Green Spot Blog » imprinted items

eBay Making It Cool to Reuse Shipping Boxes

admin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:02:04 +0000

Kudos to eBay for introducing its shipper box that is supposed to be reused, sent from eBay seller to buyers, and then sent further along, until the end of its useful life.

Made of 100% FSC-certified and recycled material, it is designed to use minimal tape and to be able to withstand multiple use.

Hopefully these stylish bozes will become a status symbol for eBay members, and help to encourage reusing of boxes to other industries, especially any company in the mail order business. Perhaps Amazon, Dell, Lands’ End, Apple and other large-volume shippers will create their own boxes to encourage reuse, rather than recycling.

“Our company been reusing boxes since 1986,and have heard favorable feedback from our customers”, says Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions. He continues. “Several companes have a kraft-colored spray paint that can be used to mask over old labels and scuff marks– rendering these reused boxes as good as new”.

For companies that are going green or are looking to reduce their carbon footprint, small changes like reusing boxes and other shipping supplies, go a long way and show your clients that you are “walking the walk”. Perhaps companies can include a decal or insert sheet (both made of recycled material) ecplaining why reused boxes are being sent out – and to encourage the recipients to do the same. Think of the number of trees that can be saved if every company made it their goal to reuse their shipping boxes at least one time.

Remember, going green is a state of mind– and small changes can begin at the top, as well as in the shipping department.

Help make Every Day Earth Day.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Too Many Green Labeling Choices Means Greater Confusion for Consumers

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:23:58 +0000

It has been reported that ULC Standards has acquired TerraChoice, the managers of Canada’s EcoLogo program. This consolidation might make it easier for consumers to differentiate between green claims—so as to compare apples to apples.

Currently, the EcoLogo program covers more than 7,000 products in 80 categories—with 70 different standards.

Simplicity is the key to any certification and for ease of understanding. Until we get to just a handful of green certifications and labels, manufacturers will continue their greenwashing claims and obfuscate their actual compliance to green initiatives.

An educated consumer is the greatest weapon against false claims, but too many labels will make the entire process into a joke. How about a grading system- A through F—like used in most schools. You can add a plus or minus beside the grade to help draw more attention to detail, if so desired. But it would be a simple system that would work for most comparisons.

Here’s to simplicity.. and a greener tomorrow, today.

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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

FTC to Offer Tighter Guidelines on Green Marketing

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:42:28 +0000

According to an article in Advertising Age, the Federal Trade Commission is planning to introduce a new set of so-called Green Guides that are used by the FTC to guide enforcement of existing laws. They are the first environmental-marketing guidelines in 12 years and could radically reshape how far marketers can go in painting their products, packaging or even corporate images green.

These guidelines should help to clarify terms that are used by many manufacturers and retailers to promote sustainability.

Currently there are nearly 300 different Green Seals of Approvals used to grade a products “level of eco-friendliness”, and these guidelines will help to clarify these terms and definitions for consumers once and for all.

This can help to render much of today’s green washing claims obsolete. However, as with any new rules and guidelines, it is important that the American consumer learns to read the labels and to understand these labels. However, after a recent trip down the candy, cookie, soft drink and cereal aisles of my local grocery store last week proved, just because labels are out there, doesn’t mean anybody will be reading them or paying attention to them. Sugar, fructose, corn syrup and other sweeteners are still high on the ingredient list of many of these products, and they are still selling quite well.

Let’s hope the public takes the time to learn these new guidelines — and supports those companies that are helping to make a difference to make the planet greener.

Let’s make every day, Earth Day.

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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Starbucks’ Awards Winner of Contest for Reducing Paper Waste and Consumption

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:16:45 +0000

The winner of a competition sponsored by Starbucks to gather ideas for reducing non-recyclable paper cup use isn’t even a cup at all, but a concept for encouraging customers to bring their own cups for possible free drinks.

The top four winners of their contest are all excellent ideas to reduce paper consumption, but only one was a reusable or biodegradable cup.

“We’re very interested in looking at the winning ideas and many of the other submitted ideas as we develop new solutions to reduce cup waste,” said Elise Chisholm, Starbucks spokesperson. “We haven’t yet had a chance to determine specific action plans. Increasing adoption of reusable cups – including travel tumblers and our own ceramic serveware – is definitely an important part of the equation for us.”

The Betacup competition offered a total of $20,000 for ideas that could eliminate paper cup consumption. Starbucks sponsored it as part of its efforts to only offer reusable or recyclable cups by 2015.

The winning idea was the Karma Cup, a simple concept for putting a chalkboard by the register at a coffee shop, having customers that use reusable cups make a mark on the board, and then giving a free coffee to every 10th customer that uses a reusable. This is a fun and creative idea – but be sure to move back toward the end of the line once you see the 10^th person get their reward.

The three honorable mentions were:

1) Band of Honor

This novel idea revolves around a rubber band with a barcode on it that a customer can put on any reusable cup and have scanned every time they use it, getting larger discounts the more they reuse it.

2) Champion Cup

Similar to the Band of Honor, is a platform in which customers tag their mugs, register them online, get rewards for reusing them and track how many cups they’ve saved,

3) Reusable & Biodegradable Cup Contest

Probably the biggest no-brainer of the contest, any reusable or biodegradable cup would save on paper waste. This particular cup would be made from rice husks that has a sleeve with an RFID tag that can be scanned for tracking cup use and receiving discounts.

Unless Starbucks stops offering drinks in disposable cups completely, millions of tons of paper waste will continue to be created. Robert Piller, President of EcoMarketingSolutions.com, says, “Reusable and biodegradable coffee mugs would clearly be the easiest to get into their stores, as they are readily available. We currently offer dozens of reusable and biodegradable coffee mugs that Starbucks could offer with their logo – along witht heir ten cent per cup discount for each use.”

According to GreenBiz.com, recycling has been a sticking point in Starbucks’ environmental efforts. In its 2009 Global Responsibility Report, it stamped “Needs Improvement” on its three recycling goals of developing a recyclable cup by 2012, setting up front-of-store recycling in company-owned stores by 2015 and serving a quarter of beverages in reusable cups by 2015.

In April, Starbucks hosted its second cup summit, bringing together municipalities, suppliers, manufacturers, recyclers, NGOs and more to develop solutions for making paper and plastic cups more widely recyclable. Earlier that month, on April 15, Starbucks ran a promotion giving a free coffee to anyone who brought in a reusable mug to use.

Kudos to Starbucks for acknowledging their problem and working to improve sustainability.

McDonalds & Dunkin Donuts, you’re next. What will you do to raise the bar in order to reduce waste and improve reuse?

Let’s Make Earth Day, Every Day.

New Eco Index Developed by Outdoor Industry Association

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:00:26 +0000

As companies are becoming more green, the next phase is trying to quantify exactly how much energy is being used in the processing, manufacturing and distribution of their products.

A new tool developed by the outdoor gear industry hopes to simplify the comparisons of “eco-friendliness” and to help companies understand what goes into their products and then improve any stage, from sourcing raw materials to recycling clothing.

The Eco Index, a project of the Outdoor Industry Association’s (OIA) Eco Working Group, is being launched this week at the Outdoor Retailer trade show for beta testing is intended for a range of products, from clothes to backpacks to camp stoves.

“It helps you identify the holes in the sustainability of your product and the impact your product is having,” said Beth Jensen, OIA’s corporate responsibility manager.

According to GreenBiz.com, the version of the Eco Index being released isn’t complete, but the OIA wanted to get a version out and in use so it can gather feedback and tweak it if necessary as it finishes up the rest of the Eco Index.

From Guidelines to Facts and Figures

The Eco Index, a web-based tool, has three levels, Jensen said, which are guidelines, indicators and metrics. The guidelines are just what they sound like, guidelines for how companies can be more conscious and sustainable when making products.

The indicator level is where companies score individual products by answering yes/no questions related to materials, packaging, manufacturing and assembly, transportation and distribution, use and service, and end of life.

Within the packaging section, for example, a company is asked if it has a restricted substance list, how much post-consumer recycled content it uses, if it sources materials from certified sources and other questions.

The third level, metrics, is where companies plug in all the nitty gritty details to get product-specific information on energy and greenhouse gas emissions, water, waste, land use, chemicals and toxics in humans and the environment, and biodiversity.

By early 2011, the OIA plans to have this first phase of testing complete. Later this year it will form working groups to flesh out the missing details, which are the transportation and distribution indicators and metrics for land use, chemicals and toxics, and biodiversity. Those groups will work through 2011 on the final version.

The OIA’s Eco Working Group formed in 2007 out of a desire in the outdoor industry for a common way to rate and talk about sustainability. “We needed to get everyone talking in the same language,” Jensen said.

As these metrics become more standardized, they will surely be adapted to many other industries. As green metrics become more commonplace, greenwashing will eventually become a nonentity. More educated consumers will lead to more demand for green products – and all this without government intervention.

Kudos to the Outdoor Industry Association.

Proven Strategies for Gaining More Green Customers

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:17:09 +0000

American citizens are becoming more worried with the environment. The growth in this number is evident in the 1.4 million members and supporters of the most popular and oldest non-profit green organization, Sierra Club. With greater number of people making their residences more energy efficient, driving cars which are consume less fuel, recycling waste materials and purchasing environment friendly products, this trend has led to a substantial increase in the number of self-sufficient companies on Main Street selling to green consumers.

Small businesses selling green products have become a growing business community. At the same time businesses dealing in general products are increasing the percentage of green products they are offering.

Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, says his company, which produces custom printed eco-friendly products for retail, has seen a record number of retailers increasing their product mix to include green products. He states, “Last year, we had many retailers, both small and independent accounts, as well as major national chains, begin to increase the number of recycled and biodegradable items in their product mix and planograms. From recycled tote bags to biodegradable and reusable drinkware—insulated tumblers, stainless steel bottles and ceramic mugs, we saw a 36% increase in same store sales to these accounts.”

The following information is designed to enable local companies to recognize green opportunities and to better market to the green consumer.

How to Identify the Green Consumer?

While the truth remains that all green consumers are not the same, knowledge of a few of traits they have in common will enable businesses to make a more careful study of the market for eco-friendly products and services.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has described the mind sets and beliefs that these green customers have in common to be:

• Committed to green ways of living.
• Aware of their ecological practices and the impact they have.
• Dedicated to businesses incorporating green practices.
• Exaggerate their green practices.
• Desire an easy environmental protection
• Do not trust environmental declarations of companies
• Not knowledgeable regarding ecological issues but willing to find out.

The IISD presents a few broad overviews about the demographic traits of green consumers.
• Majority are young adults who have been influenced by their children
• Women are the primary target consumers. Often they purchase for the men.
• The ideal green consumer is one having the money to spend.
• The consumers who are least green are the ones born before 1950

According to an organization of UK named Green Futures, three out of ten adults in USA are considered green consumers at present.

To meet with success in this marketplace it’s essential to make the environmental characteristics of the products such that they appeal to the target consumers’ lifestyles.

Selling to Green Consumers

Green consumers make more purchases on the basis of the information they have about the item and the manufacturer than on an appealing promotion campaign.

Reach out to the green consumer through improved education, which can include such facts as:
• country of origin
• production method
• composition of material
• method of transportation
• locality of production
• energy savings or waste reduction gained by using product or service

Offering new green products can take your business to another level. Be sure to walk the walk, and talk the talk to be more transparent to your customers.

Here’s to a greener tomorrow, today.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Green Economy Improving, According to Industry Survey

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:07:21 +0000

Budgets and hiring in corporate environmental departments are on the rise. Those are core findings of the twice-annual “Green and the Economy” survey, conducted by GreenBiz Intelligence. While the overall economy still seems shaky, corporate environmental and sustainability departments seem to be on much more solid ground.

One big finding of this mid-year 2010 survey is that “the economic downturn is no longer driving most large companies’ environmental strategy”. That means environmental initiatives are being driven more on the basis of strategic business decisions, as they should be. Chief among them, according to the survey, is that “the economic downturn has taken a backseat to growing customer requirements as the principal driver of corporate environmental strategy.”

Hiring is up, too. Large companies, in particular, are increasing headcounts for environmental and sustainability roles. In early 2009, 27 percent of large companies reported hiring freezes and only 8 percent planned to increase headcount for environmental departments. Today, only 11 percent report hiring freezes and more than 28 percent plan to increase headcount, a major swing.

Although the economy has not fully recovered, signs are positive that the green economy is no fad and is here to stay.

Get Dirty…For a Healthier Planet

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:45:26 +0000

If you haven’t seen the documentary, Dirt! The Movie yet, now is a great time so you can get an eye-opening understanding of how dirt forms a protective skin around the planet. It tells the story of Earth’s most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility–from its beginning to its recent degradation. Over the past century, nearly one third of the top soil of the planet has disappeared, harming the natural environment in far reaching ways.

Think of ways to “get dirty” at your office. Think of ways to “get dirty” at your office.
• Encourage your employees to watch Dirt! The Movie.
• Learn more about the importance of dirt to the eco-system.
• Consider native plants instead of grass.
• Rethink paved roads and parking areas to encourage less impervious cover.
• Plant more trees and flowers.
• Get a water run-off study.
• Immediately reduce the use of fertilizer and weed killer.
• Support businesses that are green-friendly.
Here’s to a greener tomorrow, today.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

States May Begin to Ban Plastic Bags—What Your Organization Can Do To Get Reusable Tote Bags in the Hands of Your Customers and Prospects

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:58:59 +0000

It looks like California may be the first state to ban plastic bags. Many cities already have similar ordinances and the trend is pointing toward more states banning plastic bags in order to reduce landfill waste.

These bans are designed to encourage reusable bags at grocery stores, convenience stores, discount and hardware stores and other retail locations. If an individual does not have their own reusable tote, a paper sack will be offered at a nominal fee, like a nickel per bag. It is estimated that Californians use nearly 19 billion plastic bags every year, which end up in landfills.

These laws can create a tremendous opportunity for companies to get their message in front of customers and prospects, and to promote themselves as eco-friendly.

If you are a retailer, you should immediately begin to offer recycled or reusable tote bags to your clients. Many stores offer bags with their logo and imprint for $1-$3, or FREE with a purchase of $25 or more. Come to view these reusable tote bags as a walking billboard for your business, where thousands of bags are being carried around and your logo and message being viewed by thousands of people.

In a previous blog, it was noted in a study that a tote bag imprinted with a logo and message on it will be viewed 12,000+ times in a year –making the cost per impression (CPI) only $.00025, which is about one fifteenth the cost of an average city billboard ($.003), and 1/28th the cost of an average cable TV commercial ($.007) and the 1/76th cost of an average half-page black-and-white newspaper ad ($.019).

If you are not a retailer, think about working a co-op program with your logo and the retailer’s logo on a bag—with you splitting the cost and the retailer providing the distribution of the bags. Some companies that are vendors to a retailer will pay for the entire bag and count the distribution as the retailer’s equity.

You can even put several logos onto a bag, as there is usually a substantial imprint area. That way, if you can get a total of four vendors, each participant only has to pay a quarter of the cost. And with recycled tote bags costing as little as 99 cents each, that is a small investment to get your imprint in front of customers and prospects for months. Think about the cost per impression for this advertising bargain. If you give away 1,000 tote bags at a cost of $1,000–think about what a better return on investment you would get over a newspaper ad.

Churches, temples, schools and other non-profit organizations can also sell advertising space on tote bags to help pay for the cost of the imprinted tote bags—and get these tote bags to be seen all across the neighborhood, as they will be used at stores and malls all over town.

Don’t view imprinted bags as a cost. Look at them as a vehicle for your advertising message that can be seen over and over again..while positioning your organization as doing its part to help reduce landfill.

Here’s to a greener tomorrow, today.
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Robert Piller is President of EcoMarketingSolutions.com, which helps companies that are “going green” to better promote and market their brand through eco-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive green-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 25,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in any price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

What Are You Doing to Reduce Your Organization’s Energy Consumption?

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:00:25 +0000

As a green organization, what are you doing to reduce your energy consumption?

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, in the commercial sector, energy consumption is broken down the largest percentage of energy usage:

• 25% lighting
• 13% heating
• 11% cooling
• 6% refrigeration
• 6% water heating
• 6% ventilation
• 6% electronics

I recently read where HP is looking to turn cow manure into energy at some of the data centers. Surely, if companies can convert manure into energy, your company can cut its annual energy usage by 5-10%. Perhaps the hot air from some of your colleagues can be harnessed into wind power for your office?

Be creative and keep looking for ways to become more green-friendly. After all, you cannot promote yourself as a green company or do green marketing without pushing the envelope and finding ways to reduce your carbon footprint.