Just out of curiosity, are any of you getting the new iphone when it comes out on July 11? I am, but this is not why I’m writing the post. Instead, I want to tell you about something cool Apple is doing…with the box.
Apparently, Apple’s iphone will offer packaging made of potato starch, and supplied by PaperFoam. According to PaperFoam’s website, their packaging is carbon friendly, has low CO2 emissions, and 100% recyclable.
The company that I work for offers boxed software, so I often get pulled into meetings to talk about packaging. It’s been a struggle for us to find an eco-friendly solution (it costs a lot), so I’m totally digging the fact that there are more and more eco-friendly alternatives out there.
When someone asks paper or plastic, what’s the right answer? A couple months ago, I wrote about the evils of plastic bags and how many cities, including Seattle and San Francisco, have legislation in place or proposed to ban them. As it turns out, plastic bag bans may not be so great after all.
If plastic bags are banned, retailers will turn to their next best (economical) alternative, which are paper bags. As luck would have it, paper bags not only kill trees (although many are manufactured from recycled paper), but they cost more to transport due to their increase weight to volume ratio, require 40 percent more energy to manufacture, and take 91 percent more energy to recycle (pound for pound) when compared with plastic bags. Paper bags contribute more to global warming than plastic bags. It turns out plastic bag bans and paper bags aren’t so great after all. Boy, this environmental and global warming stuff sure can get complex with these second the third order effects.
Should we just throw up our arms in protest and give up? Of course not! Give up is never an option at TTMYGG. If you don’t know already, the answer to my question above turns out to be neither! What we all should do is carry reusable shopping bags. There are numerous places to buy them, and many only cost a few dollars (or less!). Some supermarkets such as Whole Foods even give you a credit for bringing your own bag, meaning you can recoup the cost of the bag fairly quickly. Trader Joe’s enters customers carrying reusable shopping bags into a monthly lottery to win $50 in free groceries.
If you’re feeling particularly flush with money and want to make a reusable bag fashion statement, don’t worry, there are many options. If you really don’t want to donate this money to a good cause, you can buy designer reusable bags. Castiglioni has a folding nylon bag which retailers for $843, while Stella McCartney has an organic canvas tote for $495. Not to be outdone, Hermes sells its Silky Pop grocery bag for a mere $960, but at least it collapses into a wallet-size pouch. Trader Joe’s bags come in at a whopping $3. Decisions, decisions,…
I lived in Chicago circa 1993-2004, during which most of this time I lived near Lincoln Park (Lakeview to be exact). I worked in downtown Chicago and would hop on the 151 (bus) everyday. I had my ups and downs with the 151 – it safely brought me to 333 East Wacker and back without fail, but was crowded and downright gross in the heat of the summer (picture your face being smashed into someone’s armpit when the bus lurched to a stop.) Yum. Regardless, I loved the freedom public transportation afforded me. The fact that I only used my car on the weekends is a total 180 from my life today, where I basically drive everywhere and everyday (public transportation in Mountain View, CA is sorely lacking in comparison). Anyway, there are other things I miss about Chicago – the food, the summer festivals, Ravinia, etc. I can go on and on.
Well here’s one more reason why Chicago is a great city: Mayor Daley. Regardless of your political party affiliation, you have to admit that he’s doing a pretty good job of making Chicago one of, if not the greenest cities in the US today. Here are just a few examples:
- Chicago’s City Hall is the country’s first rooftop garden on a municipal building – Check out the Featured Projects link on this website
- The Green Alley Project where alleys are retrofitted with environmentally sustainable road-building materials (there’s a lot more interesting information about this project here)
- Museums (all of them) have been converted to partially run on solar power
- All new public buildings to achieve at least LEED Silver status
Check out this cool PDF which shares more info on some of the other big green projects Chicago has completed.
OK, I know I am supposed to be posting about palm oil, like I promised in my last post. It’s coming people!
In the meantime, I just want to tell you how much I love zappos.com. What does this have to do the environment, you ask? Well I’ll tell you in a moment – hold your horses!
So I love Zappos for several reasons – they have an awesome return policy (365 days!!), free shipping & returns, and uber fast delivery. Yesterday, I ordered some shoes (4pm PST) and they arrived TODAY (at 2pm). How is that for service?
OK, so why am I posting about Zappos? Well, I just happened to buy a pair of envionmentally friendly shoes made by Simple Green Toe Shoes. These shoes are green because… (I stole this description off the Zappos website):
- Ship in Simple’s totally state-of-the-art/back-to-the-future post-consumer recycled box.
- 100% post consumer paper pulp foot forms.
- Super comfortable upper is constructed from hemp and organic cotton.
- Bamboo lining is soft and comfy.
- All natural latex pedbed covered with an organic cotton canvas for a massaging feel.
- Water based cements are employed for bringing the shoe together.
- Recycled car tire outsole provides grip and traction.
I’m totally digging these shoes – these are my first pair of “green” shoes and I highly recommend it!
It occurred to me recently, as I was cleaning up some mess I made, that I use too many paper towels. The NRDC estimates that if every household in the United States used one less roll of paper towels, we could save 544,000 trees.
But what’s the alternative? Well, first, there’s recycled. The NRDC has a fantastic buyer’s guide of brands to shop for, and some to avoid. Buying recycled is one easy step we can all take.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can replace paper towels altogether. I did some digging online, and found that people have done a variety things, including buying reusable versions like twist sponges or rags, or even making their own.
Have any ideas for how to use fewer paper towels? Let us know!
Just out of curiosity, are any of you getting the new iphone when it comes out on July 11? I am, but this is not why I’m writing the post. Instead, I want to tell you about something cool Apple is doing…with the box.
