Thus, I propose an "Eco-Rating" label that company's should be required to clearly display on their products.
It could be a simple color rating system like so:
Where:
Red = Very harmful to the environment (i.e. does not biodegrade for a thousand years, pollutes ground water in landfills, etc)
Yellow = Somewhat Harmful to the environment (i.e. takes 50 years to biodegrade, uses non-renewable energy, etc)
Green = Very environment friendly (i.e. Safely biodegrades and does not harm ground water in landfills, made with/from renewable energy, etc)
The First color would indicate how environment friendly this product was to Create this product (manufacture/produce it) - This would include factors such as how much pollution was produced to create this product.
The Second color would indicate how environment friendly this product is to Use it - This would include factors such as how much pollution is caused from using this product (i.e. toxic chemicals that end up in our ocean as a result of using a drain cleaner, etc), or how much non-renewable energy is needed to use this product.
The Third color would indicate how environment friendly this product is to Dispose of it - This would include factors such as how long this product takes to bio-degrade (i.e. Styrofoam cups take a very long time to bio-degrade)
Thus a bottle of water might have a "Yellow-Green-Red" rating:
Yellow - because it used non-renewable energy to produce/filter the water
Green - because it does not pollute at all to use it
Red - because the empty plastic bottle takes over a hundred years to biodegrade)
Thus, when you are purchasing a product, lets say at the super-market, you can easily see and purchase the most environment-friendly product for your needs.
This system would expose the often unknown harmful-to-the environment facts that many products manufacturer's don't want you to know and force them to find ways to bring each "stage" (color squares) of a products lifetime into a "Green" color because who wants to but a product knowing it has two red squares, thus meaning this product harms our world significantly?
