Plastic shopping bags are such a ubiquitous part of everyday life, but most people do not know the full story concerning these disposable hazards. From the manufacturing process through disposal, plastic bags can cause a lot of harm. While reusable bags are a great solution, they do require some maintenance to insure they are clean and safe.
Custom pens imprinted with a company’s logo or slogan are a popular and handy promotional item for businesses, brands and associations. You can make your pen stand out from your competitors by selecting a pen with an environmentally friendly, custom design. Recycled and renewable materials give you a chance to spread your brand along with your message of sustainability.
Eugene Oregon has tried for many years to go reusable and get an eco-friendly plastic bag ban on the record. With a bag ban in place, then all those plastic bags will not end up in landfills where they will take up space and never break down. Or even worse, they’ll float around as litter and can cause serious harm to animals and their habitats. And the honest truth is thin plastic bags are seldom recycled which highlights the need for the city to go reusable with their grocery shopping bags and any other single-use bags.
Social media is a great tool to create a loyal online community for your brand and share your company’s products and message. Social media allows you to spread your message in real time and keep like-minded folks up to date and engaged with your brand. Social media is also a great forum to showcase the things your company does for the environment and your community.
Most people do not intend for their discarded plastic bags to become litter and detrimental to wildlife, but when bags turn up in open-air landfills and the elements get a hold of them, things spiral out of control. Since plastic bags are so lightweight they can easily be lifted by a strong gust of wind. Once plastic bags get airborne, they can travel great distances until they become snagged in a tree or shrub or until they touch down in water where the weight of the water makes them too heavy for flight.
Create a truly memorable business card or marketing mailer by having your next batch printed on made in the USA, eco-friendly, custom seed paper. Seed paper is exactly what it sounds like it is – paper with embedded seeds that sprout into beautiful wildflowers. Simply plant the paper in a pot with soil or directly in the ground and about a week or so later, wildflowers will sprout and your client or customer will be left with beautiful flowers to remind them of your message, company or brand. Factory Direct Promos features a stunning selection of 21 colors to choose from and a variety of soy-based ink colors so you can create something that captures your branding and message, but is different, exciting and green, both literally and figuratively.
How Factory Direct Promos Does Green Right for the Environment and Their Customers Factory Direct Promos recently earned the honor of being designated as a Silver Level Green America Certified Business. Green America is a not-for-profit membership organization celebrating their 30th year and they have a simple mission: to utilize economic power to create a […]
Austin, Texas is gearing up to switch to reusable grocery and shopping bags with a ban on both plastic and paper disposable shopping bags that is going into action on March 1, 2013. The ban was approved by the Austin City Council in March of this year. Austin wanted to make sure they got the ban right the first time, so they drafted a law that would fit what the residents wanted. Residents were invited to speak at public forums and the bill was drafted and re-drafted before the final version went to vote.
When you add it all up people spend a lot of time at work, and because of this the typical office cranks out a lot of garbage. There is the expected rubbish, like the unclaimed pages on the printer and spent coffee grounds, but there is also the unnecessary garbage, like single use plates, cups, and utensils. It is completely understandable as to why disposable items are popular in an office kitchen and break room right? There is just something about the office that causes people to not clean as thoroughly. Maybe they think the next person will finish scrubbing where they left off or they hope someone else will put the finishing touches on the dishes stacking up in the sink. Whatever the reasons, your office break room presents a huge opportunity to go green.
Honeybees are out to prove that if they can make it in New York City, they can make it anywhere. In a city full of concrete and skyscrapers, honeybee hives managed by beekeepers are popping up on rooftops across the city and across the world. Hotels in Paris, Toronto and Denver also boast rooftop hives. Utilizing rooftops for green space and outdoor activities is nothing new in large cities like New York – pigeon coups and terraces are common sights. Sustainable honeybee hives are a new addition and one that proves beneficial for everyone.
Last year 25 billion paper cups were thrown away just in the United States. This number may seem staggering, but think back to how many disposable coffee cups you saw this morning and how many to-go cups you saw at work after lunch. Disposable cups are a common sight and they easily pile up in our landfills. Many paper cups are difficult to impossible to recycle – the plastic coating that allows the cup to hold fluids is great for preventing leaks, but it also thwarts any effort to recycle the cup. Plastic cups are not much better since people typically toss them in the trash when they are done instead of recycling them.
Engaged employees are passionate about the company they are a part of – they will go out of their way to make sure the company is successful because they see their own success as tied to that of the company. Engagement is so much more than other business buzz words often thrown about, such as employee satisfaction, vision, commitment and motivation.
Shoppers in Solana Beach, California had their first taste of life free from single-use plastic shopping bags, and as would be expected the responses from shoppers ran the gamut. Some shoppers simply packed up their purchases in the reusable grocery bags they purchased while others were irritated that plastic bags were not available and paper bags would set them back 10 cents each. Solana Beach is the first city in San Diego County to ban plastic bags and they are following in the steps of 44 other California cities that have already banned these environmental hazards.
This November when the residents of Snowmass Village in Colorado take to the ballots they will also be polled as to whether they feel the town should regulate disposable plastic shopping bags in an effort to encourage the use of reusable grocery bags. The Town Council recently voted 3-1 to put the advisory question on the ballot to get a feel for what the residents want. Mayor Bill Boineau and Councilwoman Markey Butler have heard from residents both for and against the idea of a ban, so in order to determine what the people want and decide how they should precede they decided to let the residents weigh in and make that call.
With fall just around the corner that means one thing to many families – it is time to go back to school. In Zoarville, Ohio for the sixth year in a row the Tuscarawas Valley school district is gearing up for the Back to School fair. This event is orchestrated by the local Community Business Association of northern Tuscarawas County and allows ccommunity service agencies and local businesses, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Tuscarawas County Public Library, Tuscarawas County Health Department and Safe Kids Coalition, Compass, NAMI, R U Stylin’, Zoar Air Design and Embroidery and Zoar Fire Department to round up school supplies for local students. The items are packed into reusable grocery bags and these care packages will be handed out to kindergarten through fourth grade students who attend the fair on a first come first serve bases.
When a community rallies behind a bag ban there is no stopping them. The Town Council in Barrington, Rhode Island recently voted to charge the town’s solicitor to draft a disposable plastic shopping bag ban. This decision came on the heels of a recommendation by the town’s Conservation Commission to forbid plastic bags and encourage reusable shopping bags. The Commission’s recommendation also suggested that shoppers should be able to purchase paper bags for 5 cents a pop. As the ban is still in the drafting phase the specifics have yet to be announced, let alone finalized, and may change before the issue goes before the council to vote.
London Mayor Boris Johnson pushed to ban single use plastic bags prior to the start of the 2012 Olympic Games. ‘Plastic bags are an unnecessary scourge on our environment and I’ve set out my ambition to make London a plastic bag free city,’ said Johnson back in 2011. Despite his efforts the city of London does not have an official bag ban on the record – for now.
Mamaroneck, New York recently joined the ranks of fellow Westchester County city, Rye, in passing a ban on disposable shopping bags in an effort to go reusable. The Village Board of Trustees in this city 23 miles north of New York City unanimously approved the law that banishes both paper and plastic disposable bags and will go into action on January 16, 2013. The law gained momentum due to the hassles incurred by plastic bags, such as blocking and clogging waterways and sewers, and the negative impact the bags have on the environment when they sit in landfills.
Disposable bag bans come in all shapes and sizes. Different communities have different needs so ultimately it comes down to the local governing bodies to select the best course of action. City council members in Bisbee, Arizona, a city of 6,000 people located in the south-east corner of the state unanimously passed a voluntary ban back in December on single use plastic shopping bags. The ban was structured to be voluntary for six months at which time the city council and city manager would review the success and effectiveness of the ban.
Last we left off with the state of Illinois there was talk of legislation that would prohibit the banning of disposable plastic shopping bags and place the responsibility to recycle plastic bags on the bag manufacturers. 12-year-old Abby Goldberg did not think this bill was a good idea. She was so passionate about working to make sure this bill never became official that she started an online petition asking the Governor, Pat Quinn, to veto the bill, and she collected 155,000 signatures backing her up. This resourceful youth even had the opportunity to hold a press conference and present her petition to Quinn.