Go Greener Tips

Posts Tagged ‘eco-friendly’

The ideas of being eco-friendly, and saving the planet, have grown exponentially in the last several years. People are paying more attention to the products they buy, and companies have been changing both their products, and the way they conduct business, in an attempt to cash in on a more eco minded economy.

The problem many of us face, is trying to figure out if the product we want to buy is actually an earth friendly product, or just some shiny, fancy sticker the manufacturer put on the product to make us think it is all natural. So what can you do? None of us has the time to spend numerous hours investigating products before buying them. This tends to be even harder because of the fact that many businesses these days do not offer a brick and mortar store that you can visit. Just about everything is done online today, even our shopping.

There are actually multiple organizations that investigate products and determine just how earth friendly they actually are. Most corporations, that are making a bonafide effort to create more eco-friendly products, will go through a very long and tedious process involving many agencies, including a third party certification. The primary purpose for the third party certification is to ensure that the certification is obtained by a organization without financial interest in the success of the product or the manufacturer.

Green Seal is one of the biggest eco labeling agencies operating today. This not for profit has been operating since 1989, and investigates the entire life cycle of a product before declaring its certification. Their standards have been developed under EPA and ISO criteria as well as public opinion and third part certification. They have a pretty lengthy process, however if a product bears this seal, you can be quite certain it is an eco-friendly product.

GreenBlue doesn’t determine products as organic. They make available to manufacturers, an elaborate database that lists specifications on “green formula ingredients”. They aid the maker in identifying the correct combination of pure ingredients for the results they wish to achieve. Most of the specifications in the database is third party certified, so you and the manufacturer can be sure that the item is earth friendly.

The Green Label program was started by the Carpet and Rug Institute in 1992. They started adding vacuum cleaners to the things that they research in 2000. The machines are graded for dirt extraction, dust confinement, and fabric retention. Their primary focus is air quality. Any vacuum with this label is deemed to be environmentally friendly.

EcoLogo, initially formed in Canada, certifies products in almost 200 categories. They also base their determination on the whole life cycle of the item, and consider multiple aspects of the product. Their criteria is reviewed every few years so that they can be up to date on new scientific discoveries.

These are only the icing on the cake. There are several other agencies and organizations that certify products, ingredients, and companies as green, organic, or earth friendly. In short, if you can find a certification by a valid organization then you can be sure that the product you are purchasing is truly environmentally friendly, and not some sad marketing ploy.

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Ok, so the original Bamboo PC was just a gimmick. The laptop launched at the Hanover computer fair last March, with a laminated bamboo casing around a pretty conventional computer won’t make a dent in the rising tide of plastics sold around the world.

But it was a little demonstration of what can be done, and, if proof of bamboo’s versatility were required, consider it proven.

Surely bamboo must be the only plant that is a source of building materials, clothing and food. One of Edison’s early light bulbs had a carbonised bamboo filament. Its strength, resilience and cheapness make it a widely used scaffolding material throughout Asia. Fibres from bamboo poles are extremely strong, it both tension and compression terms. It’s compressive strength works out around twice that of concrete, bamboo also has the same tensile strength to weight ratio as steel. And now there’s a bamboo laptop!

Bamboo will please anyone whose buying eco-friendly home furnishings. For a start, bamboo is an extremely sustainable material. Some species of bamboo grow at more than a metre every day. The locals that live close to these fantastic plants are able top cut down as much bamboo as they need while still having the same sized forest at the end of the year as they did at the beginning. As for the global warming question, because the bamboo is a plant, anything that’s been made from it contains a large proportion of atmospheric carbon. Any plastic equivalent has added to the atmosphere’s carbon level!

Another point is that because bamboo is a plant source, there are many variations between two plants, these variations make it a difficult material to use in a mass production process. This means that when buying a bamboo product, you can be quite sure that it’s been hand crafted. If you go to a reputable source you’ll also know that the craftsman got a fair wage for his or her work, and that no one was exploited by western buying power. The last thing is that you can be sure that your purchased product won’t have accumulated any air miles since it’s creation.

With eco credentials this strong, it’s a surprise bamboo built products are so beautiful. Picture a skilfully made bamboo box, lovingly lacquered with 15 layers of natural shellac. Stylish and all natural at the same time. I myself bought a fantastic, hand-crafted bamboo knife block and am seriously considering following suit with other bamboo bamboo knife block such as fruit bowls. Stylish and ethical. Win.