Companies Go Slower on ‘Going Green’

Publicly traded companies, including behemoth Wal-Mart Stores, are slowing down on their efforts to embrace more environmentally friendly products and techniques, experts tell MoneyNews.

The primary reason is cost: Green products like low-wattage light bulbs and recycled materials are five to 10 percent more expensive to buy and install than conventional counterparts, even if they are more energy efficient.

"While green technology is good for the environment, it is not always cost efficient, and companies cannot always afford environmentally friendly options," Linda Domingo, a spokesman for Runi, a Danish manufacturer of Styrofoam recycling equipment, tells MoneyNews.

"Financial limitations play a big role in company decisions to go green."

Wal-Mart has gained something of an eco-friendly reputation, but during a conference last month in California, Lee Scott, Jr., the retailer's president and CEO, said the firm was scaling back ambitious plans to reduce the company's carbon emissions.

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"We are not green," Scott said. Long-term, the company is aiming to achieve that status, but it is pacing itself, he said.

To be sure, the retailer is working with thousands of suppliers to reduce the amount of cardboard and other plastic packaging in its products and is also looking into ways to reduce the amount of plastic in bottled water, he said.

The impetus for the company in doing all this isn't just to please environmentalists, he said, but more to save money.

The goal is to create savings by taking out wasted material and to help keep prices low for Wal-Mart's customers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck.

"It really is about how you take cost out, which is waste," Scott said.

Saving money by going green is not just about recycling, however. Products like low-wattage light bulbs, renewable flooring materials, made of bamboo or cork, increase the cost of a building project by 10 percent to 19 percent, according to a study by Specpan, an Indianapolis research firm. Other leading companies — which have spent years complying with mandates from the Environmental Protection Agency — are seeking very low-cost ways to go green.

Some are working with their customers to reduce pollution when the products are used after purchase. Truck maker Navistar, for example, is working to soften the environmental impact of its vehicles.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that truckers burn $10 billion in fuel each year when they are idling, for instance.

"Thousands of trucks transport goods, from coast-to-coast, and keep our nation's economy going," Kevin Saghy, a spokesman for Navistar, tells MoneyNews. "Each truck can save nearly $7,000 in fuel costs each year if they do not idle."

Companies like Subaru of America are working with suppliers to reduce waste before the manufacturing process even begins, says Mary Ann Vislocky, a spokeswoman for Subaru.

The Japanese car company has a manufacturing plant in Indiana that seeks to recycle "virtually all waste," she adds.

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