There are a lot of simple easy things the health and fitness industry could do to help our environment and become more Eco-friendly.

First, they can replace high-wattage light bulbs in their buildings and offices for compact fluorescent, they can also prominently display recycling receptacles in their gyms, stores, and manufacturing facilities. The janitors can also begin to use all-natural products to clean the floors and restrooms. Fitness gyms can replace all bottled drinks in their vending machines to Aquafina bottles made with 50% less plastic or any other bottled drink that is labeled as using recycled materials. They can begin using recycled paper to print on as well as using vegetable based inks in their printers. Gym’s can start sending more e-mail promotions as opposed to postcard mailers that a lot of people just throw away.

They can also install those faucets that only turn on when your hands are underneath, which would avoid faucets being left on for long periods of time. They can replace shower heads, and toilets, and water fountains to more water efficient ones. They can install solar panels. They can have hand driers instead of paper towels. All these things come at a high cost but the payout is even greater, most facilities that start implementing green initiatives will break even after at least 11 months with all their savings in energy and water bills, plus they will be helping the environment.

At home I always unplug everything when it is not being used: chargers, TV, computer, microwave, coffee maker, everything, with the exception of my refrigerator and stove! & my energy bill has never really been higher than 100 dollars. If gyms did this, it would save them a lot of money as well. Because even if something is turned off and not being used, it is still using power. When you are not using your microwave & the time is showing, you are using power. When you are not using your computer, & the little light is still flashing on it, it is using power. In gyms, when all the treadmills are not being used, but have lights and words scrolling through the screens, or the tv’s have their little standby light on, power is being wasted. If they just unplugged everything, they would all notice huge paybacks.

Supplement companies don’t need to give up plastic packaging, because paper is equally harmful to the environment, cutting down all those trees will have an even bigger impact on our earth & compromising supplements for paper packaging would be a bad move. Honestly, you would not buy vitamins in a paper bag. What I do believe though is in making more efficient packaging, Volumaize and Introvol for example, come in plastic bottles, inside of a cardboard box ? totally un necessary. Pill bottles do not need to be in cardboard boxes either. They can use thinner plastic, or fill bottles completely. They can use recycled materials. There are many many endless things that there supplement and vitamin manufactures can change.

Sending back empty bottles sounds like a good idea, but think about it – consumers would have to pay for shipping, if manufactures did it, they would spend money they really don’t need to. Consumers would have to package their bottles most likely in a cardboard box, which would totally contradict the idea of going green because more and more cardboard would be sent and wasted.

People need to learn to re use these things themselves. Keep cardboard boxes and use them at a later time. Keep the plastic protein bottles and use it as a piggy bank, or cut the top off and plant a flower in it. I use an old 5lb protein bottle to put rice inside because the plastic bag it comes in spills all over my pantry all the time, and one for dry beans. I also use one to keep change in. I buy cereal bags with a zipper on the top and if the zipper breaks I put it in one of my plastic bottles so that it won’t get stale. You can put so many things inside of these bottles. Sugar, flour, dry pasta, baking powder, the possibilities are endless. We are depending so much on manufactures and companies to go green when we should really start with ourselves.

As far as paying more for these “green” products, it really would just depend. Going green doesn’t mean going expensive. The plastic aquafina bottles that use less plastic aren’t more expensive than regular water bottles. So I wouldn’t expect a huge price increase for these green products.