Admittedly, it seems difficult to differentiate and decide which products truly are made from recycled materials. Just because a product is organic or natural doesn’t mean it comes in environmentally friendly packaging, which is why the companies will often designate which products have recycled materials and how much they have. It may be written on the product that it was made with Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) or Post Industrial Recycled (PIR) materials. Post-consumer materials include office paper, cardboard, aluminum, plastics, and metals–pretty much everything we as individuals recycle. On the other hand, post-industrial materials are the waste of production and would not reach consumer hands if the materials weren’t recycled. Products that contain either type of recycled materials will often have some sort of symbol indicating that yes, it does contain recycled materials, and there is often the percentage as well. For instance:
or 
However don’t be fooled if a product just has the “recycle logo” on it–this doesn’t actually mean anything. Unless the product actually says it is made with recycled material, it probably isn’t.
Moving beyond the product themselves, some companies demonstrate more of a commitment to using recycled materials, especially packaging, than other. Over 200 companies are members of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, an organization that seeks to spread environmentally sound production practices. Members include Estee Lauder, Johnson & Johnson, Stonyfield Farm, and Avon. These companies also produce comparatively green products–Estee Lauder avoids using dangerous chemicals in their cosmetics and Stonyfield Farm has primarily organic dairy products. However, there are other companies that are a part of SPC but don’t necessarily have the same mission as other, more activist, companies. These include McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Kraft, Target, and Clorox. The trap of SPC is that the organization doesn’t have standards; the companies must simply be interested in recycled packaging. Many of the companies do try to keep their packaging and procedures sustainable, but be skeptical.
Recycled, Reused 
Posted by lamakish on 13 April 2011 at 00:54
I think that this is a really important caveat; in today’s world where going green is somewhat of a trendy switch, it’s really important to be aware of when you’re being fooled by a company’s greenwashing. Also, I really like your idea of providing a simple list of recycled everyday objects!
Posted by muellerz on 13 April 2011 at 02:25
Interesting post, it’s great that you are trying to get consumers to be more pro-active about the products they buy and thinking about what those symbols really mean.
Just a note on the site overall: you might want to consider re-working the layout, or just the way posts are organized. You had talked about a “product of the day”, maybe a separate page for that instead of each new product landing on the home page? And maybe a special place for your “about” post, because right now it just gets buried at the bottom of your homepage.
Can’t wait to see what you do with the site!