When We Talk About "Green"

Greg Rose, southwest regional manager at ITW Plexus, asked four different chemists at the company to share their thoughts about what it means to be “green” in the composites industry. “The responses were all over the board,” he says. “There were four completely different responses of what they thought was green.” It illustrated to him the need for a common vision internally and externally about how the industry communicates its greenness. “Having different sets of ideas didn’t invalidate any one of the ideas,” he says. “We just need to think about what we mean and be able to communicate what we mean when we talk about green so that it doesn’t make people feel like they’ve’ been tricked or there was a major omission.”

Rose plans to bring up this topic during his education session “Measuring Green in Composites Adhesives” at C+P 2009. “What I’ve seen is that many people mean different things when they say ‘green,’” he says. Some people measure green products in terms of their health effects and others define green in terms of their overall environmental impact. “There are whole systems out there that are based only on the exposure of the material,” he says. “Others take a broader look at the sustainability of the product.”

Defining standards for green in the composites industry may take time, but it’s important to start now, Rose says. “People are incorporating green in part of their decision making process, but it’s like you are deciding which product to buy based on price, but I haven’t told you how much your money was worth,” he says. “Most industries haven’t gone beyond a superficial definition of green. So what you have are a lot of people who are reaching for goals that aren’t well defined.”

Rose’s session takes place on Friday, Jan. 16 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. For more information, click here.