It's not easy being "green," but companies across the nation, including those in Augusta, have found that environmental awareness and profitability can coexist.

Cleaning-products supplier Kamo Manufacturing Co. Inc., for example, plans to open a store on Washington Road that will sell green-certified products.

At the Augusta Marriott Hotel & Suites, managers have found cost savings in switching to 100 percent recycled facial and bath tissue.

Robert Amos, at Cartridge World, has kept 50,000 used printer cartridges out of area landfills -- and made money in the process.

Dale Kemery, the spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said the green business movement is becoming increasingly popular despite the lack of universal "green standards."

"What it means to be green at one company might not to another," Mr. Kemery said.

At Kamo, green means urging its customers to use eco-friendly cleaning products and supplies.

"I've changed my whole business," Kamo co-owner Harris Weinstein said.

In January, the company launched its Green Way training program to teach custodial staffs how to use green products, which contain natural enzymes rather than caustic ingredients, and take proper measurements to avoid using too much chemical for the job.

Kamo customer Augusta Marriott Hotel & Suites started working with the company about a year ago and saved money by switching to tissue products made from recycled paper and an eco-friendly laundry detergent that is less abrasive on linens, which makes them last longer.

LAST YEAR, THE HOTEL CHAIN adopted the "Marriott Just Like Home" program, in which linens are changed only every third night for extended-stay guests.

"At this hotel alone, we're reducing our loads of laundry by roughly 5,000 loads a year," hotel manager Matt Ricker said. "That's a huge impact."

Going green doesn't just mean preserving the environment -- it also means conserving natural resources. That's just what Mr. Amos does every time he recycles a toner cartridge at his Cartridge World stores.

"It takes about three-quarters of a gallon of oil to make a new laser cartridge," Mr. Amos said.

He remanufactures used ink and laser cartridges and sells them for up to half the price of new cartridges.

Mr. Amos said that more than 350 million cartridges are thrown away every year and that a laser cartridge can take up to 400 years to degrade in a landfill.

Employees at Fort Discovery National Science Center not only recycle ink cartridges but also haul paper, plastics and aluminum cans each week to Smurfit-Stone Recycling Co. in downtown Augusta.

Although Fort Discovery doesn't make any money by recycling its waste, it has cut its power bill nearly 15 percent by changing its 5,000 incandescent light bulbs to fluorescent lights, said Cheryl Wynn, the project manager at Fort Discovery.

AUGUSTA SELECT TISSUE, a manufacturer of recycled tissue and napkins, is green by the nature of its business.

The company buys recycled newspaper and office paper, turns it into pulp and removes dyes through a de-inking process to make more than a ton of tissue paper each month.

"What we have in Augusta is kind of a rarity in the world of tissue-making," said Lee Luft, the vice president of sales and operations for parent company Green Bay Converting Inc. "There's only about a dozen tissue mills in North America that are combined with a de-inking plant."

Augusta Select Tissue ships its rolls of tissue, which measure 81/2 feet by 60 to 72 inches, throughout the United States and Mexico to companies that slice it into napkins or bathroom tissue.

The plant reuses 70 percent of its water supply and doesn't use caustic chemicals. The company disposes of its waste, dried clay, in a landfill.