More Firms Taking Steps to Protect Environment

One company turns cheese waste into plastic. Another tracks wood shipped from the tropics to help prevent forest depletion.

The firms reflect an emerging business philosophy that says economic growth and environmental protection aren’t necessarily enemies.

“It’s fair to say business has never viewed itself as a partner in environmental reform,” said David Buzzelli, vice president of environmental health and safety at Dow Chemical Co.

Increasingly, international business leaders have tried to put themselves at the forefront of the environmental movement through “Changing Course,” a report published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The report, prepared by the Business Council for Sustainable Development, seeks to encourage businesses to use resources more efficiently and pollute less.

The council was created at the request of Maurice Strong, secretary general of the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development--commonly known as the Earth Summit--which meets next month in Rio de Janeiro.

The group includes the heads of nearly 50 companies, including Dow, Chevron Corp., Mitsubishi Corp., Volkswagen and E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

Some environmental activists are skeptical about the group’s message.

“Many of these same companies are still engaged in businesses harming the planet,” said Kenny Bruno, a researcher for Greenpeace International. “To expect that (the companies) are now the solution is a bit far-fetched.”

Benjamin Read, an adviser to Strong, praised the report.

“I can’t remember a time when business leaders were so far ahead of government on this effort,” said Read, president of Ecofund ‘92, a nonprofit group raising money for the Earth Summit.

The group’s goal is to encourage “sustainable development”--progress that meets current needs without harming the Earth’s future.

Business leaders note that some of the worst pollution occurs in poor countries because those nations tend to exploit natural resources to feed, clothe and shelter rapidly growing populations.

“Environmental progress cannot occur without economic development,” Buzzelli said. But the report says corporations should bear the cost of any environmental damage they cause.

The report offers examples of companies that try to mix good environmental policy with business.

Conagra Inc., a major food company, devised a system to create a degradable, plastic-like material from cheese waste. Some companies have offered rewards to employees to find ways to cut pollution.

Smith & Hawken, a California retailer that sells garden furniture, started buying timber from Indonesia because of criticism about the timber-cutting policies of its previous supplier, Burma.

The company determined that Indonesia had a more responsible harvesting policy. It also helped create a system to verify the origin of tropical timber.

Yet despite what they describe as a stronger commitment to the environment, industry representatives acknowledge that changes won’t come quickly.