Unfortunately, today’s environmental issues seem to be (I believe wrongly) linked with politics. For some reason, the common perception is that most of the people who “care” about the environment are from one political party, while those who “don’t care” about the environment are from the other political party. I’m not sure that landfills or smog care what political party we belong to, we just know that landfills are growing in record numbers and pollution is so rampant in some parts of the world that people walk around with masks to prevent breathing in hazardous fumes.  We shouldn’t need to have political debates on issues that we can see with our very own eyes. (more…)

One of the easiest ways to help the environment is to conserve the amount of energy we all use. It would be really simple (not really) to just stop using energy altogether but of course this is not practical nor does it make good business sense. It’s business that drives the human condition and for that, lot’s of energy is required. In order to maintain or increase the quality of life that we have, energy is required ‘en masse’ to power our lives. The real trick when it comes to energy conservation is to be able to increase productivity while at the same time decreasing energy usage without any noticeable impact. (more…)

I recently went looking for a new phone case at my local shopping mall and stumbled upon a couple of “environmentally friendly” cases for sale at the store. Out of the more than thirty cases that were on display, the two eco-cases available in my opinion were far less pleasing to look at than their non-environmental counterparts. To put it plainly, the environmental cases were ugly. One of the cases was made out of canvas which looked as it if had been pulled directly out of a landfill and shoved in a makeshift shoebox, and the other was made out of 100% post consumer plastic bottles (which is great) but had the visual attraction of a worn spare tire (not so great). (more…)

A couple of months ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Kmart, Tender Corp., and Dyna-E International with making false and unsubstantiated claims that their paper products were “biodegradable.” Kmart and Tender had agreed to settle the cases against them however the case against Dyna-E will move to litigation. At issue were the statements made by the companies stating that the American Fare brand disposable plates were biodegradable, that the Tender Corp. Fresh Bath-brand moist wipes were biodegradable, and the Dyna-E International Lightload brand compressed dry towels were biodegradable. (more…)

What is Eco-Marketing and why should your company care? It’s no secret that “Green” is the new “Black” and any company worth their weight in salt is making tremendous efforts to transform their business into an environmentally friendly organization. Businesses across the world are investing millions of dollars into recycling programs, energy savings initiatives, Life-Cycle Assessments and other environmentally responsible programs, but if their customers don’t know about it, it’s as if they haven’t done it at all. (more…)

Last week the Unites States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it was proposing a new voluntary Bio-Preferred consumer product label which has the potential to be showcased on nearly 15,000 qualifying products in over 200 categories. The label will showcase those products that meet the requirements of a Biobased product and the USDA expects that most of these will “have a more benign effect on the environment, be biodegradable, and have lower disposal and cleanup costs than the fossil energy based products they will replace”. (more…)

The average consumer doesn’t think about the external packaging on a product, but from a business perspective the packaging is extremely important because that’s what tells the story about the item on the inside. Subliminally, when consumers purchase a product they are, many times buying the images on the external package. Some consumers will tell you they purchased product “x” because it’s better than product “y”. Sometimes that’s true and sometimes it’s not. In the cases where it’s not, the consumer has likely bought into the brand marketing and messaging. (more…)