THE SUSTAINABILITY PARADOX PARADOX

At ARMOR, we don’t claim to have it all gured out when it comes to truly green rust prevention or rust removal methods or products. What we do know is that we’re a company dedicated to developing and selling only those products that meet our clean, safe, easy-to-use & green standards.

ere are few clear-cut, across-the-board answers, but in our pursuit to proudly y the green ag, we found occasions when we might actually be doing more harm than good. is is what we call “ e Sustainability Paradox.” If we dig a li le deeper we o en nd that the sustainable choice, isn’t always the obvious choice. Take a look at a couple surprising examples.

The Coffee Cup Conundrum

e good news is reusable cups save over 1 million disposable cups every day from the land ll. e bad news is over 2.5 billion disposable cups are still discarded globally each year. Anything that brings that number down is a good thing, but rst we need to know the whole story to make sure we actually are doing the “green” thing.

THE HIDDEN COSTS OF “GREEN” REUSABLE CUPS

First, production costs are not comparable – single-serve disposables are cheaper to make than their reusable counterparts. Reusable cups made of plastic, stainless steel, glass and ceramic, use an enormous amount of natural resources over the course of their life-cycle – both in their production and upkeep. In the end, a reusable cup’s “green status” hinges on how many you own (less is more) and its frequent, repeated, long-term use.

WHICH GROCERY BAG IS GREEN?

When reusable grocery “totes for life” arrived they were meant to replace disposable plastic bags, but a er closer investigation the results were surprising. Upon comparison, the carbon footprint when producing disposable plastic bags; paper bags; thicker plastic totes and what many consider the most “eco-friendly” of them all, the co on tote, were eye-poppingly di erent!

Any e ort to reduce the 100 billion disposable bags that Americans use each year is a smart “green” choice, right? Not always. Reusable options aren’t all rainbows and unicorns. To o cially reach “green status, ” you must follow a couple golden rules: limit the amount you own and use them consistently -over and over again.

THE HIDDEN COSTS OF “GREEN” REUSABLE BAGS

Production costs are not comparable. e production of single-use plastic grocery bags is dirt cheap when compared to the expense of co on totes.

When you look at the life-cycle of a co on tote it’s easy to understand the disparity by the vast expenditure of natural resources to produce and maintain it. You must plant, water, fumigate, harvest and convert the co on into material to construct the tote. Lastly, we can’t forget all of the resources needed to maintain the tote over its life-cycle – with 7,100 uses it will need to be washed and dried. Whew, it all adds up!

WHAT IS THE SUSTAINABILITY BOTTOM LINE?

Sometimes the so-called “sustainable choice” isn’t so sustainable a er all. It gets harder and harder to navigate these new “green” roads. e path isn’t always easy to see, but at ARMOR we try to make the best decisions we can for our customers, our families and our environment.