These Biodegradable Sky Lanterns, called the Sky Orbs, are a great example of such a product. Unlike typical Chinese lanterns, these are made from biodegradable parts so that the environmental impact will be little to nothing. And since no metal is used in the construction, the lanterns pose little risk to wildlife.

The body of the Sky Orbs are made of rice paper and flame resistant wool. The light is supplied by a pre-attached fuel cell that is easy to light and non-drip. The lanterns burn for 12 minutes, and can travel up to 2 miles in that time.  The lanterns are available in 3 colors and 3 unique shapes (cylinder, diamond, or oval).

Nigel’s Eco Store

The Sugarcane Disposable Bowls are like any standard disposable bowl: they will not absorb oil, nor will they leak. The Bowls can be disposed of in compostable waste, and once they are exposed to heat, water, and bacteria, the bowls will fully decompose within a few months. Most other disposable bowls cannot break down properly once tossed into landfills because of their own plastic coating.

The bowls are constructed from sugarcane fiber, a natural and sustainable product which is a natural by-product of the sugar industry. By making use of the fiber, it saves the material from being discarded or burnt.

The Sugarcane Disposable Bowls are a great product to have ready for any use, and can be stored away in cupboards until needed. By being both fully compostable and made from a sustainable by-product, you can rest assured that you won’t be adding waste to the landfills the next time you host an event.

DrinkStuff

Compostable products provide the convenience without the irrational material waste. In other words, these disposable products are sustainable.

Potatopak puts it: “Unlike the manufacturing process that is used to create plastics and polystyrene, our patented manufacturing process emits no noxious fumes to the atmosphere or toxic liquid waste. Plastics and Polystyrene unfortunately have bi-sphenols and styrene which are carciogenic and are not good for mankind.  And, while plastics come from oil — a limited natural resource — we use a renewable resource – potatoes – in our manufacturing process.”

All the waste that Potatopak produces in the manufacturing process is fed to livestock, fish, or worms. They even have a video clip of pigs eating material scrapes on their site. In the coming decades, I hope to see sustainable products like this gain a stronger foothold in our consumer society. You cannot get much eco-friendlier than this!

MOO is a printing company, launched in London but now operating from Europe and the USA. MOO prints products such as: mini cards; business cards; sticker books; postcards; greeting cards; accessories; gift certificates and holiday cards. Nineteen months ago MOO launched it’s Green business cards offering printables on recycled cardstock, since then they’ve continued with further investigation into testing eco-friendly papers and now have a new recycled paper for eco-conscious consumers. MOO believes that the recycled paper they print not only make images look amazing but should also be eco-friendly!

At 352gsm / 15.5pt this new, smooth white, non-laminated stock is one of the heaviest eco stocks guaranteed for our unique Printfinity presses.

The treatment applied to the stock allows you to print crisp photography or illustration with a fantastic tonal range and vivid colors. We’ve never thought that recycled stock should equal a compromise in quality, and I’m excited to say that with this paper, the difference between the Eco stock and the MOO Classic really is just the finish.

Made from 100% Post Consumer Waste and FSC certified, the eco credentials for this are even more amazing than our previous paper. It’s made with electricity generated by renewable, non polluting wind power from Green-e. (Green-e is the nation’s leading independent certification and verification program for renewable energy products, they ensure strict environmental and consumer protection standards.) Process chlorine and acid free, the paper has been manufactured in compliance with the standards set for alkaline papers by the American National Standards Institute.

The MOO business cards are slightly more expensive than the traditional paper but they believe the eco-friendly aspects outweigh the cost.

• 50 cards – $24.99
• 200 cards – $79.99

If you are in the market for some business cards, postcards, greeting cards or other printable products why not check out the co-friendly line at MOO? Good for business marketing and good for the planet!

Easter is on it’s way so how about some tips for an eco-friendly Easter weekend?

Egg Hunt
Forget the fake plastic grass, plastic eggs and plastic baskets and go for the real thing. If you don’t have a garden go to a friends/neighbors or head to the local park. Many schools and play groups hold Egg Hunts locally in schools or church grounds. If you need to get a basket instead of plastic opt for a natural basket of metal or wicker instead, these last year after year and have more uses than just for Easter! If you do have plastic eggs, baskets etc, set them aside and reuse them the following year. Remember: reduce, reuse, recycle!

Natural Dyes
Instead of reaching for the chemical additives and dyes go natural this year. Try dying your eggs with foods such as beets, onions, turmeric and coffee. Beet juices can dye eggs in beautiful hues from light pinks to deep red depending on the time soaked. Turmeric can be used for light yellow to deep orange, anyone who has used turmeric in cooking knows this is a strong dye and great for coloring.  For blue eggs try boiling your eggs in a cabbage water solution. Coffee can be used for browns, sienna and black eggs. Think of the colors in nature as see how you can replicate those. This could even be a mini scientific experiment for the children in your home.

Flowers
Instead of cut flowers opt for growing plants, bulbs or seeds. Giving the gift of gardening is far more satisfying than cut flowers that last a brief period of time. Potted plants last weeks and buy perennials that will last a lifetime. Bulbs come back year after year, continuing to bloom season after season.

Chocolate
It’s candy time again, and now is a great opportunity to sample organic, fair trade chocolate. Remember also if you are putting on an Easter celebration that there may be vegans, so look for vegan alternatives too as they are more environmentally friendly. Perhaps this is also a good time to try carob instead of chocolate?

Gifts
As well as candy how about giving some art supplies, homemade confectionery, or other eco-friendly gifts. Gift giving this time of year isn’t just about candy, so think outside the box!

Eating out can be difficult for the environmentally conscious consumer, but as we’ve mentioned in previous articles about dining out there are ways in which you can reduce your impact on the Earth. One of those ways is to reduce the amount of food you order, but sometimes there is just TOO MUCH food and we often opt to take home the leftovers in a doggy bag. These are usually polystyrene containers which aren’t good for the environment. How about next time you go out to eat you take your own doggy bag with you? Taking your own container reduces the need for restaurants to purchase those throwaway polystyrene containers and results in less landfill waste.

Plastic containers
Although not the optimum option for fear of BPA and plastics leeching into food but you use what you have right? Reusing a container, even a plastic container is better than putting new plastic into the system. Do you have a spare plastic container you could use for restaurant leftovers? Some are available with separate compartments just like the throwaway variety you often find in supermarkets or restaurants.

Metal Tiffins
If you haven’t seen these, there is a photo above. They come in various sizes or depths and stack beautifully. We were originally introduced to these by our Indian friends (metal tiffins are popular in most Asian cultures), and we promptly bought one and never looked back. Perfect for Indian leftovers but also for packed lunches! Obviously there is the drawback of not being able to microwave these directly, but we shouldn’t microwave food in plastic containers either. Besides these look so much better than plastic, and metal is better for the environment than plastics.

Crockery Containers
Whether glass, pot or china there are a few stonewear collections that could be used as doggy bags. They have the downside of being a little heavy, especially once food is added too. Another con is that they usually have plastic lids, or else a stoneware lid that isn’t airtight. The upside is that items can usually be microwaved directly in the container.

My personal advice, invest in a metal tiffin container. We’ve had ours about 3 years and couldn’t imagine life without it. Works great for packed lunches and restaurant take out, or pot luck leftovers! Our choice was 3 stackable dishes but choose one to suit your needs.

Eco-friendly packaging
Yellow+Blue organic wines are shipped
responsibly and packaged smarter, we’re talking 93% wine and 7%
packaging, this results in a low impact on the environment and high impact on the
palate. Wine has been around in Europe for years in a box, but Yellow+Blue don’t package in a box, it’s a Tetra Pak, this is the same packages in which milk or juices are packaged and shipped. The Tetra Pak wine cartons are not a new concept. All across
Europe, Canada, and South America, even in wine-passionate places like
Italy and Argentina, Tetra Paks have been embraced for their
environmental friendliness, their portability, and their practicality.Tetra Paks are eco friendly for many reasons, one is their shipping capacity, they are rectangular so no space is wasted (unlike bottles). Shipping is considerably less as the weight is product and not the glass bottles. Consider: A case of wine in glass weighs 40 pounds and holds 9
liters of wine, close to 50% wine and 50% packaging. A case of
Yellow+Blue weighs 26 pounds and holds 12 liters of certified organic
wine. It’s a win-win for lowering the carbon footprint of the company and the consumer. The downside is the Tetra Paks are not made from recycled content, and I hope that is something they look into in the future, however 75% is made from responsibly sourced well-managed forests. The wood is first used to make houses and furniture and the leftover wood chips go on to become paper products used in Tetra Paks. I hope to see some recycled paper content in the future though!

Low Carbon Footprint
As the Yellow+Blue website states, the carbon footprint of the wine industry is huge. Items like glass bottles, cork, labels, fuel, pesticides, chemicals… it all adds up.
Transportation is a giant
contributor to wine’s overall carbon footprint, and it is here that
Yellow+Blue takes a step in the right direction. They purchase wine from
the wine makers before it’s bottled, ship it in bulk via insulated
steel tanks to North America, where the cartons are filled and then
distributed. Dr. Tyler Colman who has helped to create a carbon footprint
calculator specifically for the wine industry, crunched some
numbers to compare the carbon footprint of Yellow+Blue against
those of a more traditional wine business model. Yellow+ Blue’s carbon footprint
turned out to be almost half the size (54%) of the traditional model.

Recycle
As we all know glass bottles can be recycled, and it appears that now so can Tetra Paks. Once it’s been re-pulped, a carton can come back as tissue
products. Tetra Pak has come a long way since they started carton recycling programs in the US in 1999. Today, 20% of the total US residents across 26 states (and growing) have access to carton recycling. Globally, 25 billion packages were recycled last year. For a list of communities with carton recycling, click here. I checked the Tetra Pak recycling site and it looks like my city is behind the times on this one, so I’ll still be buying my wine in glass bottles, for now at least!

There is a lot of debate about which is more environmentally friendly cloth or paper after all cloth goes through processing, cotton farming is bad for the environment due to the chemical pesticides and fertilizers, what about the dyes? The transportation costs? The list goes on, well lets look at some of the claims closer:

Cloth napkins are made from cotton which is processed, dyed using chemicals isn’t this worse than using paper napkins?
If you must buy new napkins, then buy organic naturally dyed cotton, linen or hemp. Make the environmentally beneficial choice. However instead of buying new check out your local thrift stores, sometimes they have napkins or how about making your own from old sheets, shirts or tablecloths? Napkins are pretty easy to make afterall it’s just a square, a simple straight stitch will do the job or if you have a sewing machine or serger then you’d have a more professional look.

Cloth napkins require laundering isn’t this worse for the environment than the processing for the paper napkins?
In a word no, or at least it shouldn’t be. I’ve personally washed all my laundry loads in cold water for the longest time and had NEVER noticed any difference from when I washed in warm water. It’s the agitation that cleans not the temperature of the water. The only time I wash in warm water is when items are really soiled, generally though cold water always works fine. I used a a biodegradable laundry detergent (more on that in another post soon) and I line dry when possible.

What about transportation?
You’d have transportation regardless of which you used. Paper napkins, even the ones made from 100% recycled content have some kind of processing to undergo to make new napkins, then packing and transportation. Why not just use some old fabric remnants and make your own instead?

What about the financial costs?
Well if you make your own from existing or thrifted sheets//clothing/tablecloths the cost is negligible. Our family has a set of 12 napkins from an old bedding set which cost me nothing. Paper on the other hand costs around 1c each (average pack is $1 for 100 more if you choose recycled content). For a family of 4 that’s minimum 4c per meal. 12c per day which is $43 a year! Minimum. Why minimum? Well who uses just one paper napkin per meal? they get messy quickly because they aren’t as absorbent as cloth. Plus what about snacks? Spillages (they are so convenient)? The cost can soon skyrocket!

Next time you are in the supermarket doing your weekly grocery shop, think again about those paper napkins and make a more environmental choice, opt for cloth instead!

New Belgium Brewing is one of our households favorite breweries, their Fat Tire Amber Ale is a particular favorite and we can drink rest assured that the brewery is making headway in sustainability and is continuing on it’s path to reduce it’s global footprint. We first became aware of New Belgium Brewing after seeing their brewery in a television program and were amazed at the steps they’d taken to become more sustainable, these guys aren’t just talking the talk, they are walking the walk. Changes have included:

• Becoming the first wind powered brewery in the United States!
• Free bicycles for employees after 1 year of employment!
• Increasing efficiencies in the brewing process
• Utilizing green design throughout their buildings, through using natural lighting, HVAC and recycled materials
• Implementing a process for treating their waste water
• On-site energy production via brewing by products, which can provide 15% of their energy needs
• Constant benchmarking, including the PDF report on Fat Tires carbon footprint!
• Sustainable Eventing, their bike festival, Tour de Fat, celebrates bicycling as a viable form of alternative transport. A solar-powered stage provides sound for the day, beer is served in compostable cups.
• Partnering to support innovative technology
• Members of 1% For the Planet, which means that, through donations and fund-raisers, 1% of New Belgium Brewing revenue goes to environmental non-profits.

But they aren’t stopping there, for the future they plan for the following:

• To reduce their carbon footprint by 25%
• To reduce their water usage by 10%
• To
  increase their landfill diversion rate from 89.5% to 95%.

These are some lofty goals but they seem 100% dedicated to a more sustainable brewery and you can find out more about their sustainability plan on their website.