"Going Green" Can Be Good for Business

"Going green" can be good for business by saving companies money, said two experts on CNBC's "Morning Call."

Pollution is waste and waste costs money, explained Gwen Ruta, program director of the Corporate Partnerships for Environmental Defense Program. By working toward a "green" environment, "you can eliminate resources that you are just sending out the smoke stack," she added.

But companies implementing environmentally-friendly initiatives need to ensure consumers it's more than a branding campaign, said Kevin O'Marah, Senior V.P. of Research at AMR Research.

"If you are a consumer goods company -- food and beverage, health and beauty, apparel -- and you're investing heavily in the branding side of this, the chances are people will find you out until you do the hard work," he said.

That involves replacing materials and taking energy out of the process. "If people think it's just a marketing ploy it might hurt you in the long run," he added.

Several high-tech companies are doing a good job of implementing green initiatives, O'Marah said. Apple might be one of the "greenest companies," he added, referring to its iTunes product.

"It doesn't even exist except as much as you pay for it to download it to your machine," O'Marah said.