Environmentally friendly shopping, the 7-step guide

How to select the right eco-friendly shopping sites? Exactly where do I purchase the perfect item? These are questions which I happen to have been posed again and again during the last couple of months so I think it is time to provide a richer answer to the question and provide you with a market insider’s viewpoint on eco-friendly shopping.

There are tons of claims floating around regarding eco-friendly shopping. And many of those claims you'll want to perhaps examine a bit closer. Operating a company that at it’s core is eco-friendly is certainly not without it’s difficulties, nevertheless based my experiences I have put together the

7 things to look for in your eco-friendly shopping:

- Is the item likely to have a long life-cycle in its own right, to lengthen the time period before it needs replacing? If it’s “eco-friendly” but needs replacing soon, what’s the point?

- Is its impact on the planet low in production of the product? Think about the whole production cycle; nearly all modern products have a great number of steps involved.

- Do you truly need this? The initial place to cut often is the stuff you don’t need to purchase to begin with. Perhaps this method sounds radical, but it really ties back to the first point.

- The packaging-is that either re-useable or recyclable? Sensible manufacturers know to package in a way that the packaging itself is useful, or perhaps simply goes into the recycling bin to create fresh cartons or containers.

- How about delivery-is it direct to you? An amazing amount of resource is wasted from the standard retail distribution cycle as well as a surprising volume of product is simply just dumped in that cycle. Opting for direct shipping and delivery cut down on this waste in a very direct manner.

- Does the item itself have an eco-friendly impact? What exactly do I mean by that? As an example there are companies that help educate consumers on ways to be a little more eco-friendly by caring for their environment, and several additional producers give direct from their revenues to aid the environment or education. Think about it.

- At the end are you able to re-purpose or perhaps recycle the product? Not every product is a good candidate for repurpose or recycling, but many are. Pretty much every product will come to an end of its useful life-cycle, and it’s time for you to choose to re-purpose or discard.

Don't forget when you are on your eco-friendly shopping spree that this above is an ideal list-and many producers and brands are still working towards many of these goals. But as consumers we can all do our bit. Remember that by your choice of shopping you’re sending a clear signal to the brands out there about your views on eco-friendly shopping.

But in the end don't forget this: It still needs to be enjoyable! I believe eco-fashion could in fact be just as fashionable as any other sort of fashion. So whenever you go out in style, be sure you go out in eco-style.