America is in a period of reinvention.

Not only is there plenty of change in the political landscape, the dramatic collapse of many business sectors has forced business people to change the way they do commerce, redevelop ideas and plans, and imagine ways in which they can thrive in a new future.

At the same time, Americans are coming to better understand that the way we have lived and done business for the past hundred years or so is not sustainable, and that our attitudes to waste, pollution, recycling and use of by-products are going to have to change.

They are changing, and the result is a remarkable growth in the field of green business.

A green business is one that holds a respect for conservation of the environment as both one of its top priorities and one of its business strengths.

As we are seeing in the launch of new businesses everyday, the kinds of green business range for small, backyard companies which make retail products out of recycled materials, to organic food producers, to cutting edge solar technology research companies.

And all of these can be found here on the Eastside.

Last year three Sammamish Moms, alarmed by the increasing number of plastic water bottles they were seeing on the sports fields and in the playgrounds of their city, got together and launched Hulu Bottle.

In a growing awareness of the problem of plastic bottles contributing enormously to landfills all over the world, the three women saw a business opportunity.

Months later they had found their product, a high-grade stainless steel water bottle, and launched their new company, with the mission of providing a more responsible alternative to plastic that is both economical, refillable and safe for the environment.

“We got involved because we wanted to generate more awareness of the problem of these plastic bottles, and the waste they create,” said Hulu Bottle’s Sabile Brazier.

Hulu Bottle started up a partnership with a number of local sporting groups, including the Sammamish Little League. The little league logo was printed on the bottles, and Hulu Bottle donated $5 to the league for every bottle they sold, in a great business move to increase the product’s visibility and also contribute to worthwhile local groups. Importantly it also served the environmental goal that had so inspired the women in the first place.

At the same time as Brazier and her partners were developing Hulu Bottle, in another home on the Plateau a business called EnviroVogue was taking their own stand against plastic bottles, and making serious inroads into the reusable shopping bag market.

EnviroVogue, started by Sammamish husband and wife Elizabeth and Tim Fletcher, manufactures multipurpose totes, made from recycled plastic bottles.

With an emphasis on being chic as well as eco-friendly, the bags are carried in more than 400 retailers across the US and Canada, including Whole Foods and Nordstrom Rack.

Aware of the importance of social responsibility in business these days, a portion of EnviroVogue sales revenue is donated to charities such as the Puget Sound Chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which is involved in breast cancer research and awareness.

And the Fletcher’s seem to have lucked upon that one, vital but unpredictable ingredient in business success — timing.

The City of Seattle currently considering a proposition to tax traditional plastic shopping bags to encourage the use of reusable bags.

And so the market for their product is about to receive a government assisted boom.

One area of their business they hope to improve is the manufacturing of the product — though designed locally the bags are made in China.

“It has to do with the type of materials we use, they are only available overseas,” Tim said.

One day though he hopes American businesses will develop competitive green manufacturing technology.

Perhaps at the other end of the scale to these retail operations, is Conrad Vernon’s start-up Greenbridge International.

But in many ways it is with companies like this that big gains are being made in reducing the impact of business on the environment.

In a nutshell, Vernon’s company, which he launched from Issaquah headquarters in March this year and which is still in a pre-revenue phase, trains manufacturing businesses in ways to make their operation more energy efficient and to reduce and recycle wastage.

Greenbridge is made up of a team of about 40 environmental consultants, each of them experts in a management standard called ISO 14001.

ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization, and 14001 is a set of guidelines developed to enable an organization of any size or type identify and control the environmental impact of its activities, improve its environmental performance, and implement a systematic approach to setting environmental objectives and targets.

ISO 14001 has been in existence since 1996 and was most recently revised in 2004. But the Obama administration, through the American Recovery and Investment Act, has recently initiated a system of grants and incentives for businesses to come up to speed on ISO 14001. This is where Greenbridge comes in.

In order to receive grant funding from the federal government, businesses must provide environmental management training for their employees, and be certified by a third party registrar accredited by the ISO organization.

Greenbridge provides the training.

“It all began with the federal government’s platform to provide incentives for environmentally sustainable practices, and to wean the American businesses off foreign oil,” he said.

Greenbridge’s focus is the manufacturing industry, a field that he said is showing a very strong eagerness to improve energy efficiency, and to take advantage of grant funding to reduce inefficiencies. That encouragement is coming not just from the government but from other businesses too.

“The Boeings of this world, the Caterpillars, the Sonys, they are insisting on environmental accountability all the way down their supply chains,” he said.

Vernon said reducing resource use and energy costs, finding ways to reuse by-products, and exploring opportunities with solar, thermal and wind energy, were crucial in helping manufacturers identify new markets and operate more efficiently.

“The manufacturing sector is fundamental to the U.S. economy,” he said. “They have been the second hardest hit, behind construction, and are desperate to drive more revenue sources, and become a part of the international green economy.”

Greenbridge is poised to do about $7.7 million in business in its first year, and is on the verge of signing an agreement with a $30 billion a year international electronics company, with 190,000 employees.

“The highest level of all this is what it is doing for the environment,” he said. “With the increase in the value of services we provide, at an international level, we are seeing that small green businesses like ours are central to the world economy. I am proud of that.”