Teaching Tuesday: How To Manufacture Green Products

Tara Kelly submitted this question to our survey:

What is the best way to manufacture a product in a green way and what is the best way to know if JVing with a manufacturer would be in the best interests of all involved?

I decided to bring in a natural (green) business expert, Carrie Lauth of Natural Mom Business Guide, to answer this question.

She suggests several ways to ensure that your product is manufactured and distributed in a way that is not harmful to the earth.

Carrie’s recommendations include:

• Use organic ingredients in your product.
• Package it with recyclable packaging. For beauty products, there is nothing like good old glass for aesthetics - and glass is infinitely recyclable. If you’re using plastic, be sure it’s a type that can be recycled and it should also be BPA and phtalate free.
• You can buy packing peanuts that are compostable and biodegradable.
• Use recycled or reused paper for your packing slips and tags.
• Another fun idea would be to include eco living tips with your product shipments to help raise awareness.
• Consider creating online FAQs and reports to answer customer questions instead of printing out customer instruction sheets.
• Buy energy offsets and advertise the fact that you do this on your website (This is what I do!).

My response: Now, for your question on creating a joint venture partnership with the manufacture. This would depend on the terms of the agreement. If the terms are beneficial to both of you, then I say go for it!

If not, then you might consider another relationship (perhaps you can buy at wholesale or become an affiliate) or find another vendor.

Do you need answers? Submit your question to our Product Seller’s survey!