Having a green lawn these days means more than color — it means keeping that lawn growing without using harmful fertilizers and pesticides.
The trend toward "green" products that use fewer harsh chemicals, less energy or for other reasons are better for the environment is moving from food to field.
People have embraced "organic" when it comes to what they eat and drink. That market reached $28.3 billion in the United States in 2005, according to Packaged Facts, the publishing division of MarketResearch.com.
Now people are taking a closer look at what goes into their homes and the property around it.
Packaged Facts reports that the market for organic fertilizers and pesticides is $360 million today and could grow to $670 million by 2011.
The potential growth ties in with a green hardware campaign by California Hardware, an independent hardware distributor owned by El Paso Hardware.
The company is starting Plan-It Hardware to lead its Green it Yourself effort, which identifies green products such as paint, light bulbs, lawn and garden supplies, cleaning solutions and water-saving devices.
Plan-It Hardware has gone through thousands of items and put together a line with about 1,300 products that offer green alternatives. Some are items already on store shelves; others are more obscure products just now being brought to the general market.
They include things such as Drainbo, which uses bacteria to clean out drain clogs, or SoyGuard, a soy-based wood finish.
There are about 60,000 products in a typical hardware store, and Plan-It eventually wants to have about 10 percent of the total in its line, communications consultant Isaac Cronin said.
Over time, Plan-It Hardware can start pressuring manufacturers to offer more green products.
Green Thumb International in Ventura is one of the hardware stores participating in the campaign.
‘Greener choice'
There already are a few round, green signs under certain insecticides and natural fertilizers on the store's shelves that label them as a "greener choice."
The store plans to have signs and displays of green products to help steer customers to those products, said Mark Huling, Green Thumb's inside store manager.
"We found out that we already carry a lot of stuff that is considered green," he said. "We can make them aware of what they may already have that's green, and there are a lot of new products coming out as well."
Outside the store, Neil Canby of Ventura and his two sons were loading insecticidal soap and ladybugs into the car with their plants. Green Thumb carries several kinds of live bugs that people can use to naturally control other bugs in their yards.
"We try to limit the amount of chemicals that we use," Canby said.
He said a program that labeled different products that could be used as alternatives to more traditional products would be helpful.
The Green it Yourself program has several parts. There is a line of products, but also information and education handed out in the store or distributed through "eco-evangelists," who meet with community organizations and participate in events to raise consumer awareness.
Cronin said many people still don't realize what toxic chemicals might lurk in the products under their sinks or in their gardens.
Awareness is growing. Packaged Facts states that "green" markets are still niche, but are growing rapidly and should make inroads into the mainstream in the coming decade.
With discussions of global warming and environmental problems and the popularity of organic food, people are becoming more savvy, Cronin said.
"It concentrated on food for a long time because you swallow it," he said. "Now it's moving out into the environment."
The organic food market has grown at 15 percent to 20 percent each year for nearly a decade, Packaged Facts reports. Organic lawn and garden products are expected to grow at double-digit rates in the next five years even as conventional lawn and garden supplies have slowed to 3 percent or 4 percent growth each year.
Less effect on families
More people are looking for products that have less effect on the environment and their families.
Andrew Vega of Oxnard was loading up his truck with potting soil, planters and hanging plants at Green Thumb on Thursday. Vega works for the county's water protection agency and said he has seen the effects of people dumping insecticides and chemicals into the water.
"I don't use them at all," he said of insecticides in his yard. He not only wants to keep certain chemicals from making their way to the ocean, but also protect the birds and other wildlife in his yard.
He said he thinks that more people are worried about the environment these days.
Rosalinda Duenas said people often don't know what kinds of chemicals are in products they use around the house. The Santa Paula resident cleans homes and sometimes finds that cleaning supplies provided by clients are so strong that they irritate her hands.
She likes the idea of a campaign that gives people more information and steers them toward safer products.
"People want to know," she said. "They put so many chemicals in different things."
On the Net:
www.planithardware.com
www.greenthumbinternational.com
Organic & Green Hardware, Lawn, & Garden Care Market Taking Off
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Organic fertilizers, pesticides a growing market
By Allison Bruce
Ventura County Star, March 17, 2007
Straight to the Source
