OCTOBER 1 2007
AMERICANWAY 61
the cost come down because demand is up,
somorepeoplearewilling toproduce it.”
Companies selling everything from or-
ganic milk to recycled-glass countertops
to furniture made of reclaimed wood each
have their own “why it costsmore” story to
tell. Taylor Maid Farm’s certified organic
coffees and teas cost more in the raw, so
they have to cost more on the shelf; the
companybuys tea from small organic farms
at $1.95apound,whereas conventional tea
is available from big suppliers at 35 cents
a pound. Zwanette Design, a sustainable
furniture company in San Francisco, pays
$179 per four-by-eight-foot sheet of fast-
to-regrow bamboo, while a sheet of maple
costs only $120. Stonyfield Farm—whose
president and CEO, Gary Hirshberg, has
been a poster boy for the organic move-
ment— explains in its publications that it’s
not just thehigher per-hundredweight cost
forunprocessedorganicmilk thatmakes its
yogurts, cheeses, and other dairy products
moreexpensive. It’s transportation too. “We
areable topickupconventionallyproduced
milk from neighboring farms, often just a
fewmilesdown the road fromoneanother,”
reads the company brochure
A Practical
Guide toUnderstandingOrganic
. “Our or-
ganic dairy farmersmay be asmuch as 50
miles fromoneanother, soourorganic-milk
transportation costs are double that of the
conventional.” Earth Weave Carpet Mills,
which makes environmentally friendly,
pure-wool carpet, spent bigbucks develop-
ing a non-urea-formaldehyde adhesive for
its carpet backing, so its cost of doingbusi-
ness ishigher than that of others in the car-
pet industry that are still using the readily
availableurea-formaldehyde adhesive.
“When I look at the companies in our
network, they’re charging a premium if
ingredients or the cost of doing business
is more,” says Deborah Nelson, executive
director of the Social Venture Network, a
coalition of socially and environmentally
conscious companies. “If they can do their
business at a better price, that’s a competi-
tiveadvantage.”
Nelson gives the example of New Leaf
Paper, whichmakes a range of greenpaper
products. “Today, given the way the indus-
try is structured, it costs more to create
postconsumer recycled paper than it does
tousevirginwood,” she says. “If youwant to
be part of the solution, and you don’t want
sustainable. “They slapped the label on and
chargedmore,” she says. “It happens.”
Then there’s the old line item on a bal-
ance sheet called goodwill. Upscale brands
are able to charge more for their products
because of that ethereal, intangible price
booster: prestige. Consumers who look for
their bamboo sheets at Neiman Marcus
shouldn’t be surprised that they are more
to be involved in the destruction of old-
growth forests, you have to pay a premium
for that.”
Noteverysinglemanufacturer toutingan
environmentally soundproduct has similar
grounds forexplanation,however.Goldman
cites one carpet maker that sells a “green”
lineofproducts thatcostmore than those in
its conventional line but aren’t muchmore
muchas $300per year in electricity costs.
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InNorthAmericaalone,more than 350million cartridges per year arediscarded in landfills, and that
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