Issues With Going Green

Recycling household items, conserving electricity and water, and buying local produce are common themes of the go-green movement. Trash day in many neighborhoods means recycling bins on the curbside, and more fuel-efficient cars can be seen on highways. People are encouraged to buy products made from recycled material. But there are problems with the movement itself. Recycling and other efforts taken on conscientiously by citizens may not be having the impact that people think they are.

Buying Fuel-Efficient Vehicles

• According to Wired Magazine, making a new Prius actually adds more carbon to the environment than manufacturing a Hummer. The Prius has 30 pounds of nickel in the battery so overall the Prius uses 113 million British thermal units to make. The Prius does save fuel when driving and will make up the deficit, but buying a used car may be better for the environment. For example, buying a 10-year-old car such as a Toyota that gets 35 miles per gallon may have an advantage over a new hybrid. According to Pablo Paster, a sustainability engineer, the new Prius would need to reach 100,000 miles before it paid off the debt of being built. The used Toyota has already had the carbon debt paid.

Plastic Consumption

• Placing recycling on the curb for trash pickup or taking plastic to a recycling center can have a certain satisfaction. People feel as if they are doing their part. Some plastic that is used in many products can't be melted and made into new products.

  According to Mindfully.org, plastic waste that is recyclable is transported to China to be melted for reuse. Workers were exposed to the fumes from the melting plastic. The workers make approximately $1.50 per day and they did not have any protective equipment. Small children sort the shredded plastic all day long.

Business Concerns

• Businesses have problems going green, only on a larger scale than individuals. For example if a company decides to change out its lights to energy-efficient bulbs, the switchover could be expensive and time-consuming. Keeping on top of emerging green issues can also take time and money for the research and decision-making process. Also purchasing recycled products can be more expensive than new products. When expenses go up, the business either has to absorb them or pass the expense on to the customer. This will then need to include informing the consumers with marketing and PR.

Government Mandates

• Science Clarified says that from 1978 to 2000 landfill numbers shrank from approximately 14,000 down to barely 5,000. With such a crisis of what to do with trash, the government is expected to start mandating recycling. On the surface, this is a beneficial law, but there is more to consider. According to Science Daily, recycled products can pose problems. For example, paper and oriented strand board that is recycled absorb more moisture than natural or new material. A green home consultant, Roger Morse of Morse Zehnter Associates, says that this can lead to mold, corrosion or rot. This doesn't eliminate using recycled products, but it is another level of consideration the consumer must be aware of.

Future

• Many products are made with raw material and, according to the University of Texas in Dallas, "More than 90 percent of materials extracted to make durable goods in the US become waste." Products are not intended to last. This way, consumers will continually buy new models. A new theory on going green is emerging from this problem. An idea is to develop products with the entire life cycle taken into account and make them so that they can be dissembled for other uses.