Should Green Business Certification Be Industry Standard?
Unfortunately there are a lot of businesses out there claiming to be green when they really aren’t. As ECO conscious consumers, we need to make sure that the products and services we buy really are ECO friendly.
In my opinion, it should be industry standard that in order for any business to call themselves or label their products as “green,” they should have to go through a certification process. Companies who label their products “organic” are required to contain a certain percentage of certified organic ingredients… so it makes sense that it should be the same for a green business proclamation.
There are companies out there who will give you an actual certificate for a price as long as you meet their standards of being green.
In most cases, to be Certified Green, a business must be compliant with all applicable environmental regulations as well as meet certain standards in the following categories.
- conserving resources
- pollution prevention
- waste reduction
For now we have to do our own homework to weed out bad seeds… the companies who only use “green” as a marketing tool when they really aren’t green at all.
We don’t want to rain on your parade but most of the big label organic products on store shelves are owned by the large manufactures who produce pesticide laden food products, etc. Find out what companies other like-minded people are avoiding or how they feel about the big label producers of organic products.
The bottom line is to eat and buy locally produced items. Not everyone has local products available to them so you may not have this option…do the best you can and make informed choices. ECO buyers beware of companies proclaiming to be “green” just to get your green.
What companies have you come across that proclaimed to be green but were the furthest thing from it?
