But Are They Really Green?

I posted yesterday about an example of Xerox trying to go more green. Afterward, I was approached by one of my bosses with an anecdote of a similar nature from a couple years back. It prompted to clarify that I meant not to be a soap box for Xerox and their alleged attempts to be more eco-friendly. Because as this anecdote illustrates, what a company says and what a company does is not always the same -- and that's certainly the case with huge companies like them, where the bottom line -- profit -- is just that, the bottom line.

A few years back, a certain copy-machine producer (whose name rhymes with Danon) was advertising that they were now being more eco-friendly by allowing businesses to recycle their empty toner bottles -- you know, those big clunky plastic containers that fill up your dumpster like a Toys-for-Tots bin on Christmas. Supposedly, businesses could now arrange for this empty waste to be transported to said company's recycling facilities (or whatever third party's facilities they were utilizing). But when the boss man called the company about taking advantage of this program, a representative told him that the recycling service was not available for that product.

So yeah, they offer these services, but not for any of the products you use. Tricky corporations.

The lesson? Take what these multi-national corporations say with a grain of salt, because the bottom line is ALWAYS profit.

Speaking of companies that rhyme with Banon and bogus claims to eco-friendliness, check out this article in which Canon refuses to condemn the hunting of whales by Japanese fleets. Heck, if you're not willing to stick up for the whales, what good are you to the environment?