100% Recycled Does Not Look at 100% of the Picture
As businesses and consumers look for ways to protect the environment, it’s always good to think about recycling. But now it’s time to also think about reducing. Most people agree that responsible stewardship of the environment is a good thing. As customers increase their desire for green products, the emerging question has been: what defines green?
Recycled content has become the easiest way for many customers to express their interest in “going green.” The current thinking is: “if a product is recycled, then it must be good for the environment.” And the more recycled content there is, the better. But the truth is, reducing impact on the environment is much broader and more nuanced than measuring the recycled content of a product.
Focusing on 100-percent recycled only looks at the fibre from which the product (e.g., a tissue) is made. It does not look at the process used to make the product, the water consumed, the electricity required, from where the fibre is sourced, or how the products are packaged and used.
Of course, it’s good to recycle and use appropriate amounts of recycled material when manufacturing products. But a more comprehensive approach is to look at the bigger picture to understand the many ways product design can reduce impact on the environment.
The strategy should start with product design that strives to reduce how much a user consumes overall – through usage and waste. The truth is, products made with a combination of virgin and recycled material can reduce consumption when compared with products made simply with 100 percent recycled material. That’s because higher-quality, better-performing products can allow users to use less.
Manufacturers should also consider ways to reduce environmental impact at every stage of a product’s lifecycle, including how the product is manufactured and distributed. For example, designing products and packaging so that more products fit into each case and more cases fit into each truck puts fewer trucks on the road, ultimately helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Also consider how products are used and often wasted; it’s not uncommon, for example, to see janitors throw away toilet tissue stub rolls just to be totally sure that the paper won’t run out before their next check. This may lead to significant product waste.
A wise sustainability strategy
These are all components of a wise sustainability strategy:
- Recycled fibre
- Reduced packaging
- Manufacturing technologies that reduce the amount of raw material used
- Superior product performance that allows customers to use less and waste less.
As consumers and businesses today suffer from an over-simplified understanding of what is good for the environment, we would do well to focus on the bigger picture – at what will result in the most sustainable conditions long-term.
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By Doug Sutton, global marketing leader, KIMBERLY-CLARK PROFESSIONAL*
