Companies everywhere are thinking of ways to be more green. Less packaging. Less waste. More recycled materials. Some have been successful while others have struggled (think SunChips®). Last fall, Scott Naturals introduced tube-free toilet paper. Even though the tubes are recyclable, Scott’s research shows 85 percent of consumers throw the tube away. That’s 17 billion tubes tossed each year. That’s enough to stretch to the moon and back 2.4 times! That’s enough to fill the Empire State Building twice! OK, you get the idea. Now the question is, is it a good product? The toilet paper may not hold its round shape as well, but once it’s on the roll, it stays in place and works like any other toilet paper. I have to wonder … how long before paper towels go tube free?

(Thanks, Sweeties Freebies, for the images)

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The green movement is currently receiving a lot of attention. Corporations are under growing pressure to produce collateral that is attractive to the eye as well as sustainable. As companies try to illustrate their environmental commitment, warm basics — like the colors of sea grass, rattan and shades of khaki, moss and thyme — are becoming more prevalent.

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When many of us think of recycling, we imagine the mobius loop (that clever little symbol with the three chasing arrows). Did you know that there are multiple versions of the loop and that each has a separate and distinct meaning?

For example, the arrows alone symbolize that the material on which you see the symbol is recyclable. If the arrows are white in a colored circle, it symbolizes that the item on which you see the symbol is made from some recycled materials. If the arrows are white in a colored circle and there is a percentage indicated, it symbolizes that the item on which you see the symbol is made from a specific percentage of recycled materials. If the arrows are a solid color in a circle that is outlined in black, it symbolizes that the item on which you see the symbol is made only with partially recycled material.

Whew. That’s confusing, and that’s not even all of the symbols!

My point is that when the majority of consumers see a mobius loop, they tend to think of it as the symbol for recycling — as in “separate your glass and paper, folks.” So even though there are clear definitions for each type of loop, I think that their meanings are unclear among consumers.

Furthermore, since no organization “owns” the symbols, there is no one to regulate their use, update definitions or facilitate consumer education.

This brings us to a final thought: Is it the responsibility of marketers to make sure their consumers understand the intended meaning? Or is it up to consumers to educate themselves?

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Most if us are familiar with the green benefits of composting:

• It reduces household trash (20 to 30 percent can be composted)
• It keeps kitchen and garden waste out of landfills, which generate
methane gas and contribute to global warming
• It reduces kitchen wastecan odors
• It produces free, organic-rich compost

Now you can find innovative composters and stylish kitchen composter
pails that won’t compromise your aesthetics.

The tumbler style composter is great for urban and patio use. Simple to use, it contains the compost and is animal-proof.

I also found a number of attractive, functional kitchen composter pails
that come with odor-reducing filters:

• The Bamboo Kitchen Compost Pail
• The Stainless Steel Compost Pail
• The Countertop Compost Keeper

And you can compost more than you might think: paper napkins, paper towel cores, coffee filters and virtually any food item with the exception of meat and dairy. By putting meat wrappers and bones directly into the outside garbage can, and by recycling, I can go a week or more without taking out the kitchen trash. You can also save money: some garbage haulers give a discount if residents put out only one can a week.

Interested in learning more about composting? Read on!

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Looking for an eco-friendly way to charge your laptop? Try the The Voltaic Generator. According to Voltaic Systems Inc., “It’s the first solar bag powerful enough to charge a laptop.” It includes nine solar panels on the outside of the bag that will fully charge an internal Li-Ion battery in five hours of direct sunlight. It will hold up to a 17-inch notebook and comes with a handy voltage selector that automatically delivers the required output. It’s a little pricey at $499.00, but then you can say that your computer runs on sunlight and sits in a bag made from 100 percent recycled soda bottles!

Voltaic is not the only super techno-geek on the planet, check out the other high-tech companies that are keeping it green.

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Sprite has a new product called Sprite Green. When I first came across it, I immediately wondered what made this product “green.” There was no mention of environmental benefits in the short Brand Packaging article I read that featured the new packaging, or on Sprite’s website. The “bottle” is made from aluminum, but so are soda cans. And is more aluminum really “green?” The only connection with the environment that I can find is that the new product is naturally sweetened. So does it really deserve the title “green”? Or has it become automatic for us to think that “green” can only mean “good for the environment?”

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In an effort to save paper, I really try to keep the number of documents I print to a minimum, but I’ve kinda forgotten about all the ink or toner that gets used, too.

According to SPRANQ creative communications, we can save ink and increase the life of our ink cartridges by using a new font they’ve created called Ecofont. It’s a font whose letters have little holes in them. When used, it can save 20 percent of the ink or toner you might otherwise use up when printing your favorite standard font. Ecofont works best when using a point size of 9 or 10.

Download the font for free and give it a try.

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Last night I checked in on-line for a flight I have today and was surprised to find a new option: an e-boarding pass. That’s right, a paperless boarding pass. Basically, you enter information about your mobile device, your phone number and an e-mail account accessible from the phone. You then receive an e-mail with a link that launches your Internet browser and voila, you’ve got a paperless boarding pass. You can use the e-boarding pass at the security checkpoint and at the gate when you board the plane. 

Currently, Northwest Airlines offers this option in only a few select markets, but I really wonder about the possibilities.  According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), there are an average of 28,537 commercial flights each day in the United States. While not everyone has a mobile device that would enable them to use this service, imagine being able to eliminate the need for paper on just half of those flights — that would save over 5.2 million pieces of paper per year. 

I continue to be amazed at the advancement of mobile device technology and the myriad ways these devices can make life a little easier — or at least make traveling a little greener. 

So the big question is, does it work? Well, I take flight in a couple of hours, so I’ll cover that question in my next post.

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