asheville, Check Out These Great Tips for Buying Green

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Check Out These Great Tips for Buying Green

As you walk the aisles of grocery stores and your one-stop-shopping stores, you may see bright green labels saying organic or eco-friendly. While some of these products may truly be sustainable, some may be green-washed. Green-washing, as defined by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc., is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. To avoid the green-washing trap, below are some tips when purchasing sustainable products.

What are green or sustainable products?

- A true green product has minimal environmental impact throughout its life cycle
- Life cycle means the start and end of the product; design, manufacturing, packaging, transportation to store, use by consumer and disposal
- Sustainable products contain recycled parts and energy efficient components and have minimal packaging that often can be recycled
- Manufacturing uses natural and/or renewable resources with no toxic chemicals used in production
- Once the consumer is finished using the product, the product can be recycled, reused or disassembled into parts that can be reused

How to Be Smart when Buying Green

- Confirm that the product is certifiably green; not green washed by looking for 3rd party verification logos on the product
- 3rd Party verification is where an outside organization tests the products to ensure it is sustainable
- 3rd party verification organizations include Green Seal, Eco Logo and Energy Star. Green Seal and Eco Logo focus on consumer products including office and cleaning products and Energy Star specializes in electronic products.

How does 3rd Party Verification work?

- 3rd party verification organizations will receive an application to certify a product
- Organizations will review the product including product performance, materials, packaging information, labels and how it is marketed
- Certifier conducts an on-site audit of the company to analyze the manufacturing process
- Product is certified if it passes all the review stages
- 3rd party certifiers will continue to monitor the product and its manufacturer to ensure compliance and track product changes

(Image provided by the City of Asheville.)

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