Reading time: 3 minutes
Many people mistakenly think that if something is environmentally friendly, it is recycled. They also think that what is environmentally friendly is sustainable. And even that what is environmentally friendly is part of the cycle. Well, NO. What are the differences between environmentally friendly products?
How is a recycled product different from other environmentally friendly products?
In the first part of this series, we have already shown the huge difference between products with recycled labels. Which is more environmentally friendly? The product whose packaging is made from recycled PET bottles, while the contents of the bottle have been created by polluting the environment? Or the product whose packaging is not only recycled, but also the content itself? You can read about it here: How is a recycled product different from other environmentally friendly products?
What is recycled is circular?
The English word recycle better expresses and encapsulates what recycling is: a circular process. How is this possible?
What is the natural cycle?
We were taught about the cycle of nature when we were in school. For example, in the water cycle, the surface of water, which covers 70% of our planet's surface, heats up and evaporates in response to the sun's energy. The water is released into the atmosphere to form clouds and is then returned to our oceans as precipitation. A small amount falls on land, where it travels back to the seas through rivers. This means that 98% of rainwater is in a constant cycle. Only 2% of this water can infiltrate into the soil and feed plants. And plants and animals use and release the water, which then returns to the cycle.
What is the CYCLE cycle?
CYCLE uses water, just as nature uses water. Only CYCLE recycles and reuses the water used by humans. How? The water used by the people of Budapest is collected by a wastewater treatment plant, where it is purified so that it does not pollute the environment. The purification process produces a mixture of organic matter: biomass. This is further broken down by bacteria into organic acids and purified water. This is what makes up 90% of CYCLE cleaning products. Add a few natural ingredients and you have a recycled cleaner. Then after cleaning, they go down the drain when you flush the used water, mop up the toilet and flush the toilet cleaner. So the detergent is returned as spent water to the CYCLE team and it starts all over again.
But the question many people ask is how clean can a waste water be? This will be the subject of the next article in this blog: Turning wastewater into drinking water that even Bill Gates drank
The CYCLE cycle does not take from the environment, but rather gives
The crops used as raw materials for plant-based cleaning products are taking land away from food production or are being acquired through deforestation. They deplete the mineral content of farmland, significantly deplete finite fresh water supplies through irrigation, and pollute the air through mechanical processing and transport of the crops.
Meanwhile, Cycle products are also naturally based, but they don't leach the soil, don't require a drop of fresh water and the ingredients never leave Budapest. In fact! Not only do they not pollute the environment, they nourish it. CYCLE not only produces a renewable source of energy (biogas), but also an excellent organic plant nutrient (humic acid), which can be used to nourish the land, not to exploit it.
So what is a circular product?
A circular product recycles its raw materials, i.e. it recycles them back into its system: raw material → finished product → waste → raw material.
Do you know any other circular brands?
It is important that the circular approach does not end with the choice of packaging materials, but that the product itself is circular. What circular brands do you know? Name them in the comments!
