Green marketing.

• Author: Johnson, J. Douglas
• Position: Environmental policies adhered to by Indiana companies

Green Marketing

In a network television commercial for US Sprint, Candice Bergen promises, "I can fix it so that every time you talk on the phone, you'll accomplish something. You'll help clear the air, the sea and perhaps save a tree. Sprint will donate a percentage of your monthly long-distance bill to help clean up the environment. Is Sprint doing this to get your business? What difference does it make? They're doing it."

That's a great way to position good "eco-works." Tell it like it is. When a corporation is a quality neighbor, let people know. Business is getting the message. Companies all over the country are climbing onto the "green wagon."

We started with the question, "Who in Indiana is doing what and how do they tell people about it?" The "what" breaks down into a number of different areas: recycling, precycling, education, renewal and "eco-manufacturing." Our roundup of "good doers" might give you ideas.

The major area is recycling. Employees of Indiana Bell Telephone Co. and PSI Energy Inc. collect aluminum and steel soft-drink cans. It was a challenge that Bell President Richard Notebaert issued in April to the chairman of PSI, James Rogers. The object is to see which company can gather the most per employee before Sept. 2. The losing CEO has to plant a tree where the winner wants it. The companies issued joint new releases hoping to draw attention to their battle, and even commissioned a black-and-white cartoon that got some space in area publications.

In another recycling arena, Indiana Bell is testing a collection system in South Bend that will keep 90 tons of obsolete telephone books out of the landfills.

GTE North of Westfield has a similar program. In conjunction with the city of Fort Wayne, Scott's Food Stores and northAmerican Van Lines, GTE last year filled 17 semitrailers with old phone books, more than a quarter-million of them. The program is continuing this year; the books will be trucked to Eaton, where Rock-Tenn Co. will recycle them. The company is publicizing its efforts by way of a message attached to the covers of its new phone books.

PSI, meanwhile, has adopted an environmental charter that calls for increased recycling, pollution prevention and energy conservation, among other things. The company has taken out advertisements and issued news releases to let the public know about its efforts.

A new subsidiary called PSI Recycling was started in the summer of 1990 and edged into the black six months later. Its mission, according to its president, Craig R. Johnson, "is to assist companies that want to do their part in protecting the environment." As a special service, the firm offers a confidential-document destruction service to the region's lawyers, accountants, bankers and other professionals.

PSI also works with Goodwill Industries to recycle paper, metals and other materials from more than 50 Indiana businesses. The venture has handled more than 100 tons of waste per month recently, and is making money at it by selling the trash to 15 paper mills and four metal plants.

USS Gary Works is cooperating with the Marathon Oil Co. in Indiana and Ohio to promote beverage can recycling. The system is based on Coinbank machines located at Marathon stations. They are about the size of a newspaper vending machine. You insert a can, turn a crank, and out comes a cash payment. USS has installed 38 can-to-cash Coinbank machines in Indianapolis. It has promoted its program through full-page color advertising.

Cans are not the only things being collected at service stations. Amoco Oil Co., for example, collects waste oil at service stations in several areas, including Northwest Indiana. It sends the oil to its Whiting refinery, where the oil is used as fuel or is reintroduced into the refining process. The company has promoted its program...