By Dan Shaw, Evansville Courier & Press

EVANSVILLE - Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana in Gibson County has quit using toxic heavy metals in its production process and has taken steps to eliminate sending company trash to landfills.

In Evansville, Mead Johnson Nutrition has begun generating electricity by burning methane gas given off by decaying materials.

And Elbert's Natural Food Market at 5614 E. Virginia St. encourages the use of "green" practices by giving customers a 5-cent discount for bringing in their own bags.

Those were examples cited during a panel discussion during the Regional Sustainability Conference on Wednesday at The Centre. The all-day event was organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana and Wesselman Nature Society.

Matt Meadors, the chamber president and chief executive officer, said one goal of the conference was to show local business leaders that adopting green practices can benefit their bottom lines. The panelists Wednesday gave testimony to that effect.

Scott Darling, the environmental, health and safety manager at Alcoa Warrick Operations, said it's well known that recycling leads to great savings in the aluminum industry. Melting down the metal and casting it into various products takes about one-tenth of the energy needed to smelt it anew, he said.

Alcoa has set a goal of persuading the public to recycle 75 percent of aluminum cans used for drinks by 2015. The current rate is far below that, he said.

Meadors said businesses also ought to become green to better cater to the changing tastes of their customers. Many people now want to buy goods made in a way that doesn't do great harm to the environment.

Catherine "Charlie" Elbert Moran said she tries to meet that goal at Elbert's.

To save paper, she has taken measures as simple as sending out fewer coupons each month.

Store workers also compost spoiled vegetables and fruits and allow the public to take those unsaleable goods home to fertilize their own gardens.

Perhaps most successful has been an offer that gives customers 5 cents for every one of their own bags they fill with groceries, reducing the need for plastic bags.

"We have saved tens of thousands of bags at our small store," Moran said.

Bill Harper, an assistant manager of environmental affairs for Toyota, said the company's plant in Princeton can boast of being a leader in sustainability for a number of reasons.

Since 2005, it has stopped sending trash to a landfill, instead taking more pains to recycle. And it has adopted measures that greatly reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds given off when it paints vehicles.

He thinks Toyota's challenge in making itself greener will come from one place: finding a way to make vehicles that use renewable sources of energy.

He said the company's Prius, a hybrid that runs on both a battery and gasoline, is a start.

Researchers are pursuing other innovations, such as fuel cells, better batteries or cars that will run completely on ethanol.

In promoting green practices, the Chamber of Commerce isn't embracing every idea that comes along, Meadors said. He is concerned about the proposed cap-and-trade legislation, which would charge companies for releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Meadors said the legislation, if passed, will make it more expensive for certain industries to stay in the United States.