Recycle, Reuse, Reconsider
admin January 24th, 2012
Back in the early 1970′s I was completing my degree in Consumer Studies, Design and Marketing. The topic I chose for my thesis was one that was not at the top of too many people’s minds at that time. The topic was excess packaging used by manufacturers. Since that time, we have come a long way in environmental consciousness and trying to remedy our polluted world with reduce, reuse and recycle, but we still have a long way to go.
Certainly there has not been much change in the amount of packaging used by manufacturers to bring products to consumers. What we have done is found more resourceful ways to get rid of the packaging by recycling which has spawned several companies such as Tetrapak, who use plastics to create new products. We have a campaign to encourage consumers to use the same bag over and over again by charging the consumer for every new bag. Perhaps the focus should be encouraging manufacturers to reduce the packaging used in the first place instead of trying to find places to put it after it’s in the marketplace. But I’ll be covering that in another blog.
In the housing industry, a great deal of focus has been placed recently on building homes with environmental products as well as an emphasis on conservation. Over the course of the last couple of years, I have incorporated an Environmental section in my newsletters and written several articles that pertained to new environmental products available for our homes. In addition recipes for simple everyday cleaning solutions were included. I will continue to keep you informed of new and current environmental suggestions for your home.
Incidences such as the toxic drywall from China, have made it necessary for us to be more diligent and aware of what we are using in renovations and construction and in our every day lives and where it is coming from. Many countries do not have the strict regulations for manufacturing that Canada has. When you consider the numerous glues, dyes, varnishes, finishes, etc. in household products, furniture, fabrics, not to mention the cleaners we use, you can imagine the chemicals floating around in each of our homes.
As we start 2012, let us resolve to make it a safer, healthier and chemical free environment for ourselves and our children.
- Green
- Comments(0)