“Finding products and components that are sustainably made is a combination of measuring “footprints” and exercising good judgment and common sense. Here are some things that you should understand when assessing the “ green creds” of any product.” - Wayne D. King
The term green is an unregulated term that can mean many things to many people, similar to "natural" with food products.
A products green credential can be measured in many ways because there are many steps in the manufacturing process. For example, one of our products MOP, Maximum Oil Pickup is – without a doubt – the most sustainable product on the market among oil absorbents. Yet there are a number of companies laying claim to the “green-space” in this multi-billion dollar industry. One competitor of MOP uses a very energy intensive mining process to mine a "natural" product which they label as a "green" product. Since the product itself is a naturally occurring item, it is fair to say that the raw material for manufacturing the sorbent (the term of an absorbent product) is green, but the manufacturing process is decidedly NOT green. Some customers who are looking to be able to claim that they are using a green product may find this sufficiently acceptable, particularly if they are seeking "window dressing" rather than a genuinely sustainable product. Customers who are sincerely seeking to reduce their carbon footprint will see through this immediately. Furthermore, organizations that make determinations about this will see immediately the shortcomings of products that are "greenwashing".
“Finding products and components that are sustainably made is a combination of measuring “footprints” and exercising good judgment and common sense. Here are some things that you should understand when assessing the “ green creds” of any product.”
Choosing a green product in today’s environment is a challenging task. It’s important for two major reasons:
1. If you are sincerely working to reduce your company’s carbon footprint, or working toward measuring your triple bottom line, you want to be able to choose a company that has a truly sustainable product and manufacturing process.
2. Consumers and watchdog organizations have an increasing level of sophistication when it comes to products that claim some level of green-ness and are savvy when it comes to companies that are employing greenwashing techniques to position themselves in the market, but not really achieving a level of sustainability that reflects well on people who use their products.
Having said this, it is important to say that some common sense and good judgement needs to be employed in this process as well. For example: Suburu of America is arguably the greenest automobile company in the US today, even though they do not manufacture a single hybrid vehicle. Why is this? Because the sum total of all their environmental efforts and products add up to an impressive environmental record. They have no hybrids but among companies building cars in the US they have one of the highest MPG ranking across their fleet. Add to this, just in time and regionalized manufacturing and inventory systems that reduce their shipping and the fact that every one of their facilities in the US has achieved a zero carbon footprint and you see a total picture emerge that is more sustainable than you might expect at first blush.
So how do you measure the sustainability profile of a company that you are considering as a vendor?
Products and Processes
To begin with, you want to examine both their products and their manufacturing processes. The degree of sustainability for any product can run the gamut from a product that is completely carbon intensive from start to finish to a cradle-to-cradle green product that is produced sustainably and is completely green itself - made from 100% recycled and natural products, organic or fully recyclable.
Furthermore, it is certainly worth considering other factors that are relevant. For example a quart of strawberries grown in your community may be grown using a carbon-based fertilizer making them ineligible for the claim of organic. However, their carbon footprint is surely smaller than the same quart of strawberries grown organically but shipped across the country.
Every product is going to have a different story to tell based on its component parts, its manufacturing process and its recycle-ability. The choices you make will need to be based on both the goals of your company and the profile of your clients/customers in the context of other obvious considerations such as price points for the products, shipping issues etc.
Returning to the MOP product addressed at the beginning of this article, we were attracted to the product from the beginning by its green power across the broad spectrum of product and production. Ultimately, MOP achieves the highest possible level of sustainability, a cradle-to-cradle level, by first utilizing only recycled and organic materials and employing a production process that uses green hydroelectric energy as its power source. Their claims regarding this can all be verified and validated allowing a business considering utilizing their product the confidence to know that they will not be subject to claims of greenwashing or individuals and advocates questioning the validity of the claims or splitting hairs over whether the sustainability of the product is counteracted by the production process. Assuming under these circumstances that you can make the other aspects work for your financial bottom line, a product like this covers the social and environmental bottom lines to achieve success in reaching goals in your triple bottom line.
Wayne King is a recovering politician, author and political commentator and President of Moosewood Communications in Rumney, NH. He blogs from his space in the Blogosphere, Greener Minds: GreenerMinds.Blogspot.com where he advocates for a sustainable planet; and from the Moosewood Communications Blog MoosewoodCommunications.blogspot.com.
King holds a BS Degree in Earth Sciences and a Masters Degree in Earth & Space Science Education from the University of New Hampshire, Durham.
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