5 eco terminology you need to know

We know it’s easy to get bogged down in unfamiliar terminology and eco jargon. So, we want to help you to understand some of the common terms. Let’s go!

Freecycle

Since many people want to keep their unwanted items out of the waste stream, they choose to recycle them (really reuse or repurpose them) by giving them away for free to others.

Freecycle works both ways. People can post when they’re giving away items. Also, people can post when they want items.

While the thinking behind Freecycle is that one person’s trash can become another person’s treasure, that doesn’t mean that you should waste people’s time putting actual trash out for grabs. Sure, there are so-called “curb alerts” that people post from time to time, which basically is carte blanche to go dumpster-diving when someone puts out the trash.

However, most people assume that others will have good intentions when using Freecycle and will only offer up decent items that someone can truly use or at least find useful.

Recycling

Recycling is the process of breaking down and reusing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash. Many communities and businesses make it easy to recycle by placing labeled containers in the open for public use or providing bins for home and business owners who have curbside pickup.

There are numerous benefits of recycling, and with so many new technologies making even more materials recyclable, with everyone’s help, we can clean up our Earth. Recycling not only benefits the environment but also has a positive effect on the economy.

In 2022 using recycled materials in fashion continues to be a trend. Brands and designers try to create a product that will be more sustainable. Here some examples:

Upcycling

This is the reuse of the finished material without trying to recycle it. For example, as in the latest collection of the New York hype brand Vaquera, where some of the items were taken from the second-hand Buffalo Exchange and, as they say, rethought. Now young brands are actively experimenting with this — and not all of them are led by noble goals to save the blue planet, someone just likes to work with vintage fabrics.

Ethical

The term ethical is a subjective rather than objective term. An ethical business or product is one that adheres to (or claims to adhere to) certain ethics — or basic concepts that form fundamental principles for a ‘good’ framework of human conduct. When a business is (or claims to be) ethical, this means that they adhere to a framework based on a series of morals (or judgments about right and wrong).

In the context of sustainability, an ethical business is generally one which conforms to the ideals of care for the planet, care for humanity, and fair share. But this is a broad term and one which obviously means different things to different people. For example, one person may feel that it is ethical to choose animal-derived products, as long as there was no cruelty involved in the process, while another may not. Values and background play an important role in determining what ‘ethical’ really means to each individual.

Biodegradable

Biodegradable refers to a product breaking down into natural elements, carbon dioxide, and water vapor by organisms like bacteria and fungi. Technically, just about everything is biodegradable, although it will take hundreds of thousands of years for most things to biodegrade.

To earn a biodegradable label, products and materials must quickly decompose into natural materials. Third party certifiers typically restrict acceptable breakdown times between six and nine months.

How to dispose of biodegradable products?

Because biodegradable products in landfills can create harmful methane, it is better to dispose of them in a commercial compost heap or to send them to a recycling plant. You can also check if there is a biogas plant in your area, which uses biodegradable products to create methane which they then use to generate electricity.