Going green is not the “new thing” but still on everyone’s mind. Now, many companies realizes that not only could they save the earth by going green, but also saving money.
The latest update is that the Lay’s chips company’s work towards a greener manufacturing process by establishing one of the most environmentally friendly facilities in the US, “called Near Net Zero Facility”. Mr. Halverson, the president of the green initiative explains that this process has brought them far on the way on becoming greener than ever: "We are running the plant on landfill gas. We are burning wood waste in order to generate steam. We send less than one percent of waste to landfills. ... We are looking at upgrading our truck fleet. We have two electric trucks currently delivering locally." according to the Huffington Post. The company also constantly use solar installations and other methods to save money at their facility in Arizona.
Also, cutting the costs have proven to be greener too! According to the newspaper Asia One the company Asia Pacific Breweries that own Tiger and Heineken beer, have decided make the cans with less aluminum to save waste and help the environment and also save the company $25,000 a year. Mr. Shue Toh, working for Asia Pacific Breweries said that: "Aluminum prices are rising, so it makes sense to cut costs while saving the environment”.
Lay’s and Asia Pacific Breweries are two of the biggest green money savers, but what worries many is that other companies that say they are environmentally friendly but is actually not holding their promises. We all choose brands depending on how they treat the environment, right?, so we should be able to trust the companies around us. There should be harder regulations on companies to become greener, not an option to either be good for the future of our planet or not to be... And right now I don’t know if I can trust the companies that say they actually “are green” because of the economic instability causes companies to save more money and state that they are greener than they are, just in order to have more people buy their products.
An example, according to scientists at the Nature Conservancy, says that: “When you see all these labels on consumer products and particular food products that claim green credentials or the word '100 percent biodegradable' on plastics -- where it takes say 100 years in full sunlight for that to actually happen.
The Green movement is still in its early stages, but it will be an industry standard in the coming years when people realize that resources are actually limited. Many companies like you mentioned are already incorporating green methods in their production processes, but there is no real way for us to actually know what methods are being implemented. From personal experience, I have witnessed a major change in both residential and commercial development and sustainability using green technology. New developments have many incentives from cities and local government to meet green standards such as LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Efficiency Design. At least we know the technology is readily available and will be an important factor when we are in desperate need to conserve resources.
ReplyDeleteAs the population of our planet continues to climb upward, the need to develop environmentally-friendly technology also gains in importance. We have a limited amount of resources on Earth, and humans need to act accordingly. However, because the issue of polluting our world to the point where it is unlivable seems so far off to many people, it's tough to remind people in their already busy everyday lives to act in a environmentally friendly manner. It's great to hear that some companies, such as Lay's, are promoting responsible behavior. However, it's also interesting to think about how you mentioned that many companies brand themselves as "green", yet they exaggerate or use deceptive wording to make their products seem more eco-friendly than they really are. The example about 100% biodegradable products taking 100 years to break down is a great demonstration of these shady tactics currently in use. The whole "going green" initiative has become a trend that many businesses seem to tout in order to get more customers and beneficial PR. I do feel that tighter regulations should be placed in order to ensure that companies accurately brand their products as "green", so that consumers can rest assured that what they are buying really is as environmentally-friendly as the package claims.
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