First, redesign manufacturing processes and products to
use less material and energy. The weight of a typical car
has been reduced by about one-fourth since the 1960s
through use of lighter steel and lightweight plastics and
composite materials. Plastic milk jugs contain less plastic
and weigh 40% less than they did in the 1970s, and
soft drink cans contain one-third less aluminum. Disposable
diapers contain 50% less paper pulp because
of improved absorbent-gel technology. Dry-cell batteries
contain much less toxic mercury than they did in
the 1980s, and the small amount of mercury in today’s
compact fluorescent lightbulbs is being reduced. Downloading
music from the Internet reduces the use of materials
and energy in packaging records and CDs and in
shipping them long distances.