Ecopreneurist

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

I mentioned before in this blog that the gym and spa industry is one of the main buyers of sport bottles. It makes sense, sign-up for a membership, get a water bottle and t-shirt.

I also mentioned that the BPA scare pretty much halted the market for plastic gym bottles. This was an event especially felt by eco-friendly gyms, yoga studios and spas that had been using bottles as giveaway items. Many businesses gave up on plastic altogether and moved to aluminum or steel bottles.

Well the industry is fighting back with BPA free bottles especially designed for gyms - like Glass America’s 19 oz. Treadmill BPA Free Bottle - bottles designed with wide mouths and easy grips.

These new bottles also have the words “BPA free” imprinted directly on them to make sure the audience does not miss the fact these are “safe” bottles.

We will see how well these new bottle designs do. It is nice to see the industry bouncing back in this area and at the same time moving forward on green products.

For more information on BPA free bottles from Glass America please visit their website or visit us at Proformagreen.com.

This morning as I woke up to my clock radio, the one minute Project Green segment came on the Rush Limbaugh leaning KNCO AM. It reported on a recent meeting of California wine growers, all 26 of which are talking preliminary to major efforts to green their operations, product, and packaging.

Somehow this doesn’t surprise me. Vintners are acutely aware of the health of their environment, their plants, and the resulting product. With the refined and particular tastes of many of their consumers, a lackluster wine will lead to lackluster profits. Beyond that though, their customers are, I would venture to guess, more likely to be of the LOHAS mindset, choosing what they consume based on more factors then simply the cheapest available. They want everything they touch to have thought, consciousness, and a lighter impact on the planet factored into them.

How can a wine be green? The grapes themselves can of course be organic, the growing method biodynamic. But what else? Read the rest of this entry »

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Non Woven Poly bags are great but many of our clients don’t like non wovens and keep asking when an inexpensive organic cotton tote would be available.

Well the new Econo Tote Bag from Debco seems to fit the bill at 14.75” W x 16.5” with runs under $2 for orders over 1000 units and starts around $3.50 for a small run of 50 units with one color imprint included. These bags are 100% natural organic cotton processed AZO-Free with no hazardous chemicals. Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who don’t read the LA Times, here’s a green products article you’ll want to catch. Today they featured a detailed story about green chemistry–the companies developing green body care, house cleaning and home building materials and the challenges they face. And, oh ya, also about the multi-millions in revenues they are earning and consumers learn more and care more about what goes into the bodies of their families.

Writer Marla Cone points out that the green products available today are not perfect, but the article is encouraging for the prospects for green businesses. And although she is focused on big companies that are going green, she also gives some good case study material on green companies that have gone big.

More on green products from Ecopreneurist:

Attack the Ingredient Not the Brand: Is Burt’s Bees New Campaign on the Right Track?

Organic Lotions Go Glam and Luxurious

4 Questions to Ask Before You Launch a Green Product

If you’re Japanese, European or heavily involved in natural foods, nutraceuticals may be a regular item on your shopping list. But for the average American, nutraceuticals or functional foods are virtually unknown. That’s about to change.

A new report, 2008 Culinary Trend Mapping Report on Emerging Health & Wellness, from Packaged Facts based on research from the Center for Culinary Development finds that have nutraceuticals have reached a tipping point in North America. That is, the adoption curve is speeding up and we can expect increased interest in this category from both retailers and consumers…soon. Read the rest of this entry »