Businesses Learn to Go Green

The government has been working for years to make sure businesses have environmentally friendly practices.

This week business leaders and regulators teamed up at a conference in Rochester to figure out where things go from here.

"It's really a matter of getting the regulators together with the regulated community," says Marshall Shannon. He is one of the event organizers.

This is the 14th year for this event and businesses are finding it challenging to take the next step in going green because so much has been done already. Shannon adds, "before you could just look at wastewater coming out of a pipe and nasty colors going down the river and that's all been taken care of. Now it's very subtle issues that aren't easy to see or feel or touch and they take a lot more effort to get your hands around them and do something useful about it."

One of the speakers is Charles Ruffing from Kodak. He says the reasons for going green have changed.

"It used to be about compliance and now it is more and more about business opportunities and customers who really want a green product."

He says customers are always looking for "green" products. "People love to shop for something that is energy star certified and our ink jet printers are now and I think they feel good about the choices they make when they can choose something that is energy efficient."

This event was put on by the genesee finger lakes air and waste management association and the New York Water and Environment Association. A number of local companies were represented there including Kodak, Xerox, and RG&E.