Dupont And Clorox Compared

Environmentally Responsible Policies:

The Clorox Company and DuPont

Compared

Prepared for

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Prepared by

XXXXXX - Team Leader

Team Members

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Unit 5 Group Project

BUS 210-14

Business Communications

February 4, 2006

MEMORANDUM

TO: XXXXXXXXXXXX

FROM: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

DATE: February 99, 2002

SUBJECT: Environmentally Responsible Polices - The Clorox Company and DuPont

Compared

As you requested on January 28, this report outlines the results of our investigation into environmental policies of two companies along with a comparison.

Since the 1980s, the U.S. government has set strict guidelines, forcing companies to develop and implement environmental policies that would guarantee public safety. Most companies followed the minimum requirements and did not consider the impact on the public for their lack of overall ethical concern relating to their policies.

We started our investigation by researching the internet to discover companies that were environmentally responsible and companies that were not. There was a considerable amount of information on irresponsible companies and very little on companies that were responsible. We then searched for environmental ratings and found that DuPont was among the laggards and The Clorox Company was at the top. (See Table 1)

Each team member provided research links. We then researched the links and discovered that DuPont has had numerous environmental complaints from individuals and a major suit filed against them by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On the other hand, Clorox has continually been environmentally conscious while improving on their existent policies.

We discovered that good environmental policies and implementation is an extremely important issue. The government has bolstered its regulations, forcing companies like DuPont to spend billions of dollars in correcting infractions. Infractions may mean only money to DuPont, but it means loss of quality of life for many citizens.

This project proved to be extremely educational to our team, as it helped us understand large companies must assume responsibility beyond the company's balance sheet. Large companies must be ethical and responsible in establishing policies and seeing them through to implementation.

Thank you for the opportunity to explore environmental responsibility and ethics.

CONTENTS

Page

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iv

INTRODUCTION 1

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSBILITY 1

The Clorox Company Environmental Policy 1

DuPont Environmental Policy 1

IMPACT ON PUBLIC SAFETY 2

DuPont lacks ethics and responsibility 2

DuPont spent billions developing remedial policies 2-3

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4-5

REFERENCES 6

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures Page

1. DuPont Annual Expenditures Related to Remedial Activities 2

2. DuPont Environmental Expenses 3

Table

1. Top 10 Leader - Top Ten Most Improved - Top 10 Laggards 1

iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report analyzes and compares the environmental polices of The Clorox Company and DuPont, and presents recommendations for increasing social and ethical responsibility.

DuPont is Environmentally Controversial

DuPont officials continued to assure the public in 2000 and 2001 that C-8 in tap water was safe. However, their own scientist and lawyers were concerned because the company lacked studies to support the claim. Over the years, DuPont has faced issues including, but not limited to, price fixing and a major EPA lawsuit.

* Pricing Fixing - Standard Oil Company and I.G. Farben produced evidence concerning complex price and marketing agents between DuPont, U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company and their subsidiary Cuba Distilling Company. (Wikipedia.com, n.d.)

* EPA Lawsuit - The EPA brought suite against DuPont for covering up information related to the dangers caused by Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) or C-8, a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon. (Wikipedia.com, 2006)

o PFOA is a synthetic chemical that does not occur naturally in the environment.

o Companies use PFOA to make fluoropolymers, substances with special properties that have thousands of important industrial applications.

o Consumer products include non-stick cookware and breathable, all-weather clothing. (epa.gov, 2006)

Performance Measurement Lacking

DuPont does not have a micro-level