Environmentally Friendly, Sustainability, Green, Eco-friendly, eco-green, are all words and philosophies that designers are using to help “save the environment” by using and implementing ideas in their projects, architectural, interior, fashion, industrial or product wise.

It is our social and moral obligation to help conserve and  preserve the environment around us. How a designer creates something helps dictates how the consumer uses a product or space. But consumers too have a huge role to play in helping with the environment.  Most Designers these days, have made products that use sustainable, recyclable materials and it  is the responsibility of the consumer also to support these designers. By using the word support does not merely mean purchasing the object or using the services of a designer who uses sustainable practices but it also means as a end user continuing the process of use in a ecological manner.

Every product has a life cycle. From the primary design,  to the manufacture of the product , the use and the disposal of it.  And if the designing of a product is important the disposal of it is equallyif not more important. As consumers we should be able to educate ourselves and correctly dispose of objects and products in order for it to become reuse able again.

Recycling starts simply at home, with home products. As consumers, every product, from the tissue box, to the pots and pans and the food we waste should be disposed of correctly.

Paper, cardboard can be recycled, reused.

Glass, definitely can be reused or if not needed sent to any one in the glass industry for use.

And the food we eat,the scraps can become compost.

If we could we should not waste anything. Not even the garbage should look like garbage, it should be sorted and reused if can or sent to the relevant places.

On the whole, by doing this, we can cut our garbage in half and cut our pollution, and energy and help save the environment.

Do keep a look out next week for my article on glass and how much more easier it is to recycle it than it is to leave it in the garbage.