Sustainability in Pest Management
Smart, Sustainable Pest Management That Works for Your Business
For generations, the pest management industry has stood at the frontlines of public health, safeguarding homes, protecting our food supply, and ensuring safe environments where people live, work, and play. Today, that legacy continues with a clear focus on sustainability through innovative material selection, operational efficiency, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. By integrating environmentally responsible practices into daily operations, small, mid-sized, and large companies aren’t just doing what’s right for the planet—they’re discovering real business benefits, from streamlined efficiencies to sizable cost savings and increased customer trust.
NPMA is helping member companies grow their businesses by adopting sustainable practices that also support the future of our industry.
As consumer expectations change, sustainability is no longer optional—it’s a smart move for any business. Embracing sustainable practices can give you a competitive edge, lower costs, reduce risks, meet regulatory standards, and help ensure your business stays strong for the long haul.
To support this mission, NPMA is focused on:
- Driving industry efficiency to provide pest management businesses with the information they need to increase profit while minimizing environmental impact.
- Elevating the industry as a leader in sustainability by bringing awareness to the instrumental role pest management professionals play in protecting health, food and the environment.
- Helping businesses adapt practices that meet sustainability standards and future-proof their operations. This includes investing in cutting-edge technology that reduces environmental impact and developing new solutions when challenges arise.
- Working with our industry leaders to create a unified approach that uplifts our mission and supports businesses of any size. We’ll also collaborate with sustainability champions from other industries to solidify our role.
We’re starting strong with these steps, and we’re ready to build on them. Expect more resources to engage your customers, amplify your sustainability work, and equip you with advanced tools to measure your success.
Ready to start or strengthen your sustainability journey?
NPMA is here to guide you every step of the way—with best practices, peer insights, and practical tools to make sustainability work for your business.
NPMA is Creating the Path for Sustainability in Pest Control
We're here to help your business make it easier to adopt sustainable practices in your daily operations. Whether you’re just starting your efforts or looking to refine your existing protocols, we’ve designed a roadmap to provide actionable strategies to help you reduce environmental impact while increasing your business’ efficiency and profitability. By taking these steps, you’ll not only exceed consumer expectations but also begin to establish your business as a strong advocate for sustainable practices.
Why Your Business Needs Sustainable Practices
Our industry has always been focused on sustainability, whether it’s ensuring public health or protecting food security around the world. In today's world, sustainability is essential for business growth and innovation. At the end of the day, adopting eco-friendly practices can improve your bottom line. Sustainability benefits a business in a multitude of ways, including enhancing brand reputation, building long-term resilience, and cost savings. When it comes to how sustainable services impact customer relationships, research from the Public Health and Safety Program shows that 88% of consumers demonstrate increased loyalty to businesses that embrace social or environmental causes, driving home the strong desire from consumers to work with eco-friendly companies.
Your suppliers and vendors are also a vital part of supporting a sustainable business, ensuring environmental progress as your products and services need to align with your sustainability goals. Our research has shown that vendors are just as dedicated to sustainability as pest control businesses are, with 50% of companies reviewing their goals every quarter and 36% reviewing annually.
Framework and Best Practices
There are five essential areas we’ve identified for improvement within the pest control industry: Mobility, Service Efficacy, Facilities, Environmental Impact, and Technology. All of these have actionable steps that businesses can take including:
- Mobility: Businesses should work to optimize travel and fleet operations to reduce emissions by prioritizing virtual meetings and efficient routing to cut unnecessary trips. Studies show that a 20% reduction in travel can meaningfully lower your environmental footprint.
- Service Efficacy: Reduce chemical use, exposure risks and promote eco-friendly options to customers by implementing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and training employees on sustainable practices.
- Facilities: Enhance energy efficiency and conserve water by adopting energy-saving technologies and smart facility upgrades to reduce operational impact.
- Environmental Impact: Establish robust waste management programs and safe hazardous materials disposal practices to limit your company’s environmental footprint.
- Technology: Invest in AI-powered tools, sustainable products, and battery recycling programs to leverage innovation while reducing your ecological impact.
These best practices are tailored to help your company make measurable and impactful improvements in your operations to ensure you’re following sustainable technologies. To learn more about how we’re measuring these essential areas and their improvement, check out our Sustainability Models.
Measuring the Success of Your Sustainability Practices
Utilizing our Sustainability Scorecard and our Sustainability Benchmarks, your business can track how it’s improved environmental impact while driving efficiency and profitability. These tools will measure success in key areas that have been identified as needing improvement for sustainable practices, including fuel consumption, chemical usage, energy efficiency and more.
By benchmarking your performance against industry standards, you will be able to identify areas for improvement and set new goals for growth. Regularly reviewing your results can ensure that these practices become part of your long-term business strategy to drive environmental and business success, and not just a one-time effort. All of this will help you stay aligned with evolving regulatory standards and consumer expectations, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable pest control industry.
Sustainability Models
The NPMA Sustainability Models guide reveals eight proven strategies to reduce costs and environmental impact simultaneously.
Sustainability Scorecard
Utilizing the NPMA Sustainability Scorecard, your business can track how it’s improved environmental impact while driving efficiency and profitability.
Take the NPMA Sustainability Pledge
Take the first step to a greener practice for your business and our industry. We encourage you to lead the way in making eco-conscious choices that benefit your business, your customers, and the planet.
NPMA wants to recognize companies that voluntarily adhere to sustainable practices. Companies that routinely monitor their sustainability efforts and are able to achieve progress toward becoming more sustainable and more efficient are encouraged to complete the NPMA Sustainability pledge. Those companies will be recognized on the NPMA website.
Join us by pledging your commitment to sustainability practices.
