1. Low Carbon, Local and Organic Grocery Business: Nowadays consumers read labels and understand the impact of what they are eating and are also interested in how food effects the environment. Today about 75 percent of American shoppers buy organic groceries and toiletries. Various questions before buying a product like: Has the product been grown or formulated using organic farming or methods? Most people today are keen on knowing how food is grown, its environmental impact and passage from local market to the end consumer.
Thus, to help consumers make smart and green shopping decisions, pertinent green information on labels is needed. Labeling with a carbon footprint percentage has covered many products in the United Kingdom and is sure to spread in United States as well.
The go green business ideas associated with low carbon, local and organic groceries includes creation of low carbon products and brands, importing products from Third World Countries with a smaller carbon print, producing local organic foods and products on a small or large scale or researching the field so as to incorporate those ideas into established businesses in the United States. Another opportunity associated to this business line is to provide an auditing and tracking facility for carbon footprints of these products. Various websites on the Internet explore the opportunities of this transition.
2. Green Shopping Bags or Reusable Bag Production: The aim of these businesses would be to replace the disposable plastic shopping bags with reusable and renewable bags to carry groceries and other shopping items. According to Greenwire Environment and Energy Publishing, shoppers worldwide are using 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags every year which means 150 plastic bags a year per person.
Plastic bags are made of polyethylene, which comes from non-renewable sources like petroleum. Thus, these bags cannot be reused. Also plastic bags are indestructible and take over hundreds of years to break down in the environment. Additionally, fine particles of plastic are finding their way into the food chain through fish and sea food which is consumed by humans.
Society today is learning about the disadvantageous impact of plastic bags and is adopting more eco-friendly alternatives like reusable bags which are made out of natural fibers like jute, cotton, canvas and hemp. Many stores are increasing their brand recognition by giving away trendy green bags and building up customer loyalty.
One could opt to produce low cost green shopping bags or create reusable fold-up logo bags that are easy to carry. Additionally, entrepreneurs can also think of designing trendy green bags which are acceptable to all ages and tastes of people.
Please continue to Page 2 for more business go green ideas.
