In November, Clorox paid almost $1 billion for the niche market darling, Burt’s Bees. Some have worried that Clorox will not maintain Burt’s Bees environmental practices, especially since it plans to go mainstream with the products and sell them in big-box stores like Wal-Mart. But according to this article in the New York Times, the purchase of Burt’s Bees could make Clorox more green.
For starters, Clorox executives are quick to note that their company’s reputation suffers from misinformation. 95 to 98 percent of their bleach, they say, breaks down into salt and water, and the remaining byproduct is safe for sewer systems. In addition, Clorox also sells Brita water filters and Hidden Valley salad dressings.
“Don’t judge Clorox as much by where they’ve been as much as where they intend to go,” said John Replogle, the CEO of Burt’s Bees.
Clorox says its reshaping its product mix so that more of its products will be eco-friendly by its 100th anniversary in 2013. It recently introduced Green Works-household cleaning solutions labeled as 99 percent natural.