Which is more important: profit or purpose? While many businesses believe they must choose between making money and implementing sustainable initiatives, it is possible to achieve both by maximizing efficiency on all levels of operation.

If your cash register is a glorified calculator and your Web site has been stagnant for the past year, you are probably missing out on some important opportunities for reaching customers.

Whole Foods Market, based here, announced in May that it would halt the sale of krill oil because of sustainability issues. And at the end of May, Aker BioMarine became the first krill fishery to become certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a much sought-after designation that indicates environmental sustainability.

SunRidge Farms, maker of natural and organic dried fruit, nuts, seeds, candies, and trail and snack mixes, has a new green initiative.

Cambridge, MA—Kids generally grow out of their clothing every six months. According to thredUP, this can lead to parents spending up to $20K on staple clothing items by the time a child reaches the age of 17. In addition, we throw away 68 pounds of clothing and textiles annually—together, that’s about 145 billion pounds of fabric sent to landfills each year!

Sugar Land, Fort Worth, TX—Himalaya Herbal Healthcare USA and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), are getting in on the trend of environmentally friendly building, with new facilities that are set to meet a high standard for green building, namely the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

Some say green is the new black, with reusable bags and water containers topping the list of en vogue eco-friendly merchandise.

Santa Cruz, CA—Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems, maker of all-natural vitamins and supplements, has announced a major eco-friendly change to the way its products are sold. In a move that will be the first of its kind in the natural supplement industry, Rainbow Light will complete a conversion of its supplement product bottles to 100% reused plastic material in 2010.

According to Pike Research, sustainable packaging will comprise nearly a third of the packaging market by 2014, which equates to about a $170-billion industry (1). This growth is significant, considering that sustainable packaging had just a 21% market share in 2009.

Dayton, WA—In the sprawling hills and forests of Washington state, a new type of business will soon appear: an eco-friendly food park named Blue Mountain Station will be constructed near the town of Dayton in Columbia County.