How To Know If Your Green Gift Idea Is Really Enviro-friendly
Just about everything has an environmentally friendly angle on it nowadays
. Being biodegradable, recyclable, made from recycled materials or reusable are all fantastic principles but there are actually many subtle nuances of meaning behind these terms which companies can manipulate to make it look as if their product is the green eco-friendly gift option, when in fact its total environmental impact makes it the poorest overall choice. Today we help you decipher green claims and decide whether your sustainable gift or green gift idea is REALLY environmentally friendly, or if those claims are just marketing spin.
The Elements of Eco Friendly Gifts
There are some elements common to green gift ideas, and indeed all products in general, which are at the core of caring for the environment. These include:
Having low life-cycle embodied energy
This is a measure of the energy needed to create and maintain a particular product over its entire lifecycle. It incorporates the principles of longevity and reusability as core elements of sustainability.
For example, reusable plastic coffee cups are sustainable gifts because they take little energy and resources to produce, yet have a relatively long life-cycle. By contrast, paper coffee cups take less energy and resources to produce, but have a far shorter life cycle.
Using little energy
A powered item is eco-friendly if it uses little energy compared to its competing sustainable gift ideas or products.
For example, a shake and shine torch is better than a battery powered torch. A small fridge is better than a big fridge, etc.
Being made of recycled materials
Being recyclable is good, but being made of materials which have already been recycled is even better. This means that fewer raw materials were needed to produce the item. However, some recycled items can have high life cycle embodied energy due to re-manufacturing processes needed to clean and prepare the materials. Being recycled is not automatically eco-friendly.
Low-emission or low-waste manufacturing processes
The waste and emissions created in the manufacturing of all products worldwide is staggering. It can be difficult to determine which green gift ideas have low-waste or low-emissions manufacturing processes you may need to do some research on the actual corporation.
Being recyclable
Landfill is an important environmental issue, but there are literally millions of products worldwide which are recyclable or packaged in recyclable materials. This is not a major concern when determining if your gift is sustainable.
Being necessary
Lastly, but extremely importantly when considering sustainable gifts, is the necessity of the item itself!
You can give somebody an elaborate ornament made from recycled scrap timber using low- waste methods and little energy in the manufacturing but it can still be a grandly environmental blight if the person youre giving it to doesnt want it and will never use or enjoy it. Unnecessary consumption is one of our environments biggest poisons so make sure that every sustainable gift you give is actually going to be used! Youll feel great about using it and its important that the environment is healthy.
by: belindadarling
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