Guide to going green

Manufacturing firms that have gone green have found that it saves them thousands of dollars each year. Going green will cut down your energy costs and even your insurance rates. Here is a simple guide to going green at your manufacturing facility:

Step # 1 - Identify the wastes.
The first step toward going green is finding all the wastes at your facility. Look at the harmful wastes and emissions your company is using to help you decide what you can fix. You can use solar or wind energy to cut down energy costs. Changing to organic materials can also cut down on harmful emissions.

Step # 2 - Recycle materials.
A simple way to go green is to start recycling. Take a look at the products your company uses and find ones that can be re-used at the facility. If you have empty plastic containers, find other places to use them. Recycling products within your facility will save your company money because you will not need to purchase new containers and other things.

Step # 3 - Set up recycling stations.
Another important aspect of going green is to have access to recycling stations. Place bins around the facility where employees can easily access them to toss products that can be recycled. Encourage them to use the bins instead of just tossing there used items into the garbage.

Step # 4 - Hold regular training meetings.
Staff members need to understand the importance behind going green and recycling. Offer incentives to staff members that regularly practice recycling and going green. Make sure your staff members know where the recycling bins are and what items are able to be recycled.

Going green will minimize the waste and the pollution for the entire planet. Going green not only will benefit the current generation, but future generations as well. You can start going green with your products by looking at each one of them individually and deciding how you can re-design them. Find ways to build them with natural materials and look for machines that produce less waste.

It may take an initial investment on your company's part to start going green, but once you make the investment, you will start to see immediate results. When you start looking at your products, use the three life cycle to design them. The three life cycle simple means you are designing a product for re-use. The products you design need to be recycled and used again in the future. Perhaps your product is not recyclable, but it can be used for many years. Instead of creating a new product, consider releasing additions or updates to the product.

Once your product has gone through its life cycle, it needs to have at least some parts that can be recycled. When you develop the product, try to develop it so at least have of the parts can be recycled. The other part of the three life cycle includes developing a product that can be interchangeable with others. This means the parts that are included in one product can be used in another product. Instead of customers tossing two products, they only are tossing one and using the parts from the broken one to keep the other product working.

Have a policy that states your products can be returned when they are old or broken. Use the parts from these products for other parts and look for ways to create new products using the parts from the old ones. If you need to purchase raw materials from other companies, try to only purchase them from companies that have gone green. Supporting the environment is the responsibility of everyone on the earth and when everyone works together, the planet will be safer and healthier for everyone.