Greener Purchasing
Purchasing seems like such an innocent act. Yet it can do significant environmental damage when we are not aware of the impact of our choices. Purchasing has an enormous effect on what processes are used to make and sell things, on pollution and on those resources that are taken out of their places in Earth’s living systems. That is because every product is tied to the processes used to make it. A product can have powerful environmental impacts throughout its entire life cycle, from the extraction of resources to its production, use and eventual disposal.
Keep these things in mind when purchasing:
• Avoid buying more than you need by rotating products with limited shelf lives.
• Buy products manufactured with non-toxic materials to be safer and kinder to ecosystems by checking the labels.
• When purchasing cleaning products, buy products without hazardous contents that require special handling and disposal.
• Ask if the product will biodegrade, or will it add to the waste system?
• Look for products that are certified as green.
• Check to see that wood products do not contain threatened tropical hardwoods, such as mahogany or teak.
• When possible, buy products that are easy to maintain and inexpensive to repair or upgrade.
• For battery-operated products, favor rechargeable batteries over disposable ones.
• Use products completely before discarding them.
• For products used infrequently, consider renting or sharing a product.
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