….It’s Tough to be Really Green
1. There’s still far no much packaging in far too many products with over one-third of the garbage we generate is packaging thrown away immediately after we buy merchandise. Despite all the talk about being green and more environmentally friendly, the vast majority of consumer products makers haven’t climbed on board yet. If you’ve purchased a gift for child recently, you can see the problem first-hand given the bubble wrap, the dozens of twist ties and the pile of paper involved.
Food packaging is just as bad due to concerns about health and safety. Then again, why do we have to buy coffee in bags that are thrown in the garbage as opposed to getting a discount for bringing a refillable container?
2. We live in a society where convenience rules the day. Take food, for example. With people apparently having less time to cook meals at home, the take-out and prepared food markets have flourished. The problem, however, is they both involve packaging that, for the most part, isn’t recyclable. Meanwhile, the take-out industry is still awash in styrofoam containers. And let’s not even start talking about the billions of plastic shopping bags that retailers use every year. If we were really serious about the environment, plastic bags would be banned.
3. Green and organic products are expensive so there is no financial incentive to use them. A box of “green” dishwasher detergent is two to three times the product of regular dishwasher detergent. If it was only 50% more, maybe more people would buy them. That would maybe create enough volume to reduce the price even more.
4. In North America, the car still rules even as gasoline prices go through the roof - hitting a high of $3.60 in the U.S. Even if you want to ride you bike or take public transportation, the infrastructure just isn’t there to do it. Instead, government tries to create disincentives such as tolls and higher prices for parking. People love their cars so it will take more than higher prices to get them out of them.
Technorati Tags: Environmental, Green
