What used to come to mind when people talked about going “green” was the use of compost and organic solutions for insect, disease and fertility problems in the garden. But thanks to the concerns of citizens all over the globe, going green has risen from practices adopted by a few to mainstream culture.
"Eco-friendly products are products made of environmentally-friendly materials. They usually contain recycled materials or "rapid renewables." Recycled materials are those that had a previous use and are now being re-used in a new way."
Using "rapid renewables" helps to protect precious natural resources. It is usually easy and economical to quickly replace these products, sustaining a steady supply without depleting our natural resources.
"Products that have gone through very little processing before coming to market are considered eco-friendly as well because they consume very little energy during manufacturing."
Eco-friendly products are as free as possible from harmful chemicals and compounds. In production, the use of toxic compounds such as wood preservatives or creosote, volatile organic compounds, chlorine and PVCs (these deplete the ozone layer) are reduced or eliminated.
The ODMgreen's goal is to minimize depletion of the environment during production and transportation to market.
Eco-friendly products have multiple purposes.
- They are manufactured from environmentally-friendly materials and often have a long shelf life. One example is cloth bags. These can be made of jute, hemp or other materials. They are used to bag groceries, carry books and a multitude of other tasks and they last for years.
- In addition, they help people reduce the amount of goods they need to purchase, thus reducing the amount of goods that need to be manufactured.
- Lastly, such products help people reduce the amount of trash that gets sent to landfills.
How to identify green products?
So how do you know if a product is truly eco-friendly of if the promotional material is just hype? To really know, you have to become a highly-educated consumer. Sometimes that just means reading the ingredients on the label carefully. Sometimes products meet certain standards or are endorsed by a well-respected entity.
If a product is certified organic, for example, you know it has been produced using certain practices and that an inspector has verified that the grower or producer has followed those practices. Sometimes it means doing a little research into the manufacturing practices of the company selling the product. Ultimately, it means deciding which of all the elements that go into making a product "green" matter most to you, and then basing your buying decisions accordingly.
For more information about:
What is Green?
