The chief inspired protagonist (and president) of Seventh Generation, Jeffrey Hollender, answers his own phone. His employees can bring their dogs to work, have the services of a masseuse at their disposal two days a week, are owners of the company, and can even get a $10,000 loan to add solar panels to their homes. They also choose their own titles.

This Earth Day, companies such as Seventh Generation, a Burlington, Vt.-based company that makes recycled paper products and phosphate-free household cleaners, are in the spotlight. Although it has been in business for 20 years, the company has been growing fast over the past year, with sales up 45% last year and 60% in the first quarter of 2008. The trend toward all things green is a factor in its recent success.

“Our company has gotten more attention in the past 12 months than the entire 20 years preceding it,” Mr. Hollender said in an interview. The company has 50 full-time workers and its sales are approximately $100 million.

Many companies tout themselves as green these days, and make their efforts known to their consumers. Wal-Mart advertises “budget-friendly prices, earth-friendly products.” Clorox recently purchased Burt’s Bees, an all-natural line of skin-care products, and unveiled its own line of green cleaning products, Green Works, to woo consumers. Although this isn’t entirely new, it seems to have more force than in years past.

“Everyone is talking about social responsibility, hybrid cars, and global warming,” the Joyce professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Russ Winer, said. “Historically, consumers weren’t willing to pay for green items.”

Companies are only willing to stay green if consumers keep buying, Mr. Winer said. Businesses like General Motors or Procter & Gamble are not born as socially conscious companies, and they’re not out to do good for good’s sake. Seventh Generation is a company, like Burt’s Bees or Ben & Jerry’s, where social consciousness is woven into the fabric. The private company, named for the Great Law of the Iroquois, gives away 10% of its profits to various charities. It is involved in training programs for college students and low-income workers. Mr. Hollender serves on the boards of Greenpeace and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. Only recycled paper is used for its paper products. But Mr. Hollender, whose goal is to have an electric car powered by a windmill, says it all starts with what you can’t see.

“It’s easier to create a green product that is easy to promote than it is to create an environment where people are fostered,” Mr. Hollender said. He said that the key to good products is making sure the people behind them are happy and invested in the company. Seventh Generation is committed to its employees’ personal development, as well as the products.

“You can’t grow a business as fast as we’ve been growing without being serious. Creating a working business is not in conflict with creating a work environment that is fun,” he said.

Seventh Generation started as a mail-order catalog selling “any device to help save water or energy” in 1988. The company began developing paper products under the brand, and in 1995 sold the catalog to focus on these products.

Since then, the company has expanded its product categories. Its products include bath and facial tissue, paper towels, garbage bags, household cleaners, diapers, and feminine products. On the company’s Web site, seventhgeneration.com, an interactive site that launched earlier this month, consumers aren’t shy with their comments about the products, which may take some getting used to for those whose rear ends are accustomed to more cloud-like toilet paper.

“if the TP was softer…i would buy it everytime i purchased tp, as well with facial tissues and paper towels!” wrote one user on the Web site.

To this, Mr. Hollender responds knowingly: “We’re working on it.” Recycled fibers just aren’t as strong or soft as virgin fibers. Like a frayed rope, the fibers lose strength with use. Seventh Generation hopes an embossing technique will help produce a softer product by the end of the year.

Mr. Hollender is also quick to acknowledge that using paper towels, even those crafted from recycled fiber, may not be the most environmentally sound alternative. A reusable cloth towel can be better.

“If we only sold products that were the best for the environment, we wouldn’t have much of a business,” he said. “It’s less bad. I’m not going to say it’s good, but it’s reducing the rate at which we are creating carbon emissions.”

The cleaning products sold by Seventh Generation get higher ratings and are as good or better than commercial cleaners, Mr. Hollender said. Green cleaning products are quickly becoming part of mainstream institutions. Green products like these are showing up all over the city, according to the executive director of the New York chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, Russell Unger. A pilot program to roll out green cleaners throughout the city is underway, city schools are looking at green products, and builders who are seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings are helping drive industrial cleaners to make more environmentally friendly products.

“People have the perception that green cleaning is giving up everything that works and using baking soda and vinegar for everything, but it’s not,” Mr. Unger said. “Cleaners are made of various building blocks that can be swapped out for others that are less hazardous with the same level of effectiveness.”

Price has often been a factor in buying green products, but Seventh Generation’s prices are comparable to leading brands on a wholesale level, Mr. Hollender said. It’s often the retailer that boosts the price because they sell fewer of Seventh Generation’s products than they sell of other brands.

However, Seventh Generation has seen a huge boost in business in the past year, suggesting that environmental and wellness concerns have more impact now than they have in the past. The company’s products are now in 45,000 Walgreens stores across the country and it has substantially expanded its business with Target stores, Mr. Hollender said. Sales at places like Whole Foods, which has been carrying the products for years, have also increased.

“The interest in all things green has reached a fever pitch,” the chief inspired protagonist said. The attention has “drawn a wider segment of the population who are interested in these products.”