Archive for the ‘Eco-Friendly’ Category
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Steve’s Real Foodpet food company has adopted a new type of flexible packaging. NVIRO, developed by Eagle Flexible Packaging, is comprised of renewable and compostable materials and printed and laminated with low VOC inks and adhesives. Using materials derived from corn and plant starches, NVIRO packaging can be composted in a municipal composting environment.
Steve’s Real Food is a raw dog food manufacturer. They have committed themselves to holding rigorous environmental standards in regards to packaging. They chose NVIRO flexible packaging because they wanted to be a leader in sustainable packaging. Looking for green packaging can be tricky these days, as so much out there sounds green but ultimately lacks the backing of a misleading marketing message.
The packaging Steve’s Real Food has adopted isn’t just eco-friendly, it’s also quite innovative. They have incorporated a ZIP-PAK Press-to-close solution to make it convenient for their customers to use. The ZIP-PAK is made from the same compostable material as the pouch film.
Tags:compostable, corn packaging, Eco-Friendly, flexible packaging, pet food, pouches, sustainable, VOC inks
Posted in Eco-Friendly, Packaging Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
Facebook announced another eco-friendly effort to continue greening up its empire. They will have a new server farm located in Luleå, Sweden. Because this location in Sweden sits in the freezing cold (the Arctic to be exact), the servers will be cooled naturally saving tons of energy.
With all of the activity on Facebook, its servers are working hard around the clock and produce a lot of excess heat. Traditionally, server farms require expensive, complicated air conditioning systems to prevent over heating. But when your servers are sitting in the Arctic, cooler temperatures will naturally create a cooling system. Facebook’s server farms span 175,000 square feet. It costs $75 million each year to run the servers in the Arctic. Imagine the costs of having a server farm in a warm climate- yikes! The Swedish server farm will also enjoy the benefits of the nearby Luleå River, which provides green and affordable hydro-electric power.
Luleå is in Northern Sweden and is as close to the North Pole as Siberia, and averages a chilly 35 degrees Fahrenheit year round.
Tags:air conditioning, Arctic, energy savings, facebook, server farm, Social Media
Posted in Eco-Friendly, Social Media | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Check out this brand new gadget designed by the fathers of the iPod. The Nest Learning Thermostat is a cutting edge thermostat designed to help cut your energy bill. This smart little device learns your behavior and creates a heating and cooling schedule based according to your lifestyle. Over a period of time it learns when you wake, when you go to work, when you come home, etc. By adjusting the heating and cooling output to your schedule, you can save cash on your utility bill.
Like the iPod, this thermostat is controlled with a simple wheel that helps you program temperature and length of heating and cooling cycles. The thermostat makes a note every time you turn the wheel and compiles data on how you like the temperature of your home. You can also control the Nest away from home with your smart phone.
The Nest costs $249 and will go on sale in major electronics stores next month. It starts to learn your behavior in just a week and has six different sensors that keep track of things like motion, light, temperature and humidity. It knows to change the temperature of a room when you are staying in it, but it also knows when you’re just passing through by detecting motion. These features are great for saving energy and money.
Tags:energy consumption, energy efficient, heating, iPod, thermostat
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
Monday, October 24th, 2011
It’s only one week away. How about some tips to go green this Halloween?
1. Use the WHOLE pumpkin: Don’t just carve it and throw it in the trash November 1st. Use the pumpkin seeds and the carved out pieces for food. Pumpkin seed recipes are all over the web and make for a delicious snack. Puree the pieces of pumpkin you carved out for recipes that call for fresh pumpkin. And if you have a backyard compost pile, throw the rest of the pumpkin in there after Halloween.
2. Skip the expensive costumes: Save some cash by avoiding those expensive plastic costumes in the retail store. Make costumes made of reusable or recycled materials. Check out Green Halloween for ideas.
3. Use recyclable bags for trick-or-treating: Avoid using the orange plastic Jack-O-Lanterns that are used for a couple hours and discarded in the trash. This will also save you money too! Reuse plastic bags or even better, how about those cloth bags you have lying around? They’re strong and can hold more candy than you can dream of your kids bringing home for you.
4. DIY Decorations: DIY means Do It Yourself!. Making your own decorations is fun and expands your creativity. Give a little character to your decorations this year. It’s also a fun activity to do with the kids. Great Dad has some great ways to decorate DIY for Halloween.
Tags:Eco-Friendly, Going Green, Halloween, pumpkin, recycled, trick-or-treat
Posted in Eco-Friendly | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 17th, 2011
It has been almost 2 years since the catastrophic earthquake that devastated Haiti and the relief efforts are still in full force. The Hemp 4 Haiti Project is an effort focused on providing sustainable, reusable goods to victims of the disaster. It’s a great project with a packaging twist.
Using high quality hemp, packaging is created to provide many of the victims with non-perishable goods. After the goods are consumed, the packaging can easily be unwoven and used in many practical applications that are vital to the relief efforts. Hemp 4 Haiti packaging also eliminates waste and pollution by being reusable and sustainable. Check out the photos below.
Tags:Haiti, hemp, packaging, reusable, sustainable
Posted in Eco-Friendly, Packaging Design | No Comments »
Friday, October 14th, 2011
Need an amplifier to pump up the volume on your smartphone? How about “Change the Record”. That’s the newly designed product from London-based Paul Cocksedge. Old vinyl records are reused and then turned into a stylish, retro amp that has the vintage look of a phonograph. Of all the reused products I’ve seen, this might be the coolest one. The best part is that there’s no need for wires or electricity.
The 12″ records are heated and molded into a sound-enhancing conic shape which boosts the volume of the music being played from a smartphone. Of course there’s no volume adjustment but this beauty is all about aesthetics.
Tags:music, phonograph, retro, reuse, Smartphones, vintage, vinyl records
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
Responding to a campaign by Greenpeace, toy giant Mattel announced Wednesday that it will stop buying paper and packaging from Asia Pulp and Paper. The environmental group has linked Asia Pulp and Paper to rain forest deforestation in Indonesia.
Going forward, Mattel will increase the amount of recycled and sustainable fiber used in its packaging and products. The move will focus on using post-consumer recycled content whenever possible and avoiding virgin fiber from controversial sources. The toy maker also said it intends to increase the amount of recycled paper it uses, and to increase the use of wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
By the end of 2011, 70 percent of Mattel’s paper packaging will be made from recycled material or sustainable fiber. It aims to raise that to 85 percent by the end of 2015.
Mattel’s earlier environmental changes included eliminating plastic-coated wire ties that used to be used to secure Barbie dolls and other goods to their boxes. That effort was spearheaded by Wal-Mart.
Indonesia has one of the fastest rates of forest destruction in the world. Indonesia’s rain forest, the largest in the world after those in the Amazon and the Congo, is home to orangutans, tigers, elephants, clouded leopards and scores of other endangered plants and animals. The Indonesian government estimates that nearly 2.5 million acres of rain forest is being lost every year, according to Greenpeace.
Tags:Barbie, deforestation, green packaging, Greenpeace, Mattel, paper, post-consumer recycled, rain forest, recycled
Posted in Eco-Friendly | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 3rd, 2011
A few months back, we blogged about the concept of upcycling. In short, upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or products that cannot be recycled into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value. In fact, just last week we covered a story about Method and their upcycled plastic packaging made ocean waste. Though people have been upcycling things for years, the term wasn’t officially coined until recently. Now it seems it’s becoming quite popular in our eco-conscious world.
The folks at Gadgetsponge.com, for example, are beginning to make quite a name for themselves by making upcycled birdhouses. The birdhouses are pieces of art made from items collected at flea markets, thrift stores, antique stores, etc. The designs are made from a random list of items including old license plates, trophies, oil cans, scrap metal, and metal space heaters. The birdhouses are really colorful and unique and available for purchase on their website.
Tags:birdhouse, birds, nature, scrap metal, upcycle, upcycling
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Method has unveiled its latest innovation in sustainable packaging- a bottle that is made out of plastic collected from the North Pacific Gyre, also referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The bottle contains 100% post-consumer polyethylene, 25% of which is plastic collected from the Gyre. Method has partnered with Envision Plastics who is one of the largest recyclers in the US making it possible to make this Ocean PCR that is the same quality as virgin HDPE plastic.
The process starts will collecting and cleaning the plastic removing unwanted contaminants where it is then blended and remanufactured into high quality plastic. The beauty is that the upcycled ocean plastic can be recycled again and again. Method’s ultimate goal is to raise awareness that the real solution to plastic pollution lies in reusing and recycling the plastic that’s already on the planet. Method also aims to prove that green business can grow the US economy and create jobs.
Method made its first bottle entirely from post-consumer recycled plastic in 2006. Since then they’ve been known as a leading innovator in premium eco-friendly household and personal care products by developing plastic packaging that is completely free from virgin plastics. Method products can be found in over 35,000 retail locations.
Tags:Method, ocean, packaging, plastic, pollution, recycle, reusing, sustainable packaging, upcycle
Posted in Eco-Friendly, Packaging Design | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
In case you didn’t know, tomorrow is World Car-Free Day. So what does that mean? Well, this green holiday will be celebrated world-wide by individuals focused on giving the climate a break by taking cars off of the roads. People around the globe are organizing their own events exploring alternative transportation via wiki to the WCN website. WCN, or World Carefree Network, is loosely running World Car-Free Day.
What are people doing to honor this holiday you ask? Events include everything from group cycling on the way to work to people protesting the lack of non-car transportation options in the street. But if you live in a location where this celebration simply isn’t practical, there are still options for the dedicated. You could sample an electric car from a car sharing program such as Hertz on Demand for the day. Carpooling is another option that is an act of lessening the amount of automobiles on the roads.
World Car-Free Day began in 2008 and tomorrow will mark the 4th time it will be celebrated.
Tags:automobile, bicycle, bike, carpool, cars, electric car, environment, gasoline, pollution, transportation
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
