Great post on Heart of Green about the Recyclable sign, popping up on more and more bills and envelopes in the mail. What does it really mean? It kind of looks good at quick glance as you throw that mail on the table. But is it really good?

Here's the catch ... all paper is recyclable, that envelope and every other envelope. So as Heart of Green so eloquently puts it, "companies that are using the recyclable symbol are getting the benefit of seeming environmentally-friendly without really doing anything. These companies want us to do the work of recycling their envelope, but they are not yet willing to print green."

What could companies do to really make a difference? Using paper and envelopes with a high percentage of post-consumer content to begin with. "Let's turn that "able" into an "ed," says Heart of Green. It would be a nice touch, especially on all of those bills.

http://heartofgreen.typepad.com/heart_of_green/2007/11/recyclable-vs-r.html

Companies who are using the recyclable symbol are fooling people who are innocent. They dont really do anything to make a difference. They just use the symbol to their advantage and innocent consumer fall a trap to that trick. What they can do is to use recycled materials for their products instead ofjust displaying the symbol. This would lead to a saving of lot of resources which is eventually going waste. Even people should avoid using such kind of goods which can be recycled instead they should go for recycled ones.