Companies Look to Tap Eco-Conscious Market

Household products giant SC Johnson is buying Caldrea, a manufacturer of nontoxic household cleaner, for an undisclosed sum.

The Minneapolis-based, 50-person company distributes two high-end brands, Caldrea and Mrs. Meyer’s, that appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. The products are also well known for their unusual natural scents, such as “Watercress Wild Lily.”

SC Johnson spokesperson Kelly Semrau says that Caldrea is “on trend with a consumer we don't normally reach."

The acquisition is just the latest example of how large companies are trying to cultivate eco-friendly images by selling “green” products.

For example, Fiji Water is trying to clean-up its eco-image after the city governments of Seattle, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and San Francisco either discouraged or banned the use of city funds to buy bottled water.

Although the Fiji-based water company has not cut out the petroleum it uses to both produce and ship its plastic-bottled water, the company announced in November that it would take on environmental initiatives aimed at offsetting the carbon footprint left by its operations.

Several other companies have launched ad campaigns touting Earth-friendly products or practices.

David Farrington, an owner of a green building supply store in New York, said, “I think the day is coming when the big-box stores will have a green building corner or center.”

By 2010, some 10 percent of new construction is expected to include at least some environmentally friendly materials or design, making for a $38 billion industry.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune writes that SC Johnson was interested in acquiring Caldrea because it “wanted to move beyond mass-market brands such as Windex and Pledge and to target higher-end customers.”

Kyle Jodice of e-retailer Let’s Go Green describes easy ways to being a green lifestyle in a clip produced by Better.tv. Jodice points out that paper products can be swapped for their recycled versions, low-flow aerators can be installed on sinks, showers and toilets, and chemical-laden cleaners can be replaced by all-natural ones.

Box store chains such as Lowe’s and The Home Depot are positioning themselves in the green retail segment to compete with the eco-friendly retailers cropping up on the East Coast. For example, The Home Depot unveiled its “Eco-Options” product line on Earth Day 2006. Green Depot, a retailer unaffiliated with The Home Depot, opened the Northeast’s first completely green home-improvement store in Brooklyn, N.Y., two and a half years ago, and now operates five locations in the region.

Fiji Water, a brand of water bottled at a Fijian artesian spring, announced plans on Nov. 7 to go carbon negative—one step past carbon neutral—to compensate for the greenhouse gases emitted during the transport and bottling of its products.

The findingDulcinea Green Living Web Guide is full of resources on how to live an eco-friendly lifestyle, including how to select green cleaning products and assess whether a company is truly committed to environmental causes.

In “The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time,” writers Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen identify 12 lifestyle areas, including home, work and school, in which readers can adopt environmentally friendly practices. A number of celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston, Tiki Barber and Faith Hill, offer their own tips for green living. The book is available from the Dulcinea Media Store.

Seattle announced in late March that it would ban the use of municipal funds to buy bottled water. Chicago, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Los Angeles have taken similar steps.