Environmental Shopping Assignment

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of Instructor]

[Subject]

[Date]

Environmental Shopping Assignment

Part 1

I recently visited a departmental store near me and researched various recyclable material present in the store. Recycled or recyclable material is mostly used in the packaging of the materials of different products. I talked to the manager of the store that whether they use recycled material in their packaging and whether the packaging is actually recycled or they just use the label of recycled. The manager told me that they use recycled material in packaging. The store tries to use as much paper bags as possible.

Product name

Plastic Type

Recyclable/Non-Recyclable

Juice

PET- 1

Recyclable

Cold Drink

PET- 1

Recyclable

Milk

HDPE- 2

Recyclable

Yogurt

PETE- 1

Recyclable

Bleach

HDPE-2

Non-Recyclable

Washroom Detergent

LDPE-4

Non-Recyclable

Surface Cleaner

LDPE-4

Non-Recyclable

I also found some products that were made from recycled paper or recyclable paper. These products included Recycled paper tote bags, recycled paper vases, paper handbags, gift tags, and holiday decorations. These products had been made out of recycled paper that had been recycled post its usage. Some of the products had been made out of bleached paper like recycled paper vase, whereas other products were made out of unbleached recycled paper.

Part 2

There are certain products that I buy and use on a regular basis. These products are generally known as Fast Moving Consumer Goods or FMCG Products and are consumed and disposed off on a regular basis. These products include soaps, shampoos, conditioners, detergents, dishwashing liquids, body sprays, cold drinks, juices, etc. these products are usually bought on a weekly or monthly basis. The packaging is not much environment-friendly as they mostly come in plastic bags or plastic bottles and cannot be recycled. However, the containers can be reused for storage of items. There is usually no or limited option of excess packaging. All these purchased items are an essential need for daily life.

The second category of items that are usually bought in excess is food items. Food items are usually packaged in excessive packaging as there is a hazard of leakage or food going bad. I also buy food items in bulk and sometimes they are individually packaged like fast food. Food items usually do not give a choice to buy in bulk and are usually individually packed.

The third most commonly used items are clothing, jewelry, accessories or shoes. These items are not bought in bulk usually and are a one-time purchase. I buy clothes once in a month or once in two months and shoes in three to four months. These items are more of wants than needs and are recyclable. Whenever I want to dispose of my old clothes, shoes or accessories, I take them to the nearest dumping site or thrift store and place them there from where poor people can purchase them for less cost.

I occasionally buy newspapers, as most of the times, I receive the news online and can read them easily on the internet. If I ever buy a newspaper, I make sure that it is printed on a recyclable paper and I dispose them off on a thrift store or the nearest drop box as well.

I and my family regularly use chemical materials (also known as hazardous materials) like bleaches, pesticides, and motor oils, etc. but we take care that the containers of these materials are disposed off in a proper manner, in which they can be least hazardous to the environment around us. We collect the trash and then take it to the nearest dumping site which is some kilometers away from our place. This process is repeated once a month or once in two months.

Part 3

There are many products in the market that claim to be eco-friendly or in coordination with nature. Some of the products claim to be completely harmless for the environment whereas the others claim to be completely (or mostly) made from natural products. Where some of such products that claim to be environment-friendly are actually like that, some are just boasting about their qualities of being natural and friendly with the environment. One of such products is Aveeno Naturals.

The company claims to provide one of the best and most natural products in the market. Aveeno Naturals deals in skin, hair and body care products all over the United States of America. A complete line of Aveeno Cosmetics can be easily found on its website https://www.aveeno.com/. Although the company may claim to produce and sell all-natural products that are completely environment-friendly and is equally beneficial for the skin as well as the environment, the product details on the products tell some other story. Let’s take a look at one of the products produced and sold extensively by the skincare brand all over the country. Aveeno All-Natural Daily Scrub. The product may look very subtle and claim to contain no chemicals, the ingredients list at the back tell a different story. The details of the product reveal that it contains Sodium Laureth Sulfate, phenoxyethanol, Cocamidopropyl betaine, methylparaben, butylene glycol, glycol distearate, fragrance, and many other chemical compounds like this.

Talking about the packaging of the product, the product comes packed in plastic bottles which are also not possible to recycle, hence, the claims of the skin and body care product producer to be environment-friendly are just mere empty claims. In fact, the products of the company do more harm to the environment around it than good and I would never recommend anyone to use Aveeno products.