How green is that product?
| Chicago
Stroll around a typical home-goods store and you might feel as though you鈥檙e walking outdoors 鈥� everything is turning green. Over the past year, more mainstream companies have jumped on the green bandwagon, unveiling 鈥渘atural鈥� cleaners, recycled products and packaging, sustainably made furniture, and housewares aimed at a growing market niche: the green consumer.
Wal-Mart, for instance, is stocking shelves with organic cotton towels and Clorox鈥檚 latest cleaning line, Green Works.
Walk into Crate & Barrel, and you鈥檒l probably notice chairs made of sustainable wood, teak dining collections, and a shopping environment with a low-energy lighting system.
Companies are realizing that going green 鈥� or at least sprinkling some green into their mix of conventional products 鈥� is good business. Indeed, American consumers are expected to double their spending on eco颅friendly products and services in the next year to an estimated $500 billion, according to Landor Associates.
鈥淚 find myself weighing a green purchase versus a regular purchase, and there were many times in the past when price would have made the decision for me,鈥� says Leah Ingram of New Hope, Pa., whose blog, The Lean Green Family, chronicles her family鈥檚 transition to a greener lifestyle. 鈥淣ow that I鈥檓 more aware of [the environment], I鈥檓 willing to spend a little more.鈥�
Yet it鈥檚 unclear how much of an impact all this green buying will actually have on the environment. Purchasing anything, regardless of how green it is, adds something to a person鈥檚 carbon footprint. And concern is growing over 鈥済reenwashing鈥� 鈥� or misleading claims made by companies about the environmental benefits of their products.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much greenwashing going on. It can be frustrating to find out which companies are really green,鈥� says Amy Todisco, owner of , an online natural products store in Huntington, Vt. 鈥淲hen you find out that [some brands] are not doing what we thought they were doing, it鈥檚 very disheartening.鈥�
Ms. Todisco has been researching products like laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, and personal-care items for more than 14 years. She鈥檚 found that many that are marketed as 鈥渘atural鈥� still use synthetic ingredients.
One of the challenges for consumers is that there are no uniform standards for 鈥済reen,鈥� says Celia Lehrman, deputy home editor of Consumer Reports.
As a result, products are appearing on store shelves in shades of green. One company may remove or substitute a few ingredients and call the result ecofriendly when, in fact, its product still contains traces of harmful elements. Another company may take an approach in which everything from materials to packaging to distribution is designed to be as ecofriendly as possible.
While this is the ideal, it can get complicated and expensive in a global economy, says Ed Stafford, an associate professor of marketing at Utah State University who has studied green marketing.
Ms. Lehrman suggests that consumers look for third-party certification on products. (See below.)
One area consumers aren鈥檛 likely to overlook in deciding on a product is performance, says Dr. Stafford. If a company decides to go green, its product has to be as good as the nongreen product. 鈥淭he bottom line is, we don鈥檛 buy carpet cleaner to save the planet. We buy it to clean our carpets.鈥�
Testing of green and energy-efficient products has shown that performance is improving on the whole, Lehrman says, although she advises checking the Consumer Reports website for specific product reviews.
Sometimes, just refraining from buying anything is the greenest choice a consumer can make, experts say. 鈥淚f you need something new, you have to weigh the whole life-cycle cost of the product and decide whether or not you鈥檙e really helping the environment by buying something,鈥� Lehrman says, citing $400 organic sheets as an example. 鈥淚s it better to just not buy new sheets?鈥�
鈥淏uy less, buy better, and when possible, buy local,鈥� advises Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, creator of 鈥淎partment Therapy,鈥� a book and website that encourages green living. He advocates 鈥渆diting鈥� your home, buying only what you really need.
鈥淭he whole green mantra is 鈥榬educe, reuse, and recycle.鈥� It鈥檚 not 鈥榮hop,鈥� 鈥� says Linda Hunter, author of 鈥淕reen Clean,鈥� a guide to green cleaning solutions.
But trying to transform your entire home into a green one overnight can seem daunting, says Ms. Ingram. 鈥淵ou have to take it step by step. I can鈥檛 change everything about how I live, but ... if you just take it a little at a time, it won鈥檛 feel so overwhelming.鈥�
How to tell if a product is really green
When you鈥檙e buying green products for your home, checking the label isn鈥檛 enough, consumer advocates say. It鈥檚 better to check for third-party certification. Some common ones:
鈥� 鈥� Introduced by the US 贰苍惫颈谤颅辞苍尘别苍迟补濒 Protection Agency (EPA) to indicate that products contain environmentally preferable ingredients.
鈥� 鈥� Aims to reduce the environmental impacts tied to the use, manufacture, and disposal of products and services.
鈥� 鈥� An EPA certification whose goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.
鈥� 鈥� It certifies water-efficient products such as faucets and toilets.
鈥� 鈥� Products that bear the FSC logo are guaranteed to contain wood or wood products harvested from a certified, well-managed forest.
鈥� (LEED) 鈥� Promotes sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, sustainable materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
For more details on eco-labels and ways to go green at home, check the guides on these websites: a that includes definitions of eco terms; Treehugger's ; and the .
