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Environmentally friendly

Environmental friendly, eco-friendly, and nature friendly are synonyms used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment. To make consumers aware, environmentally friendly goods and services are often marked with eco-labels. But because there is no single international standard for this concept, the International Organization for Standardization considers such labels too vague to be meaningful.

Regional variants

Europe

Products located in members of the European Union can use the EU's Eco-label pending the EU's approval. EMAS is another EU label that signifies whether an organization management is green as opposed to the product. Germany also uses the Blue Angel, based on Germany's standards.

North America

In the United States, the phrase is commonly used for advertising or on packaging to promote a sale, but no Federal standard is required to display the labels, and thusly the United States Environmental Protection Agency has deemed them useless in determining whether a product is truly "green."

In Canada one label is that of the Environmental Choice Program. Created in 1988, only products approved by the program are allowed to display the label.

Oceania

The Energy Rating Label is a Type III label that provides information on "energy service per unit of energy consumption". It was first created in 1986, but negotiations led to a redesign in 2000.

International

Energy Star is a program with a primary goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Energy Star has different sections for different nations or areas, including the United States, the European Union and Australia.

Methods

Solar Power

Many consider solar power an "environmentally friendly" means of generating electricity because of the non-polluting nature of solar collection to create electricity.

Green Cleaning

Many of the chemicals inside our domestic and commercial cleaning products we use each day can harm the environment, our children and ourselves. Green cleaning is better for the environment, ourselves and can help consumers save money.

Pest control

Integrated pest management is regarded as a more environmentally friendly form of pest control than traditional pesticides, as its goal is to reduce pesticide use to a minimum by using a variety of less impactive means, with pesticides only as the last resort. Biological pest control is another form of control considered by many experts to be environmentally friendly.

Waste management

Recycling and composting are viewed as more environmentally friendly forms of waste management than traditional burying or burning practices. The Edmonton Composting Facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in the largest composting facility in the world; representing 35% of Canada's centralized composting capacity. The $100-million co-composter results in Edmonton recycling 65% of its residential waste.