This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.
Leeds is adding to their partnership with Aladdin® with the introduction of the Aladdin® Ecycle Travel Mug.
Aladdin® mugs are common items in many stores, the program with Leads offers Aladdin® items that can be branded with a company name, logo, etc.
Like other Aladdin green items this unit is made of eCycle(tm), an Aladdin® proprietary 100% recycled polypropylene made of FDA-approved recyclable containers. 25% of the recycled material is made of post-consumer goods and is formulated and tested to match FDA food safety material standards.
These tumblers are recyclable anywhere that resin code 5 plastics are accepted. The Ecycle Travel Mug pictured on the right has a snap-on lid, double-wall construction, a large grip handle and includes a one color imprint and 1-piece Aladdin gift box at EQP $10.17 per unit.
Aladdin is a well known brand and in the promotional items business going with a known brand always adds value to a marketing project. Right away you get the quick association with a “good product” and these tumblers are certainly of a higher quality than most plastic mugs out there.
I do want to talk about Aladdin’s statement that the tumblers are recyclable anywhere that resin code 5 plastics are accepted. Writing this article I am sitting in my Dallas office and I am pretty sure the City of Dallas does recycle code 5 locally (the Dallas website says all containers with the recycling symbol for numbers 1-7 ). I just wonder how common is code 5 recycling in the rest of the country?
In our article Recycling Symbols: A Review we learned from thedailygreen.com that code 5 is for polypropylene found in some yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, straws, medicine bottles and that number 5 plastics can be recycled through some curbside programs. Also that Polypropylene has a high melting point, and so is often chosen for containers (like tumblers) that must accept hot liquid.
For more information on the Ecycle Travel Mug visit the Leeds website or email us at info@proformagreen.com.
I give Aladdin big props for committing so thoroughly to recycled materials but I cannot endorse using this mug promotionally because of the design. The unit I bought leaks from the cup seal and the latch mechanism on top spits liquid when it snaps shut opening and closing, after you have taken a drink and the lid is wet inside. Both of these make the unit unusable. I will probably contact Aladdin and see if they will send me a second unit to test to see if this one is a single defective unit but I would NOT use this promotionally — it could make the customer aggravated and have the opposite effect of what is intended.
Carol Shepherd, Attorney
Arborlaw PLC
Ann Arbor, MI