真想马上回家告诉老公今天肖老师教的东西。＂

周末绿色之旅的分享会上，肖竹列了几个让学员们倒抽一口气的例子：北京最大的垃圾填埋厂不到四年就会填满，一只塑料袋需要好几百年才能降解，处理塑料袋科不能靠燃烧，不然，产生的二恶英会致癌。

一道前往的十来个员工也聊得热火朝天，表示自己日常的垃圾处理实在＂太重要了。＂

＂参加活动能让他们真正知道环保的重要性，要不然，垃圾分类可是件挺枯燥的事情，＂肖竹说。

这样的环保活动还有一个大好处：提振士气。

＂大家关系更紧密了，员工们接了这个城市的地气，感到被尊重，被需要，＂肖竹说，叫板的离职率因此降低，解决了人力资源部门的大难题。

肖竹也以同样的理由说服餐厅给叫板大使配备口罩。这笔一年三千元的支出后还是肖竹的精打细算：快递员感到关怀，也不会周转得那么快了。要知道频繁的招聘、培训成本可是高多了。

肖竹还换掉了员工餐厅的一次性碗筷，又为供应商和餐厅节省了超过两万块钱。

＂换上自己的碗筷，员工们还觉得更有家的氛围呢！＂

这样的双赢绿色行动还有不少，之所以能找到这些平衡点，肖竹把她的特长归功于她的敏感与热情。

她今年二十八岁，在葱茏的贵州长大，总能在大自然里找到安全感。＂自然让我镇静，污染让我感到烦心。＂

在北京科技大学读书的时候肖竹就参加了许多环保组织的活动，在跨国公司工作的时候她又常发现自己是极少数积极参加绿色活动的活跃分子。

＂我前老板有一次问我们，十五年后对自己的规划是什么,我当时就想要开发出一种又环保又有商业价值的产品，＂肖竹开始明白，环保正是她的追求。

＂我跟老公说，就算我的理念行不通，以后没钱送小孩去私立学校，但是我起码是个好榜样，能教会他一个人要追求自己的梦想。＂

叫板披萨的两位老板刚好也想试着把环保和商业结合起来，从力所能及的事情开始，制造更大的影响。

老板约翰一直想要找一个肖竹这样的人，＂所以我们一见面就觉得不谋而合，相见恨晚，＂他告诉记者。

叫板为绿色事业拨出的预算是餐馆百分之一的年收入。但肖竹算了算，绿色的开源节流其实是盈利的，到年底，她的部门还会对餐厅有更大的经济贡献。

而在今年前三个月，叫板的垃圾减量已经达到了百分之五十一，餐厅的一部分厨余也运往农场成了高蛋白的有机肥。

现在，肖竹双管齐下的绿色运营模式已经小有名气，前不久，环保组织自然之友就邀请她做了一回经验分享。也有电子商务公司请她为帮忙为力所能及的环保措施出谋献策。

＂其实我们的事业才刚刚开始，我也不知道能创造多大的价值，但我知道，我做的事情很对！＂