Eco Friendly vs. Environmentally Friendly: A Guide To Understanding All The Green Terms
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What’s the difference between eco friendly and environmentally friendly? Green vs sustainable? There are a lot of environmental terms that get used these days, but what do they all mean?
That’s why we have taken the time to create a guide to understanding all the green terms! In this post we will review the definitions for the following environmental terms:
Environmentally friendly
Eco friendly
Sustainable
Green
Greenwashing
Zero waste
Low waste
Low impact
Minimal waste
Recycling
Reusing
Reducing
Zero plastic
Plastic free
Chemical free
Natural
Organic
Compost
Biodegradable
Environmentally Friendly vs Eco-Friendly
Environmentally Friendly means not harmful to the environment, Eco Friendly is simply the abbreviated version of environmentally friendly. Whether you see the word eco friendly or environmentally friendly they technically mean that item/product has not hurt the environment.
However, when you stop and think about this claim for a minute you can quickly realize that this is an impossible statement. There is no way to create a product that doesn’t hurt the environment in some way.
From the ingredients to make something to fossil fuels to ship it to the store, no product is truly eco friendly. Many large corporations who use the term eco friendly or environmentally friendly are simply participating in greenwashing (which is discussed below).
I have noticed smaller businesses use the word eco friendly with a definition being “more environmentally friendly than other similar type products”. It is always important to do your own research into a company to see if their claims of eco friendliness are substantiated or not.
Sustainable
There are a lot of variations in the definition of sustainable and sustainability. The premise here though is that sustainability involves making sure natural resources are not depleted so that future generations will be able to survive, and hopefully thrive.
There is no one sustainability measure or regulation on products or companies. There are industry specific regulations for sustainability but if a company or product claims to be sustainable it is always good to learn more and make a decision based on what you find.
Sustainability is also a much more accurate description of products making an effort to be more environmentally conscious versus using the term eco friendly.
Green
When it comes to being green, green living, and green initiatives, green refers to sustainability. It is a way to describe things that consciously make an effort to be mindful of the resources we have on this planet.
Greenwashing
Greenwashing is a term that is growing in popularity. It is used when a business or organization extremely exaggerates or outright lies about their sustainability efforts often through the way that they market themselves.
This can be seen in companies that are simply hopping on the “bandwagon” when it comes to sustainability. These companies are not after true sustainability, rather they simply see sustainability as a way to make more money while keeping their detrimental environmental practices going.
This occurs when the company updates their packaging to be the color green, uses nature images, and uses words like “simple”, “back to nature”, or other words that do not necessarily mean anything.
This can also look like actual claims of eco friendliness and sustainability but when looked into there is no evidence to back up these claims. And recently some companies are going as far as making up certifications that claim their products are eco friendly when in fact those certifications do not even exist.
The problem here is that greenwashing misleads consumers and often misleads them in a way that is detrimental to the planet and only lines the company’s pockets. This costs consumers in more ways than simply financial.
One of the few ways to combat greenwashing is to diligently research companies before making purchases. Be extremely cautious of huge claims by a company, like “100% Plant Friendly” or “Never Any Impact To The Plant”, as these are often clues something is off.
Zero-Waste vs Minimal Waste vs Low Waste
The zero-waste movement has a goal of reducing their waste/trash to zero. This means not buying products that will become trash, trying to keep trash out of the environment, and reducing the amount of new materials created. While the movement was founded with a goal of getting to zero waste many have also adopted the term minimal waste and/or low waste.
Minimal waste and low waste are interchangeable terms. These terms focus on the fact that lowering the amount of waste generated is the goal and acknowledges that in most situations some waste is generated.
Low Impact
Low impact on the other hand doesn’t just focus on zero waste, low impact takes a broader look to focus on the whole eco footprint.
To understand this, say you buy a compostable toothbrush. If packaged properly this could be considered zero waste (as long as nothing was going into the landfill). However, when you take low impact you now need to look into the impact growing the bamboo had, the chemicals and resources used to turn that bamboo into a toothbrush, the distance that toothbrush traveled to get to you.
Some items have less of an impact than others. If your options were using a toothbrush made in the USA or made halfway around the globe, the low impact movement would say to use the toothbrush that didn’t use as many resources to get to you.
Recycling
Recycling is the process of turning waste materials into reusable materials. Materials that tend to be recyclable are glass, paper, cardboard, plastic, and metals.
The challenging aspect to recycling, especially in the United States, is figuring out what specifically your county/city deems recyclable. Not all plastics for example can be recycled.
Look up your recycling services for acceptable materials to ensure you are recycling properly.
We take a dive into recycling in our blog post on 3 Easy Ways to Find Sustainable Products.
Reusing
Reusing is about repurposing what you already have and using it again. While many items are sold as single use, many single use products have the ability to be reused. These include plastic bags, pasta sauce and other glass jars, old clothing, …the list can go one.
We take a look at reusing in our blog post on 3 Ways To Not Break The Bank and Stay On Budget While Being Sustainable.
Reducing
Reducing is all about using less. By buying less materials that will end up in the landfill you are reducing your carbon footprint. Reducing our consumption of products, especially single use products, can drastically make a positive impact on our planet.
Learn more about ways to reduce your carbon footprint while traveling in our blog post on 10 Easy Ways to be More Eco-Friendly that Everyone Should Already Be Doing By Now.
Zero Plastic vs Plastic Free
Plastics are often made from petroleum based materials. Petroleum is often referred to as oil, which has a long history of negative environmental impacts.
When it comes to the terms zero plastic and plastic free, they both mean the same thing. When a product has zero plastic, it means it doesn't have any plastic, making it a plastic free product.
Examples of plastic free products include Copper Rabbit Crafts soap bars. These soaps do not have plastic in them and they are not wrapped in plastic or materials that contain plastic, making it a plastic free product.
Chemical Free
Chemical free does not mean that a product doesn’t have chemicals in it. Technically all matter is made up of chemicals, from soaps to people, chemicals are everywhere.
Chemical free is a marketing term. This marketing term is used to designate an item as safe, eco friendly, and/or healthy because the product only contains natural ingredients (see the definition for natural below).
More importantly though, chemical free is often used to say a product does not contain synthetic chemicals. Synthetic chemicals are the chemicals that humans have created. While synthetic chemicals can be ok, some can be extremely harmful to both us as human beings as well to the environment.
To learn more about synthetic chemicals that are harmful to us as human beings be sure to read our blog post The Myths and Realities of 5 Harmful Ingredients in Soap and Cosmetic Products.
Organic
At its root, organic means related to living matter. When it comes to organic food and drinks, these are foods and drinks that have been produced without synthetic chemicals, pesticides, or other artificial molecules.
For produce that is organic, there are specific standards set here in the United States and if certified, the USDA gives you a USDA ORGANIC certification logo to use on your products.
Be mindful that organizations that greenwash can and have created their own “organic” logos. But unless it is the USDA organic logo, those other “organic” logos do not necessarily mean anything. Always do your own research!
Natural
Natural is a term that sometimes goes hand in hand with organic, however they are different. Natural products are those that have not been chemically treated.
Natural is also a completely unregulated term. “All Natural” logos abound but know that there is no governing board regulating them.
Just because something is natural does not mean it hasn’t been heavily processed or that a company isn’t simply using the word “natural” even if their products have been chemically treated.
Compost
Compost is organic material that decays for the purpose of becoming fertilizer for plants. Currently there are two forms of composting; home composting and industrial/commercial composting.
Home Composting involves putting organic materials such as vegetables, fruit, and egg shells in a composting bin that is on your home’s property. Over time, and this can take awhile, the molecular bonds in the organic materials will break down, turning into plant fertilizer. This broken down material can then be used in garden beds to fertilize your plants.
Industrial/Commercial Composting involves special equipment that can break down organic materials much faster, ultimately turning out compost far sooner than home composting. Industrial/Commercial composting can also sometimes include meat and dairy, which home composters are not able to handle.
As more businesses begin focusing on sustainability initiatives, more and more are offering “compostable” products. Be sure to closely pay attention to which type of composting these companies are discussing. Most often when the word “compostable” is used it is only referring to Industrial/Commercial Composting.
If you have an industrial composting facility close to you this won’t necessarily be a problem but for those who only have home composting systems this will be a problem. The “compostable'' materials that are designed for industrial/commercial composting will not break down in a home composting bin. The conditions will likely never be right for the molecules to break down properly. So be sure to keep an eye out for this.
Biodegradable
When something is deemed “biodegradable” it means that the material is capable of being broken down by microorganisms such as bacteria. While the term may seem very sustainable it is a completely unregulated term.
When something is deemed “compostable” it has gone through various tests to gain this recognition. However, there are no such tests for someone to slap the word “biodegradable” on their packaging. Biodegradable also doesn’t mean a product is compostable.
Technically everything humans create is biodegradable, because over time everything will break down though this can take hundreds of years (1). So for companies to place the word “biodegradable” on their packaging they are participating in greenwashing.
In Conclusion
While there are a ton of eco friendly green terms out there, it is important to understand what they all mean, especially because they are not all equal.
It can be easily overwhelming when you dive into the world of eco-terms especially because so many organizations have negatively impacted the sustainability space.
It’s frustrating to know that even when you think you are buying an environmentally friendly product it may in fact not be at all. That is why researching the companies you buy from is very important, though some times not always possible.
At Copper Rabbit Crafts we are constantly striving to do right by you and the planet. We are always looking for ways to be more transparent and eventually would love to certify our products (though as a small business that is not possible currently).
You are not alone in this journey to find quality products that are doing their best to reduce their carbon footprint. Working together we will go further every day!
