A really, really truly green product would have no negative environmental impact and be a “cradle to cradle” product, producing no waste (more on that later).  Few, if any, products meet this level of environmental sustainability, although it is the ideal that us eco designers seek and environmentalists dream about.

The next level is what most consider to be a good green product. The manufacturers make a concerted, holistic effort toward sustainability while recognizing that negative impacts do still exist, and doing what they can to mitigate those negative impacts.

Then there’s products with green attributes. The manufacturers of these products may not assess the entire life cycle of the product to minimize environmental impacts, but the products still have a green advantage due to their inherent qualities. 

Finally, greenwashed products are marketed as green using exaggerated, deceptive or inaccurate eco claims. Many of these products do have green attributes, but they may be accompanied with undisclosed negative attributes.

With the prevalence of greenwashing and the lack of green standards for many types of products, it’s definitely a case of buyer beware. However, with a bit of life cycle thinking, clues as to the red flags of greenwashing, and help from existing certification programs, it’s possible to navigate toward the best eco option for your project. 

Photo by OakleyOriginals.

A label of “green” can make a product more valuable, but this information can also be manipulated by marketers.  

Green attributes

A product might qualify as “green” if it…

1. Uses salvaged or recycled material
2. Utilizes agricultural waste or rapidly renewable materials
3. Is extracted and/or manufactured locally
4. Uses less material or is exceptionally durable
5. Is natural or minimally processed
6. Conserves water and other natural resources
7. Conserves electricity
8. Reduces pollution & waste, avoids toxic emissions
9. Contributes to indoor air quality (IAQ)
10. Incorporates other environmental quality considerations (e.g. natural light)
11. Supports community
12. Follows the principles of fair trade

But is it necessarily “green” if it possesses one or more of these attributes? As these aren’t ordered in priority or evenly weighted, the answer could be yes. Of course, different people have different priorities. Also, a product could strongly incorporate one green attribute, and yet be environmentally damaging in other ways. What if the product still performs better environmentally than others on the market?

Photo by tskdesign.

Bright greens believe “sustainable innovation is the best path to lasting prosperity” and that prosperity and well-being must be part of the green solution. ”Innovation, design, urban revitalization and entrepreneurial zeal” are the tools of bright greens.  The Greener By Design conference that was recently held in San Francisco is a great example of bright greens.

Light greens believe that “lifestyle/behavioral/consumer change” are key.  Ideal Bite is a good example - trying to get people to make small steps to change thinking and behavior.  Steffan adds: “Light green environmentalism, as a call for individuals to change, has helped spread the idea that concern for sustainability is cool. On the other hand, it is the target of much of the “green fatigue” we’re now seeing.”

Dark greens believe in ”the need to pull back from consumerism (sometimes even from industrialization itself) and emphasize local solutions, short supply chains and direct connection to the land.” Steffen gives the example of Transition Communities and I would add Dick Strawbridge and the TV show It’s Not Easy Being Green. Dark greens “offer a lot of insight about bioregionalism, reinhabitation, and taking direct control over one’s life and surroundings” but, he adds, can also be “doomers.”

I can’t say I found that I really fit into one particular category, but I did find I could relate to all three and that my thinking could move around within these three categories.  Steffan also adds the category of Gray- basically those in denial of the need for any change to protect the environment.  “No, that’s definitely not me!” I thought, and that’s true for the most part, but then I started realizing that there are times in my life when I do deny the environmental impact of my actions.  Hmmm…

What about you?

Photo by iLoveButter.

 PET or PETE: polyethylene terephthalate.  Used in drink bottles (clear or lightly coloured).  Easily recycled.  Per Treehugger, doesn’t leach.

PET water bottles were the subject of a scare implying that reusing water bottles resulted in DEHA (a suspected carcinogen) leaching into beverages. While it got a lot of coverage, it now seems that the evidence for this claim was pretty shaky (some reports state that this type of plastic doesn’t even contain DEHA). Health advocates will caution that there isn’t enough research to know the effects of plastic, and ya gotta wonder about those bottles when they get heated up, but even Treehugger says that PET plastics don’t leach.  (Sources:  Snopes, U Florida summary, About.com’s Urban Legends,  The Free Library)

HDPE: high density polyethylene. Used in milk jugs, trash bags, detergent and shampoo bottles and some yogurt pots (cloudy or white). Easily recycled.  Doesn’t leach.

 PVC: Vinyl or polyvinyl chloride. Used in some cling wraps, some cooking-oil bottles and squash bottles (with handles), meat packaging, childrens toys, fashion accessories, shower curtains, office binders, detergent and spray bottles.  Limited recyclability. Per Treehugger, it’s “a bad, bad plastic.” Soft PVC (UPVC) can leach phthalates (an hormone disruptor) and off-gas chemicals into the air.

 LDPE: low-density polyethylene. Used in shopping/carrier bags, some cling wraps, baby bottles, reusable drink & food containers.  Recycleable in some areas (not generally recycled in the UK, although some supermarkets offer carrier bag recycling). Per Treehugger, it doesn’t leach.

PP: Polypropylene. Used in baby bottles, yogurt and takeout containers, reusable food and drink containers (e.g., Tupperware and Rubbermaid-types), drinking straws. Sometimes recyclable (not generally recycled in the UK).  Per Treehugger, it doesn’t leach.

PS: Polystyrene. Used in takeout food containers, egg containers, plastic cutlery, CD cases, Styrofoam. Leaches styrene (a neurotoxin and possible human carcinogen). Banned in Portland Oregon and San Francisco. Not often recyclable.

Everything else.

PC: Polycarbonate. Used in Nalgene water bottles (although Nalgene has now switched from polycarbonate) and baby bottles. Leaches the plasticizer bisphenol A (BPA – a hormone disruptor that mimics estrogen) when heated (see this Time article).  

PLA: polyactide – (one type of) bioplastics. Not easily recycled.  May contain toxins so can only be composted commercially.

Compostable Plastic – according to Ideal Bite, it’s nontoxic and “breaks down as fast as paper in compost.”  My own research of a Sainsbury’s compostable plastic bag disproves this, although it did eventually break down, and it is better than putting it in the bin.

Sources:  TreeHugger, Planet Green, Ideal Bite, Ecology Center

A friend recently reminded me that “there is no ‘away’”.  What gets “thrown away” into our bins goes somewhere, and sticks around for a long, long time.  And maybe, just maybe, it drips out, or breaks down into other chemicals, and gradually gets pulled down through cracks in the earth, into places like our water supply…yum.

Not so long ago I was quite pleased by the fact that, on average, our weekly rubbish bag was really quite small – maybe even just a quarter full.  Not bad, I thought.  In Minnesota we typically put out a full (albeit a bit smaller, and less condensed) bag a week – and sometimes two.

But then I was reminded of Donnachadh McCarthy in an article in the Big Issue.  Barry and I visited his house last year during London Open House.  The Big Issue article states that “during the course of 2008 he threw away only half a dustbin full of rubbish.”  I guess I have some work to do!

p.s.  For those of you who don’t know about the Big Issue, it is sold by homeless people who are trained to sell it and make money from selling it.  I like to buy it for a few reasons.  1) It supports a homeless person who is working to get back on his/her feet.   2) It has decent articles.  3) I like to think that by buying it, it makes other people think about buying it, which helps the person I’m buying it from more.  The seller should be wearing an official badge.

Photo by D’Arcy Norman.