From Guest Blogger Lizzie Weakly: Five Ways the Manufacturing Industry is Becoming Greener and Cleaner

The National Association of Manufacturers found that, in 2016, United States manufacturers collectively offered roughly $2.25 trillion to the national economy. While manufacturing is necessary to life as we know it, there are many byproducts resultant from such processes. Fortunately, manufacturers are generally becoming cleaner and greener.

Materials Aren’t As Likely to Be Made from Petrochemicals

Years ago, most plastics were manufactured from petrochemicals, like oil. Today, however, many manufacturers’ wear strips, plastic sheets, precut plastic panels, among countless other materials. Seeing as manufacturers pump out the same goods over, and over, and over, and … Renewable plastics used today are very environmentally-friendly.

This, That, and Everything Comes from Recyclables

Trees are renewable resources, which are used primarily to make paper. They’re renewable, alright, but processes used to harvest them are largely disruptive. Many newspapers, for example, are printed—by manufacturers, what have you!—mostly using recycled newspapers that’s been bled of previous ink. Cardboard also finds its way into the mix, and vice-versa.

Publicly Declaring Green Initiatives Helps Fund Supplier Changes

Manufacturers don’t produce finished goods or refined raw materials out of nowhere—they source inputs from suppliers, then produce such outputs. Consumers of today are statistically more likely to support entities that back green practices. This leads to more revenue, in turn providing manufacturers the freedom to source inputs from the greenest suppliers possible.

The Omnipresent Practice of Lean Production

“Lean” companies reduce waste wherever possible. This school of thought, lean production, came about some 30-plus years ago. Even though total goods produced increase as the world’s population blows up, consistent advancements in lean production help cut unnecessary waste. Further, proving oneself as a lean manufacturer has positive effects on business, helping fund future efforts of being lean.

Manufacturers Sometimes Paid to Recycle

While few recyclers take tires or spent motor oil, for example, for free, manufacturers are often able to give away all of its scraps to willing recycling plants. Some manufacturers don’t do this, though they can’t possibly benefit from positive press surrounding entities’ efforts to recycle as much as possible.

Manufacturers quite literally provide for life as modern humans see it. Without supermarkets, online shopping, and the wide-open, globalized economy of today, things would be very different. However, because manufacturers strive to grow consistently greener, their place in today’s environmentally-conscious world will further cement their place.