Green Spot

I look at my desk and horrified is an accurate term.

I have made a tremendous effort to go paperless.  While my colleagues are still very much into catalogs for finding products, I use a special company that provides online search for products that I sell.  I use a catalog two or three times per year.  I write all of my orders online.  My company archives all of my orders - why do I have this urgent need to print out a copy!! So I have loads of live orders floating around my desk.  Actually I could press a button and get the same exact information as picking up the paper order.

Catalogs arrive in the mail daily.  Why keep them? I am getting the same information at the same time via email.  Overload! Do I throw out all of the catalogs that are received …NO. Do I actually look at them more than once … NO.

I am setting a goal.  By the end of July I will be pretty much paper free. It is a whole lot neater and we are saving trees and adding less to the landfills.

I am truly fascinated at the amount of non-woven grocery type bags that are out there.  We recently attended a trade show, my head was spinning.  The prices have come down drastically for imprinted bags.  So many people are selling them, I didn’t know what to look at first.  There actually is a difference in the weight of one to another.  Some are truly made out of recycled materials.

I may be in dreamland to think that people actually use them. We have stopped using plastic store bags. If everyone starts to use these non-woven bags it should make a difference.  They are affordable and convenient.  I would like to think that all of the trash that goes to recycling is actually being recycled and used for something that is actually useful and affordable to the average household.

I have been using bio-degradable bags to get rid of pet waste as opposed to the store bags that will sit in the landfill forever.

The quality of the non-woven bags has improved greatly over time.  I am loving the insulated version.

We keep them in the car all of the time.  Remembering to take them out that’s the challenge!!

The act of recycling is really important.  I have my serious doubts about where does everything go! We spend lots of time putting our trash into various containers that are labeled for Glass, Plastic, Cardboard.  Along comes the truck and dumps everything into one area!! I think everyone needs to question their municipality (when their municipality is responsible) as to what is actually done with the materials that are supposedly recycled.  BIG MYSTERY!  I feel terribly guilty questioning whether or not recycling is actually accomplished.

In our marketplace today, there are so many wonderful choices when it comes to purchasing wearables (ie. t-shirts).  For the athlete, the synthetic wicking materials have been a huge success, but the average person purchasing t-shirts, I believe organic cotton is the way to go.

We want to help our customers choose organic.  Our goals is to do our best to protect the environment as well as people’s health, going organic is one small way for us to accomplish this.

The traditional cotton garment is made of fiber that originates from cotton plants grown on cotton farms.  These farms rely on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.  From what I am understanding about the process, it uses a lot more water than the organic farming process.

Organic farming restores and builts up the soil.  The organic content is increased, this increases the soil’s water-sustaining ability.  Using less water and having healthy soil is a good thing.  This soil is not polluted by synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.  It appears  that far less water runs off the organic fields.

In a piece that I read by one of our sources for wearables, they gave some interesting statistics:”Conventionally grown cotton consumes 25% of the insecticides and more than 10% of pesticides used in the WORLD today! Conventional farming devours roughly 150 grams of pesticides and fertilizers to produce enough cotton for a single T-shirt”. I think these statistics are enough to make us look at the organic alternatives.

Organic ring-spun cotton wearables are incredibly soft.  They come in lots of styles and colors.  Many of the shirts are in natural off white while others are made with non-toxic dyes and inks.  A couple of our best vendors have beautiful organic products: www.vantageapparel.com and bodekandrhodes.com.  There are many more vendors that we have access to, these two are among our favorites.

Check it out!

How great is it to have “green”products to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness in October (or any other time).  Think about this - promote Breast Cancer Awareness and safe environmental practices at the same time…double benefit.

I have been very pleasantly surprised to find eco-friendly products that can enhance any Breast Cancer Awareness event.  Put together a Goody Bag packed with eco-friendly products for the particiapants:

A 100% certified organic cotton t-shirt/ and or cap to wear for the event.

A recycled plastic PBA free water bottle to keep with them while they walk or run.

A ribbon pin made out of recycled jewelers metal that is lead free.

Recycled paper or recycled plastic pen and recycled paper notepad to keep as a reminder of the event with your information on it.

A reusable bag to give each participant with the products included in it.

All of these products can be imprinted with the breast cancer ribbon and your information.

If you go to www.promotionresources.net all of these products can be found.  Call us at  732 297-8855   or 800 843-0435

for more information.  We are ready and waiting to answer any questions you may have.  We love to put on our creative thinking cap.