Dr Adam Smith, Founder and CE of Reef Ecologic, an ecoBiz 3-Star Partner and B Corp, shares how ecoBiz helped his small business reduce its environmental impact and save money.

“I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau exploring the world. So I guess that’s why I started down this path.

In Sydney in the 1970s, raw sewage was pumped into the sea off the coast of Bondi, and it made people sick and it contaminated marine life. And I thought, ‘surely there must be a better way’. So, I studied it for my PhD and used that research to try and influence better technology.

I love to be in the field and particularly underwater exploring new reefs. Throughout my career I’ve been lucky to tick a few ‘dream jobs’ off my list. I worked with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, world leaders in reef management, for 15 years.

Ten years ago I started Reef Ecologic. We specialise in sustainable management of marine resources including coral reefs and fisheries. We work locally right here in Townsville and globally – from Kiribati to Saudi Arabia.

I love helping other businesses understand their relationship to the marine environment and how to measure their impact. That’s the way I approach life – being curious, finding out what people do and why, and then trying to help them find a better, more sustainable way. Not only for the environment, but also for the local community.

And that’s how we came to join ecoBiz. It was a great opportunity to talk to experts, track our energy, water and waste data, benchmark where we are on our journey, and find ways to improve.

I love that there’s a free program helping small businesses like mine to measure themselves and improve their environmental impact while also saving money. And it can be simple things: when you pull out your energy bills and start measuring them, you’d be surprised at the improvements you can make.

We’re proud to be an ecoBiz 3-Star Partner. We joined ecoBiz in 2019 and since then we’ve introduced a range of initiatives – everything from timed lighting to sourcing sustainable produce for catering to composting and using grey water. We’ve also adopted a ‘repair not replace’ mentality.

More recently we’ve taken bigger steps like installing a solar PV system and a Tesla battery and now we can say we’re 100% renewable in our home office. I know some people may say ‘well that’s a big capital cost’. But it made sense for us, and now we’re seeing the benefits: we’re 100% carbon neutral and there’s no power bills to open.

ecoBiz acted as a kind of stepping stone for us: It made me comfortable enough to look at national and global accreditations. So we went from ecoBiz to a national accreditation and now a global one (B Corp) so we can see how we measure against others throughout the world. I would never have taken on the ‘big hairy’ B Corp accreditation without ecoBiz.

We’re a very small company, but by aligning with ecoBiz has helped our reputation. We can attract interns and quality staff. And our Star Partner verification helps when I’m having conversations with other businesses or potential partners because they can say ‘these guys are sustainable, they’re the sort of people we want to work with’. And I know I prefer to work with other ecoBiz or B Corp companies when I can.

I see a real opportunity for verification programs like ecoBiz to be added into procurement contracts. Because it offers a platform where you can measure environmental performance and can act as an incentive.

As a ‘Business for Good’, we strive to be a role model and influence others to be the best they can. Because to me that’s the key. Sure you need to look at yourself but you also need to try and say ‘hey, this works for me, maybe it can work for you too’.

So I encourage other business owners to sign up and start measuring their impact. Save money and work for a better planet.”