The Importance of Eco-friendly Products

EcoWorkx
EcoWorkx
Nov 1 · 4 min read

The very word Eco-friendly brings lots of things in our minds; the most prominent thing would be Nonplastic and recycled. A broadway, eco-friendly defines our culture, the thought of being conservative in our needs, the thought of avoiding anything plastic. The culture which we have inherited from our elders.

We are in a fast-paced era where takeaways are the new normal, surgeries are quick and one can walk off a hospital the same day, Marriage events have clean dining halls but the plastics and non- bio-degradable we leave behind have never been thought.

The discovery of PVC was a key event in the history of mankind. PVC has given way for tubes, forms of vessels which we have never imagined that could be possible, the ease of mass production of bottles and other retail which occupy our homes.

This is a moment where one needs to pause and look back at the amount of plastics we have ditched in rivers, oceans and also the amount of trees which have been felled to make that furniture and daily useable like boxes and pencils.

The concept of reduce, recycle and reuse has caught up in the developing world as well as the advanced nations. Recycling those products which depend on trees to be cut for new materials are of the importance now. The reason for saying this is broad again. Where one can avoid deforestation and promote afforestation, we should as we have already amidst global warming which itself is going to take us to the brink of extinction.

Reports of ocean temperature raising by a degree and a half have already wiped out many marine species to extinction, besides changing the weather which we see on land due to El-Nino and La-Nina effects. The warming seas and the effect it has on the land have been well documented to show much large scale destruction to land-dwelling animals and plants apart from humans and our creations.

Tree covers in the most safeguarded forest reserves are also facing the threat of deforestation by illegal activities and corrupt government policies. Fast-paced industrialization and real estate expansion is creeping into the green cover of reserve forests. This industrialization, although necessary needs to be regulated and that’s a slow process.

As humans, our needs are growing day by day, starting from tyres to plywood for construction. We depend on nature for our needs. However, with very little being done to replant the trees as we use them. A forestation is the key to bring back the balance between what we use by cutting trees and replant the land to make up.

Having covered the issues we are facing today in terms of depleting green cover and disposal of used plastics into oceans, the only thing in our hands as an individual is to be responsible in our choices when we buy products.

Multiple products are now emerging in the markets which are bio-degradable and eco-friendly. The core idea behind eco-friendly here is to ensure that as much as possible, use of recycled paper and paper products to substitute the products which depend on felling of trees.

Products like pencils which are made from recycled newspapers have more strength compared to the ones made from wood and mass-produced. Even in the case of recycled and eco-friendly pencils, one can always choose the darkness of the lead and thickness of the lead, or even colors. The point is, one need not sacrifice anything when they switch over to eco-friendly products.

Similarly, A4 sheets which we use for printing in offices, Eco-friendly products are replacing the latter with same quality, thickness and without any blemishes as one would expect.

Paper cups and food packaging is now being made out of recycled paper. The quality of the process related to manufacturing has improved to reduce the smell which we all have noticed with recycled paper products; the strength and integrity of the packaging material have also been improved to adhere to strict industry standards. Eco-friendly paper cups and food packaging again reduce the use of new paper hence helping the environment.

This can also be taken up as a corporate responsibility where the management can shift to eco-friendly products. The cost factor variance between a regular reel of A4 sheets in the market and an Eco-friendly — recycled paper for printing is almost negligible.

These are the small changes that one can do to minimize our footprint. We as humans have the responsibility to protect the only earth we have for our future, for future belongs not to us but our children.

EcoWorkx
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