Oct 11 2010
Being a green consumer is really a matter of knowing a little bit about the products available, reading the labels and paying attention to what you’re buying.
Recycled paper is easy to find and usually is as suitable as virgin paper. Appliances that consume less electricity carry a special tag you can hardly miss on the showroom floor. For a whole range of products, though, one of the quickest ways to go green is to look for natural rubber latex in the products you buy.
More than 40,000 types of commercial products are made from natural rubber latex (NRL), an extract of the Pará rubber tree—from gloves and condoms to balloons, mattresses and pillows. Yet most of the rubber in the world is synthetic, made from oil and other less-than-green ingredients. Simply by checking the label and buying NRL products you can instantly green up your shopping cart.
For a small portion of the population, though, NRL is a problem because of more than 200 proteins contained within NRL, 13 are known to be allergens. The American Latex Allergy Association estimates that 3% of the general population exhibits some type of latex allergy, thus hindering their use of such products.
Fortunately, help has arrived in a low-protein variant of NRL, Vytex Natural Rubber Latex (NRL), produced under multiple patents by Vystar® Corporation (OTCBB:VYST), Duluth, Georgia., Vytex NRL is cleaner than traditional NRL, and it retains all of the advantages of natural latex with significantly reduced antigenic proteins.
For example within the latex dipped goods industry, glove manufacturers have demonstrated increased efficiency by reducing processes such as excessive washing and leaching. This reduction can significantly lower water, energy and sewage consumption, and simultaneously reduce the presence of harmful leachates such as zinc.
In the case of dyed products, Vytex NRL is whiter compared to traditional NRL, meaning balloons made with Vytex NRL may need less pigment to attain the desired color. Mattresses made with Vytex need no perfume additives to mask the odor commonly found in traditional NRL and synthetic bedding.
And when you’re done with it, products made with Vytex NRL can take the same time as an oak leaf to biodegrade in nature—a significantly shorter timescale that required by synthetic alternative materials frequently used in many industries.
Source: http://www.vytex.com/