Expanding Your Eco-Vocab For Earth Month

Happy Earth Month! To celebrate Earth Day and Earth Month, I wanted to share some commonly used terms that you may see used to market or talk about environmentally-friendly products and lifestyles. Some of the words SOUND great, but what do these buzz-words really mean?

Commonly Used Eco Terms

• 3 R s- Commonly known as reduce, reuse, recycle. The Rs have also been expanded to also include:
  
  
  • Refuse- skip the purchase
  • Repair- before purchasing new, can you repair the broken thing?
  • Repurpose- Instead of buying new, can you repurpose something else? 
    
    
• Biodegradable - Something that can degrade naturally and non-harmfully be reintegrated into the earth. The biodegrading process may be helped by living organisms like fungus, mold, bacteria. There is no set time limit for calling something biodegradable! A product marked as such may decompose in 1 week, 1 year, or 400 years! 
  
  
• Biodynamic - "a holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to farming, gardening, food, and nutrition," according to the Biodynamic Association.
  
  
• Biomass - All naturally occurring plants and plant-derived materials, including trees, wood pulp, livestock, livestock waste, plants, grains, etc. 
  
  
• Bioplastic - A plastic-like product made from polymers, usually starches or cellulose, that resembles oil-based plastic. Many (but not all!) bioplastics can biodegrade under the right conditions. Some are meant for industrial composting facilities only, and wind up in landfills instead (or wind up in landfills after contaminating other recycled materials).  Bioplastics may require additional resources, like fertilizer/pesticides, energy, and physical land space in order to grow the products to turn into bioplastics. 
  
  
• Circular economy - a practice of sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible to reduce waste. From Here to Home Essentials encourages a circular economy by repurposing empty jars and bottles, and encouraging customers to return jars and bottles to be refilled.
  
  
  • Closed-loop - A system to minimize waste where items are reused and kept in production. Our liquid refill products are part of a closed loop, we return the empty eco-jugs to be cleaned and reused. 
    
    
• Compost/composting - Organic matter that has decomposed. Composting is the process of recycling organic matter, such as leaves and food scraps, into a nutrient- and organism-rich final product that can be used to enrich soil and plants. Nearly 20% of landfill matter could be composted instead. 
  
  
  • There are two kinds of composting: backyard and industrial. Backyard composting is small scale, usually individual composting in a yard or with a composter, whereas industrial composting requires a bit more machinery! Industrial composting services can accept more types of waste, but they may use different methods, so acceptance may vary! 
    
    
• Fair Trade - Not necessarily eco-related, but an important term when thinking about the human makers who create products. A term describing a relationship between buyers in more developed countries paying a fair price for products made in less developed countries. 
  
  
• Free Range vs. Cage Free Eggs- In a free-range farm, animals aren't kept in cages and are allowed access to the outdoors, but they can still be kept in crowded conditions with a small outdoor area (there is no minimum space). In a cage free farm, animals are not in cages, but they can be in extremely cramped indoor conditions. Labels with certified Humane or American Humane Certified means there is ample outdoor space. 
  
  
• Grey Water - Relatively clean water left over from bathing, cleaning, etc. that does not contain human waste. Treated grey water can be used to water plants, flush toilets, etc., but should not be consumed. Treating grey water and reusing it can help in times of drought and lessen the burden on sewage systems.
  
  
• Landfill - A place where waste is dumped. Items in landfills break down slowly because of a lack of sunlight, water, and oxygen. Landfills are made to slow decomposition, so that methane gas created by the decomposition process can be trapped and released safely. 
  
  
• Living Wage - Like fair trade, this sustainability term refers to the way the human makers in the supply chain are treated. A living wage is what one full time worker must earn on an hourly basis to cover their minimum basic needs. Also called a subsistence wage. In Maryland, the living wage for one adult with no children is 26.17 an hour, or approximately 54,427 before taxes. Minimum wage is 15 an hour. For two working adults with one child, the living wage is 25.11, with an annual, combined income of approximately 104,446 before taxes.
  
  
• Local - Shops, farms, boutiques, service providers, etc. who live and work and serve in your community. Shopping local increases tax revenue in your area, creates jobs in your community, and keeps money in your community. Just because there is a big box store in your neighborhood does NOT make it local! 
   
• Low-waste - Products that result in minimal waste, including packaging and the end of a products life span (see also, Zero-waste, products that result in, well, zero-waste). FH2H tries to include end-of-life instructions on products when applicable.
  
  
• Organic - Food marked as organic means it does not have synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or antibiotics (for meat). Natural fertilizers may be used. Organic food isn't necessarily more nutritious, and it does not mean that the food is locally grown.
  
  
• Plant-based - Or vegan, a product made without the use or any animal products or byproducts. 
  
  
• Renewable - Used to describe resources that can be replaced/replenished over time, naturally, so they are available for generations to come.
  
• Re-wilding - Any practice of reintroducing native plants and wildlife to an area to restore wild nature
  
  
• Sustainability - A goal of co-existing with the planet during this and future generations.   
  
• Upcycled - Repurposing something used product into something equally or more valuable than it originally was. The jars From Here to Home uses are "upcycled;" that is, cleaned and sanitized to hold new products. 

Want to brush up on more eco-related vocab? You can start here! 

Greenwashing Terms to Look Out For

Green-washing - when an organization spends time and money promoting products as "environmentally friendly" without actually reducing their environmental impact! 

Because there are no standards or regulations for what makes a product "eco-friendly" or "environmentally-friendly," lots of companies will slap these words on a product to make it appear less wasteful than it really is. This is a form of deceptive marketing, so buyer beware! 

If you truly want more eco-friendly products, look for products that do not come in plastic, that have minimal (if any) packaging, that are home-compostable, made by people paid a fair wage, and ask your local refillery (hello!) for suggestions! 

• Biodegradable - Because there is no legal time limit for something to break down, MANY things can be called biodegradable that will take hundreds of years to break down in optimal conditions. These items will not biodegrade in a landfill, because landfills are meant to slow decomposition.
  
  
• Carbon Neutral - Often referring to a business who purchases "carbon offsets" or invests in projects intended to reduce carbon. Not necessarily a company or product that does not create greenhouse gasses. Some companies aim to be net zero, meaning they do not produce emissions, but this is only achieved if they produce renewable energy on site.
  
  
• Compostable (industrial facilities only) - What?! Compostable is supposed to be a positive, actual, factual eco-friendly term. Yes, AND items that are meant only for industrial composters often end up in landfills, because many cities do not have industrial compost facilities. If something is marked for industrial compost only, assume that it will end up in a landfill (unless you know for certain the facility exists in your area).
  
  
• Green - A word that is intended to denote environmental friendliness, but is so vague and has no real meaning, so it's not much help.
   
• Ocean-bound or ocean plastic - Some companies do pay for plastic waste that has been removed from the ocean, and that's great! However, there is no standard for using these terms, so a company could argue that any plastic used could have been "ocean bound," given the frequency of plastic in our oceans. 
  
  
• Recycled - Recycling is GREAT! Just read the label to see how much of the product is actually made from recycled materials- it's often used as a buzzword. 
  
  
• Re-usable - Technically, most products are reusable, if you use them more than once! A plastic fork is reusable. It can be true, and it can also be used as a marketing buzz-word. 

Shopping Smarter: Business Terms

Some businesses boast various certifications to signal that they are eco-friendly, sustainable, and planet-minded. Here are just a few: 

• 1% FTP - This certification or partnership means a business gives 1% (or more) of their annual sales revenue to approved environmental partners. Businesses donate from approved, vetted organizations and have the receipts verified by the official One Percent For the Planet 501c3. To be considered an official member of 1% FTP, a business must pay annual dues, starting at $500, that count towards the 1%.
  
  
• ASTM D6400 or ASTM D6868’s BPI COMMERCIAL COMPOSTABILITY CERTIFICATION - This label appears on products that can be composted in industrial conditions, according to American standards. European products may show: TÜV AUSTRIA OK compost INDUSTRIAL’s EN 13432 and DIN CERTCO DIN-Geprüft. In Austraila: ABA Seedling Composting logo’s AS 4736.
  • The ASTM 6868 BPI Certification is the standard certificate for products that are compostable at home. This means the product has been tested and verified by a third party organization. 
  • Some compostable products do NOT bear the official logo, because of the costs associated with applying and certification of materials.
    
• B Corp - A certification that means the business means the highest standards or social and environmental awareness, transparency, and accountability. The B Corp status means the overall company has been assessed, not just a product. This process can be quite lengthy.
  
• Forest Stewardship Council/FSC - Standards set for businesses with productive forests and forest products.
  
  
• Leaping Bunny Certified - The cute bunny is awarded by Cruelty Free International, and denotes that no animal testing was involved in development or ingredients at any stage. In order to use the Leaping Bunny logo, companies must pay a one-time free that starts at $500. 

Please keep in mind that there are MANY businesses with wonderful, ethical, and sustainable practices that do not have the finances or ability to apply to get certified (dues, attorney fees, months-long processes, etc.).

Are there more marketing terms or eco-words you'd like to learn more about?