This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, 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.

Bamboo as a material was a big mover in 2009. The industry saw bamboo cloth being used in caps, shirts, towels, jackets, heavy totes and even robes. As a replacement for hardwood, bamboo is used in awards, cutting boards, umbrella shafts, and any number of tool handles.

For 2010 the move to bamboo does not seem to be slowing down. As a quick-growing, renewable, natural resource bamboo seems here to stay in the promotional products market. Here are two quick ideas in bamboo new for 2010.

The KIVA Ball Point from LogoMark is one of the first bamboo body pens to hit the market this year. I suspect there will be more. Like most items from LogoMark this pen has a little more style and flare than its peers.

The bamboo pen body gives the KIVA a natural feel and the black, blue or green plastic tip and clip is biodegradable plastic. These pens EQP for $1.45 with one color imprint. With PLA pens for Shepenco running at around $0.50, the KIVA is not meant to be competing in the cheap eco-pen field, but rather as a nicer, client or employee gift pen, perhaps as part of a package with  LogoMark’s bamboo office picture frame or bamboo business card holder.

A number of basic bamboo shopping totes are also coming to market including a bamboo version of the very popular Big Thunder tote by American Ad Bags.

This Bamboo Thunder is 100% Natural Bamboo – which is naturally biodegradable and an eco-friendly sustainable resource – and has a incredibly soft touch that you just do not get with poly or canvas bags. For added strength the Bamboo Thunder offers stitched seams in the sides and at the bottom gusset.

One issue might be price. The Bamboo Thunder by American Adbag runs EQP $3.00, which is more than the $2.10 EQP price of the screen printed polypropylene Big Thunder by Bag Markers (yes different manufacturers, same name, go figure). Both bags measure in at a whooping 13″ x 10″ x 15″. Yes that is a 10 inch gusset.

If you are an ASI distributor Dustin is the contact to talk to at LogoMark. What more info on the Bamboo Thunder, talked to Courtney Rasmussen at American Adbag.

If you are interested in the these items or other bamboo ideas to promote your own business contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

Part 1 in a series where Krates Ng (co-founder of Mokugift environmental rewards) interviews fellow ecopreneurs.  Today, Krates interviews Brendan Gill of PlentyWays.

1) Why did you start PlentyWays?

We’ve always wanted to create an environmentally focused organization and its really our first opportunity to do that.  At school and college we learned about the climate change issue and it became obvious that this issue is going to form a backdrop to our entire lives.  Its already a crucial matter, but it is only going to grow more and more important over the coming decades.  We wanted to be involved with this issue and to do our bit to help.

2) Is there a story about the name ‘PlentyWays’?

These days its very hard to come up with a name.  Finding something short, simple and with an available web address is difficult so when we finally came up with PlentyWays, we were really satisfied.  The idea behind it is that there are plenty of ways to make a difference.  That’s really our guiding philosophy: through the products we make available, the tips we provide, the services we review, we are trying to show people all the ways in which they can do their bit.

3) What was the toughest challenge in getting your company started and how you got over that?

There was a combination of challenges at the beginning.  It took us a long time to come up with our name, we even tried crowd sourcing it and put up a bounty of $200 we were so stumped, but even that proved fruitless.  The second big challenge was picking out the right products to offer our customers.  There are a lot of green products out there now and the number is increasing by the day.  We had to do a lot of research into what we thought were the most popular ones and would be most useful to our users.  Its a lot of work to then build relationships with the companies that make these products as well, which we are still working on.

4) If you had to pick one company in your lineup, which one would you showcase and why?

When people ask me what they can do to go green, the very first thing I ask them is if they have switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs.  This is the most simple straightforward thing someone can do which is guaranteed to save both energy and money.  Sometimes it can be a challenge to convince people of a more expensive option that is more ecological, but using CFL bulbs is a complete no brainier.  Also people who are waiting for their current incandescent supply to run out before switching to CFLs – a quick calculation will show you that in almost all situations you should switch straight away.

5) How is PlentyWays going to grow in 2010? And how can other ecopreneurs help?

PlentyWays has huge plans!… We are working extremely hard on our blog, which we are going to focus on helping people to go green.  We will keep our ears to the ground on all the latest environmental apps, services and products and review them on our blog making it easy for budding ecopreneurs to take advantage of them.  We also want to provide some apps of our own.  The first we made was a very simple tool to stay on top of the latest green news, which pulls in news from some of the most popular green-focused websites out there e.g. TreeHugger and NY Times Environment.  We also want to work on a system that can monitor the energy and monetary savings people can make with various green goods.  For example, if someone purchases a few CFL bulbs from us, we would like to use the date they purchased to automatically calculate how much energy savings that has resulted in and the effect on their wallet.  It will probably use an average energy cost and an average figure for daily light usage as default, but would allow people to customize the calculation to their situation by entering their cost per KWHr and average light usage.  Stay tuned to our blog for details on all new features.

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, 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.

Pre-printing for bags is becoming more and more popular in our industry, and I have written about that in the past. Something new gaining speed is pre-printing for drink ware. Established in 1986 and dedicated to only drink ware, The Express Line has a “total branding” program for 2010 that I think is certainly worth a second look by the Ecopreneurist looking for a marketing edge.

Stainless steel and aluminum water bottles are quickly becoming a preferred promotional item for Ecopreneurist because these bottles fit many eco themes such as reduce & reuse and the movement to stop buying plastic water bottles. Also, just like caps and tee shirts, it seems everyone has a favorite water bottle they take everywhere, so bottles give great brand exposure at little cost.

What using a pre-printed program from a company like Express Line provides is more design for the money as it simply adds the client’s art or logo to an already available, and professionally done, stock design. For a full overview of this process take a look at the Express Line Total Branding PDF on their website.

Since Earth Day is right around the corner I want to use as an example the Express Line design #203 which plays to the Earth Day theme.

In this sample we have selected EXPRESS LINE item number #4479, the olive stainless steel 44oz BOLT, with an EQP of $8.99. As seen in the sample image, the pre-print wraps the entire bottle, and would do so on the BOLT 18oz (EQP $7.59) or 24oz (EQP $7.99) as well. In this case the logo being added is ECOLAB.

Color splash motifs, cherry blossoms, flower petals, dots, and pinstripes, are all samples of ideas represented in the 12 pre-designed art overlays in the Express Line Total Branding program, and can be applied to most every item in the Express Line catalog.

Changes in both bottle color and artwork colors are possible. Also most bottles in the Express Line can take a full, multi-color art rap, so if their designs inspire full wrap designs of your own, Express Line bottles can be printed with 100% custom wrap artwork as well.

Again, if you are already spending on stainless steel and aluminum water bottles, and you want the artwork on those bottles to be more impactful, take a look at this line and this program. It is a great way to stretch your marketing budget in 2010.

If you are an ASI distributor Nicki Russo is the contact to talk to at Express Line about this great program. If you are interested in the Express Line to promote your own business contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

is is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, 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.

The following is an interview with Ecopreneurist Alan Harris.

Alan is an artist based in DFW and the founder of BottleCapArtWork.com. The company uses used bottle caps to created one of a kind corporate signage and objets d’art for clients.

Alan’s creations are a great idea for any company whose product uses a bottle cap – here I am thinking brewers of every size and style -  and for restaurants and bars looking for unique storefront and point-of-purchase signage. For more information visit www.BottleCapArtWork.com.

QUESTION: So bottle caps. How and why?

ALAN HARRIS, FOUNDER BOTTLECAPARTWORK.COM: My endeavors with bottle caps started in college, mostly on a whim. It’s easy to throw away a bottle cap; they are so small and seem inconsequential.  But even all those years ago, I recognized in bottle caps their capacity to be a brilliantly colored part of a larger whole.  Some friends and I had been saving our bottle caps for awhile (mostly beer), and I began to experiment with patterns and colors on a large scale on a flat surface. I was a sophomore in college at Baylor University when I had my own delusions about making a “bottle cap table”.  Unlike many of my counterparts, though, I actually had the time, energy and audacity to follow through with my ideas.

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This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, 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.

Oh happy day. I cannot tell you how many clients and fellow Ecopreneurists have in the past gotten very excited about recycled material shirts just to have that excitement evaporate when they are told the shirts are produced overseas.

Well, I am very happy to announce the “discovery” of Concept Eco, which has been cutting, sewing, printing,and embroidering environmentally friendly products for over 16 years in West Palm Beach, FL. And it is Concept Eco who is offering this 50% Polyester from Post-Consumer Recycled Clear Plastic Bottles (PC RPET) & 50% Waste Cotton Tee.

The shirts come in natural and white in youth sizes small through large, and adult sizes small through 3XL. The shirts are a very high quality athletic cut, 1 x 1 rib crew neck, with double needle cover stitched sleeves and bottom hem, taped shoulder to shoulder.

All of which means it looks and feels like a t-shirt, same as any other high quality 50% poly & 50% cotton blend shirt. But this shirt was once a water bottle.

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In the past I’ve written about how you can save money by reducing the amount of paper you use and the 7 basics of green procurement (which includes defining office supplies standards). Now, let’s talk about basic office supplies that are great, green and cheap.

It’s easier to buy green office products than ever before. The three largest office supply retailers, Staples, Office Depot and Office Max each carry thousands of reasonably priced products with recycled content and other environmental attributes.

Some even innovate. Take Office Max, they were one of the first national retailers to carry TerraCycle products and they now sell a range of their products from notebooks made from used potato chip bags to juice pouch pencil cases.

There are also a number of green office suppliers online such as Green Line Paper.com, TheGreenOffice.com or Green Apple School Supply that offer thousands of eco-friendly products. And green promotional item companies like John Simonetta’s ProformaGreen.com and EcoPromotionsOnline.com are also good places to find green office supplies.

I found ten awesome green office supply products under $10 because no matter how small every single purchase has an impact on the environment. Whether you’re buying copy paper or forklifts, that purchasing decision is an environmental decision. So, if you want to start with some small stuff, basic office supplies are a great place to start.  Here are my favorite cheap, green office supplies:

#1. on my list is reasonably priced private-label recycled content copy paper from office supply retailers. A scan of websites today (July 2, 2009) revealed the following prices for a 10 ream case (5,000 sheets) of 30% PCW 20 lb. 8.5″ x 11′ copy paper:

Office Depot: $3.30/ream (for a limited time until stock lasts; regularly $4.00/ream)

Office Max: $4.00/ream

Staples: $4.10/ream

2. & 3. The TerraCycle E-Waste Recycling Can is made from 100% e-waste (such as crushed computers and fax machines) that would otherwise have ended up in landfills. It comes in both blue and green, holds 28 quarts and costs $9.99 (www.officemax.com).  For a more funky and slightly smaller version, the TerraCycle 12″ Urban Art Recycled Trash Bin (its that groovy one above) also costs $9.99 (ShopOnlyGreen.com).

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“Empower people in the US to realize that they have power to influence the global economy through their purchasing choices.” That isn’t some pie-in-the-sky wistful, unrealistic dream. That inspiring vision forms the Earth Mission, that driving force behind World of Good as they aim to transform how we shop by connecting us directly that individual who made our product, even if they are half-way around the globe.

Fostering an economy based on social and economic justice, World of Good, launched by co-founders Priya Haji and Siddharth Sanghvi — just after they graduated from University of California Berkeley Business School — features unique gifts and handcrafts from artisan communities around the world. By selling through an ever-expanding distribution network of retailers nationwide, they are building a whole new economy based on Fair Trade.

Ten percent of their profits get funneled to their sister non-profit organization, The World of Good Development Organization, which helps support artisan communities and works to strengthen international fair wage standards.

“Our aim is to make it easy to help customers make a good choice — not to buy more, but to buy differently,” explains Priya. “They can expect quality, convenience and style — yet the products can be made in a way that actually helps the people who make them. Right now, our products are women’s accessories and housewares. As World of Good grows, our aim is to make the choice for people-positive products easy to find in every category of daily life. We want every human-made product to be a tool of relationship and empowerment for the person who crafted it. Imagine every product not as a material thing but as a bridge of connection and transformation.” Read the rest of this entry »

The path recycling has taken over the past couple of decades has been a promising one.  Inroads into the consumer market have been tremendously successful with recycling programs in many cities across the country.  For one of the country’s largest industries however, the construction industry, there is a lot of room for improvement.

Construction projects routinely over-order material to avoid shortfalls and keep projects on time.  In many cases, this excess material is regularly thrown away because there is no need for it.

One company is setting out to change all that.

CMDepot.com is a website that helps construction companies “visualize” their excess material.  By being able to see what excess material they have, companies can better utilize it.  Today, most projects within a company do not know what excess material is available outside of their own project.  CMDepot is changing that.  By cataloging their excess material using CMDepot.com, companies can quickly look for material across all of their projects in a region.  If excess material is available that fits their needs, they can pull from it and save money.

While recycling is a green practice, even greener yet is reuse.

Clint Eastwood’s iconic Dirty Harry character uttered “A man’s got to know his limitations” but can say the same thing about the Green progress of a company? In the case of the smaller and less capitalized Lake Tahoe ski resort Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort we looked at skied, snowboarded, walked, and peeked around at what Green goings on here at this resort. Like all ski reports they should be concerned about their carbon footprint and global warming because with no snow they have no business.

Sierra, unlike some of the larger resorts like Heavenly, don’t have as much capital to spend on LEED certified buildings, high output photovoltaic systems or biodiesal powered snow-cats but then again they have a smaller footprint in terms of actual buildings (LEED or otherwise) or the amount of high energy snow making machines. Read the rest of this entry »

These days it seems everybody has some sort of recycled/eco friendly paper offering. So what’s the big deal about a Swedish offering making its US debut on Earth Day this year?

White Lines factory reuses their carbon emissions in a closed loop, making for zero CO2 emissions, for one. Then they offset what they can’t reuse (transportation, etc) via planting trees in Africa, as coordinated by environmental consultancy U&W (interestingly pronounced “You & We” in Swedish) The wood used for the paper comes from locally sourced, sustainably managed forests, and woodchip waste from sawmills. And every package tells you the precise carbon footprint, the materials traced back to the source.

And then it gets interesting.

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