Before taking this class my idea of “being sustainable” was putting my plastic bins in the recycling can or dumping my banana peels into the house compost bin. After a few weeks of class and several group presentations, I have come to realize that it is so much more than that. And to top it all off, being sustainable is not as easy as riding a scooter or a bike instead of driving a car or recycling instead of just putting things in the trash. There are so many steps that it takes to make a product sustainable that the normal everyday American consumer does not account for.
One of the class presentations was about a large company, Loop, that was trying to implement a new program where containers were made of aluminum and various other metals, instead of plastic, that would have the lifespan of approximately 100 uses. This sounds great until you dig a little deeper. These 100 uses means that there will be around 200 trips made by the UPS driver to deliver these products (a trip to the house and a trip back to the factory) and pick them up. These new sustainable containers do not account for the delivery processes that have to occur in order to get their products to and from the customer. Looking at Loop on the surface level, this is a great idea and it is obviously better than using a plastic container once then discarding it. But how many people want to use a container that has been used by 99 other people? You would need to be completely devoted to the cause of being sustainable to not worry about being the 100th person to use a product in its passed around container.
On the other hand, I have also learned that there are little things that each person can do that will make the Earth just a little bit better for all of us. Small things like: walking to class, instead of driving, being cognizant of what my products are made of, and taking into consideration the way all of the things I do personally may affect the Earth, will eventually add up. With the push to become the third generation, companies will be forced to use more eco-friendly practices to stay competitive. These sustainable efforts that we talked about in class seem to be on the right path, but it will take a large effort on everyones behalf, including large corporations, to change the way we live and the products we use for the betterment of society.