Going green seems to be the latest trend. It definitely\ncomes with a load of benefits for business owners and the world at large.\nIncorporating sustainability into your business creates a healthy work\nenvironment for employees, saves you money. Long-lasting, efficient light bulbs\nlike CFLs and LEDs are decreasing the number of electricity consumed by\nbusinesses, lowering their utility bills. It ensures the reduction of waste,\nand in addition to that, going green can strengthen your relationship with your\nexisting customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The good news is that this trend will not abate anytime\nsoon. Surveys show that 88\npercent<\/a> of business\nschool students think that learning about social and environmental issues in\nbusiness is a priority, and 67 percent want to incorporate environmental\nsustainability into their future jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bad news is that, despite these outstanding statistics,\nnot everyone on the green trend is going about it the right way. Some are\nbasically basking in greenwashing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is \u2018Green Washing\u2019? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When companies invest more time and money on marketing their\nproducts or brand as \u201cgreen\u201d rather than actually doing the hard work to ensure\nthat it is sustainable<\/a> \u2014 this is known as greenwashing.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though some greenwashing is unintentional and results\nfrom not knowing about what sustainability truly is, it is often\nintentionally carried out through a wide range of marketing and PR\nefforts. But this doesn\u2019t give it a go-ahead, because at the end of the day it\nis not only misleading, but it does not help to further sustainable\ndesign or circular economy initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Various case studies have been able to show how not every\ngreen company is actually green like the 2019 class-action\nlawsuit<\/a> against\nNestle which alleges that the food giant\u2019s \u201csustainably sourced cocoa beans\u201d\nare simply not. Given that the production of the key ingredient in the\ncompany\u2019s chocolate products \u2014 including its Butterfinger and Baby Ruth bars,\nNesquik chocolate milk, Toll House chocolate chips, and hot cocoa mix\u2014 is one\nof the main drivers of massive deforestation in West Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Campaigns by organizations on the elimination of single-use\nplastic have been able to fall victim to greenwashing. Did you know that half\nof the world\u2019s disposable plastic has been produced in the\nlast 15 years<\/a>!\nAnd 91% of the plastic\nproduced globally is NOT recycled<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n