Choices Make Changes: What is a Sustainable Product and How to Find Them
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast
Episode 18
Choices Make Changes/What is a Sustainable Product and How to Find Them
Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is episode #18 which is titled Choices Make Changes: What is a Sustainable Product and How to Find Them.
First out of the gate, I have a general question. How many of you love pay taxes? Furthermore, how many of you actually understand all the tax laws that apply to you as far as why you are paying taxes and what you could do about it if you were paying taxes for the wrong reason?
You know, I get a newsletter on a monthly basis from my accountant who I have used for many years. And believe it or not this newsletter is kind of funny because Sean is really a funny guy. Toward the end of the year he always publishes in his newsletter some comments about how the IRS has made 157 changes to the tax laws that year. So, what that means for me as a consumer and taxpayer is that there is no way I can ever understand the complexities of tax law, nor do I want to. The same goes for understanding all the complexities that make a product sustainable. I could go into that but you likely would be bored to tears the same as my trying to understand tax laws.
So, the point of this episode is to first of all define what exactly is a sustainable product. I think it is valuable to know that and have that background information. Then I will give you some guidelines on how to evaluate a product or company and how to make a choice of one thing over another. And finally I will give you some resources so you can easily find sustainable and eco-friendly products.
Well, the simple fact is everything you purchase, regardless of what it is, is still going to have some impact on the environment. In fact, everything that you do has some sort of impact on the environment. Even my garden and greenhouse has an impact. It requires the addition of seeds and water. The plants eventually have an impact on the soil which then requires the addition of some organic material. And it also requires my time and energy.
But, what I am talking about in this episode is sort of similar to deciding to live off the grid. If you really sit and dwell on the subject, it is over whelming. It is the same with deciding to purchase sustainable products. Sometimes purchasing sustainable products is a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. But as I have said several times before, sustainability is simply about making better choices. And that is part of what I want to accomplish with this episode is to give you some better choices.
What I don’t want to do here is to give you specific examples of products to purchase. That would simply be an endless and boring discussion. But, how do you go about choosing one product over another. How do you go about finding products that are manufactured in a sustainable manner.
Is that even possible to do?
But, before we do that, I think it is worth defining what exactly is a sustainable product. What makes one product sustainable and another not. Well, you may be happy to know, or maybe even more confused to know, that is exactly the question that numerous companies, governments, and consumers have been asking for a long time.
So, here we go. I am going to take a stab at this. The true definition of a sustainable product is one that provides environmental, social, and economic benefits during the whole life cycle of the product. This means from the extraction of raw materials until the final disposal of the product.
Well now, that is just the sort of text book answer that you would expect. A nice technical definition with no useful information or insight into how you can apply that to everyday life.
But, what exactly does that mean? The word “sustainable” is such a buzzword these days and many companies will use that word in association with their brand just to get some hype. The simple fact that there is a wide range of attributes and approaches that companies use in order to label their product as being sustainable. And perhaps this even adds to our confusion as consumers.
For example:
-some companies focus on the lifecycle performance of their product compared to other products
-Some companies will focus on various attributes of their supply chain such as fair labor practices, worker health and safety practices, and community responsibility
-Some carefully document various attributes of their product design such as material selection, processes used, and packaging choices.
-Still others will focus solely on their products carbon footprint, water usage, recycled material content in their products
But the simple reality is that the claims attached to any given product actually match that products environmental impact about 20% of the time. And the only time this happens is when manufacturers are adhering to comprehensive stakeholder driven standards and some sort of third party certification schemes.
The other simple fact is that there is an overwhelming number of certification schemes and labels attached to products and the average consumer does not take, nor do they have the time, to understand these schemes and labels.
Nevertheless, let me take a stab at sorting out some of these basic principles.
The terms that we often hear are things such as “sustainable, green, and eco-friendly”. But what is the difference between these and what exactly does this mean.
A so called “green” product is something that is energy efficient and requires minimal maintenance. Green products are often made from recycled material, renewable sources, and can be easily reused or recycled at the end of their life cycle.
An eco friendly or environmentally friendly product is one that is produced in such a way as to have minimal or no harm to ecosystems or the environment.
But a true sustainable product includes all of the above principles and more. If you remember from one of my previous episodes about the one basic principle of sustainability. And that principle is what kind of future we are leaving the next generation. Well a sustainable product encompasses just that.
A sustainable product is both green and eco-friendly but is also designed and utilized in such as manner as to not limit the access of future generations to resources. So a sustainable product is one that is green and eco-friendly through the entire life cycle of that product.
In a book published by Micheal Braunngart and William McDonough titled Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, they even suggest that we should make every material and product so that at the end of its lifecycle it can be recycled, composted, or even up cycled.
But sustainable products must also have a dual focus, which is what sets them apart from eco-friendly and green products. This is because sustainability also encompasses ecological and social principles on a global scale. And what that means is that a product that is truly sustainable must also be fair trade.
Now there are several different attributes to sustainable products which can be very simply summarized as follows:
Responsible materials: no use of hazardous materials or depletion of natural resources.
Minimal impact disposal: can be reused, repurposed, recycled, or composted
Efficient lifecycle: small carbon footprint, social and economic benefits, useful and durable, minimal waste.
Ethical production: low environmental impact and ethical production.
Now there are a lot of other factors and considerations that go into products that are aimed at reducing environmental impact and things that contribute to the goal of a fair trade global community. And it is somewhat easy for a company to place the claim on a product that it is eco-friendly and green so to speak. But, the label of true sustainability is in fact a hard pill to swallow and is difficult to attain.
And furthermore, it is a reality that a company may produce a single product that is not sustainable due to its environmental impact, but the organization’s overall efforts and practices may improve the organization’s sustainability. Conversely, a single product a company produces may be environmentally friendly, but the organization’s hiring practices, economic activities, or overall environmental impact may be destructive.
So what does this all mean to us as average consumers. We walk into a market where there are hundreds of products on the shelves, how do we choose? Obviously, we are not going to take the time to research the background of every single product that we purchase. That is similar to taking the time to write a review on every single product you purchase. You simply are not going to do it.
Well, here is my conclusion. In my episode titled 12 Steps to a Zero Waste Lifestyle, I discussed that if you decided to work toward this type of lifestyle, it is not going to happen overnight. It will be a slow process and it may take you over a year to accomplish your goal of zero waste. The same is true to purchasing only sustainable products. You essentially have to slowly do some research and commit yourself to a goal.
But, the simple fact is that as consumers increasingly demand sustainable products and services, more companies will focus on their business’ sustainability.
Part of what I wanted to accomplish here was to first give you a better perspective on the definition of a sustainable product so that you can make better choices as a consumer. And once again, there is that same term I have used over and over again, “better choices”. And yes I keep circling the airport on that term because the simple fact is that choices make changes.
So, what I want to do is point you in the right direction, give some some basic guidelines.
First of all, you have to be mindful of what is called “greenwashing” . This is where a company spends more time and money on convincing us they are environmentally friendly as opposed to actually making themselves environmentally friendly. They use deceitful advertising gimmicks such as putting earth tones on their packaging. For example, a large image of a tree.
A perfect example of this is a large oil or chemical company publishing an expensive marketing campaign featuring their products with marine animals and nice pleasant music convincing us how environmentally friendly they are when it turns out they are one of the biggest polluters of the year.
It is far better to focus on specific claims a company makes about their product.
Look of their website, on their packaging, what do they say in their advertisements. Pay special attention to how specific their claims are about the product. For example, it is easy to say that a product “green” or “all natural”. Those are broad statements that truly don’t mean much. But it they advertise that a product is made from 100% recycled material, now that is much more specific and you can likely trust that claim a bit more.
The next thing you can do is read product labels.
One of the best ways to judge whether or not a company is ecofriendly, is to see how they are judged by reputable third party organizations. Look for typical marks of approval from formal organizations that set specific standards such as the EPA, the USDA, EnergyStar, Forest Service Council, or the World Fair Trade Organization.
There are also several other organizations around the world that identify, analyze, and label the relative sustainability of different products. For example the Global Reporting Initiative, the United Nations Environmental Program, you can also check CSRHub.com which is a private database that ranks corporate sustainability and social goals.
I also have a link in the transcript for this episode called 25 Legit Green Business Certifications. So, instead of you beating your head against a wall and trying to understand all the complexities of what makes a product sustainable, take advantage of some of these resources where people dedicate themselves to doing the leg work for you.
Another tip is look at a company’s public relations.
Now I hope you already realize that it is better to trust what a third party says about a company than what a company says about itself. That being said, it is still worth looking into what a company does say about itself. Do they talk about their specific eco-friendly initiatives? Have they won any awards related to social responsibility and sustainability?
You can also research the company yourself
Internet research is so easy to do these days. So see what the media is saying about a specific company. But also be sure to only trust third party sources that have a long history of integrity such as a company called Ethical Consumer. They can be found at ethicalconsumer.org and they have been around since 1989.
But also, I just want to mention a few websites where you can go in order to source sustainable products. But I will also have a list of such websites in the transcript associated with this podcast episode.
But, just to name a few:
This is a very user friendly site that especially focuses on women purchasing products for the family.
Green America
This company has a catalog of over 3,000 business that produce environmentally safe products.
EcoMall
ecomall.com is an international site founded in the UK by a group of professionals.Their goal is to provide consumers the tools they need to integrate environmental awareness into their daily buying decisions, both personal and professional.
Fair Trade Certified
This is a nonprofit organization which can be found at fairtradecertified.org. that helps to connect companies with fair trade practices with consumers that want to support fair trade with their purchases.
EcoFirms
EcoFirms.org is one of the largest green business directories online. It is entirely run and operated by volunteers and has been around since 2005. Their website is specifically designed to serve as a marketing and promotional tool for member companies.
Now this is just to name a few. I have listed eleven other sites and directories in the transcript for this episode. So if you want that then go check it out. The point here is to point out these sort of resources that you may not know about. So go check it out.
Okay, to recap a little information that we have covered.
-First of all I defined and gave you some general attributes of a sustainable product. It is one that is green, eco-friendly, and fair trade. It is made of materials that are responsibly sourced. It is produced with minimal environmental impact.. It has an efficient lifecycle, meaning a small carbon foot print. It it also has minimal impact at the time of disposal, meaning it can be recycle, up cycled, or composted.
Then we talked about some pointers on how to evaluate products.
-Beware of “greenwashing”
-Focus on the specific claims made about a product.
-Read product labels and look for approval from reputable third party organizations
-Look at a company’s public relations
-Research the company yourself
-And lastly take advantage of the leg work that other people have already done and look at some of the resources that I have provided in the transcript of this episode.
Being socially responsible, environmentally responsible, and developing a sustainable lifestyle isn’t about putting every single decision you make through a purity test. The same is true when it comes to purchasing sustainable, eco-friendly, and green products. No company is ever going to be perfect. But, you can make reasonable and sound choices every day. So make an attempt to frequent sustainable businesses that make an effort to maintain a low environmental impact.
Now, to your challenge for this week. You all know very well that we are creatures of habit. We have our favorite products that we tend to purchase on a regular basis. So your challenge this week is to take one product that you use on a regular basis, for example, a cleaning product, and do some basic research on that product and the company as far as their environmental impact, sustainability practice, fair trade, etc. If that company does not come back with a favorable report card, then switch to a different product that does.
Imagine if you did this twice a month for the next year. You would end up with 24 products in your home that are environmentally friendly. Imagine if you convinced someone else to do the same.
Remember folks, choices make changes.
In closing folks, if you have enjoyed this episode, as well as my other material, then please take the time to leave me with a review. I would greatly appreciate that. Also, please subscribe to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast, as well as Off Grid Living News.
This is your host Patrick, signing off for now.
And remember, always live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.
Five Ways to Tell if a Product is Really EcoFriendly
Companies Accused of Greenwashing
25 Legit Green Business Certifications
