The federal standard simply requires products to have less impact on human health or the environment than competitors' products. TBE Gallery products involve innovations in recyclable or recycled materials in manufacturing, designing for durability, attending to disposal and reuse of the product, or transforming a product into a service. Some are learning to use resources more efficiently and some are completely redesigning their products as services. Businesses can use the list to get good ideas on strategy and ways to deliver services. It's especially useful for small businesses that don't have big design budgets but are interested in innovating.
Consumers can use the list to make more informed choices.
One green product that saved money and expanded business capacity is a printing innovation. The waterless production process involves embedding the ink into a layer of silicon, rather than the traditional lithographic method of using water and isopropanol. IKEA's inflatable A.I.R. furniture uses only 15 percent of materials required for conventional sofas, can be shipped in small packages, and is made of recyclable material. Honda's Intelligent Community Vehicle System provides transportation services without selling an automobile to each user. Xerox's Document Center 265 reduces replaceable parts to only 20 percent of a traditional machine and 95 percent are recyclable or reusable.