I  suggest to everybody interested in what big corporations are doing about sustainability to download the State of Green Business report by Greenbiz.com available online.

For those of you who have little time and want to hear the good news first: many big corporations, from Xerox to Kraft, from Procter and Gamble to Coca-Cola, are working hard at reducing if not eliminating the waste originated by the manufacturing process. Companies learnt that cutting waste can yield multiple savings, together with a better image and a greener environment.

But -here's the bad news – there is no generally accepted definition of what "zero waste" means. For some companies zero waste might include also incinerations and other technologies that many "green professionals" will not define as sustainable and eco-friendly ones.

As we always stress, a standardization of sustainability practices is a need for a better and more efficient communication with consumers and with stakeholders, so that to avoid a word that we don't like at all: greenwashing.(Photo courtesy of naem.org)