Over the years the term ‘environmentally friendly’ has been thrown around a lot and this term means many different things in diverse business sectors. At the end of the day, the one thing ‘environmentally friendly’ needs to conform to is the actual footprint that is left behind on the environment. What many individuals forget to add in the calculation of ‘environmentally friendly’ is the physical manufacturing process that results in the finished merchandise.
If it takes 3 tons of fresh water and 5000 kilowatts of electricity to transform 10 pounds of used paper into 100 sheets of recycled paper. The environmental footprint is no longer measured after its use, but that is what most everyone measures, its impact after its usage.
The manufacturing method and practice to obtain a finished product is in most cases, more important. In order to call a product ‘environmentally friendly’, and good for the environment, then its physical landfill properties and creation process needs to be considered.
