As you know, we’re big fans of killer recycling signage, and we believe the best type of recycling signs are large, 3 dimensional, and out of the ordinary.

Recently, Shefali Bhardwaj (an old Viv intern!), spotted these signs outside of a Trader Joe’s in Boston. They definitely fit our bill.

What do you think? Would these signs make you more likely to recycle your aluminium cans and plastic bottles?

Last week we highlighted a major issue that eco-minded businesses are facing:

Plastic food packaging is preventing many of them from recycling more, composting more, and moving toward zero waste.

One of the recommendations we discussed to increase your businesses waste diversion was to eliminate or dramatically reduce the size of your trash can.

Today, I’d like to go into more depth here on this issue and why I think this is one of the most powerful and under utilized tactics to increasing your waste diversion rate as a business.

4 reasons why you should eliminate or dramatically reduce the size of your trash can

1. Eliminating your trash will dramatically increase your recycling & composting rates. Why is this true? Well, changing a person’s behavior is not an easy thing to do. If unmotivated, people tend to do what they’re used to, what’s easy, and what’s comfortable. Most people are used to putting all of their waste in 1 trash can. So long as a trash can is available, that will continue to happen. That’s why you need to do something that will force behavior change. If you’re used to putting all your trash in a trash can and all the sudden there is no trash can… well, now you have to figure out what to do with that waste.
   • *ENTER OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR*. Now you’re confused. You have a bunch of waste, but no trash can, and you’re looking for someone to tell you what to do with your waste. This is where amazing recycling and composting signage + trained employees are key. These signs & people educate you and tell you to put your recyclables in the recycling bin and your compostables in the composting bin. And as a result, you change your behavior and divert more of your waste to recycling and composting bins.
2. Cut down on your waste hauling costs. Many municipalities and waste haulers charge money to take away your trash. If you have less trash, then that’s less money spent having it hauled away. Further, some cities (e.g., San Francisco) offer businesses rebates if they shift their waste from trash to recycling & composting.
3. 

   The DIY Bin Solution Constructed by Rigolo

   Save space in your store or office. Many of the small businesses we’ve worked with have told us that they have trouble finding space for 3 bins: trash, composting, and recycling in the front of their house. The simple solution – eliminate your trash can and move to a 2 bin system for recycling & composting only.
4. 3-compartment waste containers can be hard to find. We’ve also heard this from multiple business owners. One of the businesses we’ve worked with, Rigolo, in Laurel Heights in San Francisco, CA had such a difficult time finding a classy 3 bin system that he eventually had to go forward with a DIY approach (shown to the right), where he sawed holes into the lids of these bins. If you only need 2 bins, there are more options available and you don’t encounter these problems.

(more…)

For most of you, this probably sounds like a fairytale land, filled with green and eco-friendly products (or maybe that’s just me?).

But really, Greenopolis is a new concept that I had never heard of and probably would have never heard of unless I had been on a grocery run at Whole Foods. Located next to the recycling bins for light bulbs, ink cartridges, and old electronics were arcade-looking machines which had slots for aluminum, glass, and plastic (HDPE and PET). There are also two slots located below which are used for scanning the product you have into the machine—based on the kind of product, the Greenopolis kiosk will determine the amount of points you get which will translate into rewards at its various partnered locations.

Greenopolis Kiosks

This is an excerpt of what Greenopolis is about straight from their website:

We are about doing good. Specifically, our goal is to provide you with information and tools to:
-Help you to recycle easily
-Help to save our natural resources for our children’s children
-Track conservation through recycling and re-use
-Educate and reward conservation

So what’s the catch?
There’s really no way to go wrong—Greenopolis pays you back for “closing the loop” by awarding points each time you use the Greenopolis Recycling System to recycle, reuse, or conserve your personal resources. Points can earn you discounts and coupons for entertainment, dining, travel, personal services, and much more. All from nationally recognized names you trust, like Marriott, Johnny Rockets, Domino Pizza and Blockbuster located in the community.

One can earn these points through two main ways: 1) sharing experiences and ideas about recycling and reusing on Greenopolis.com, or 2) by using a Greenopolis Kiosk to recycle beverage containers made out of glass, aluminum. The best part is it only takes 100 points to earn a reward for your eligible activities.

Here are some quick and easy steps to get started on Greenopolis.com:
1. Set up an account on http://greenopolis.com/.
2. Earn points in the two ways mentioned above (submitting a recycling or reusing idea OR recycling your own bottles and cans).
3. Track your points in your own personal point-bank, which is linked to a web-based reward catalog that provides offerings from more than 10,000 retail partners with 130,000 physical locations nationwide. Just enter your local zip code to view the reward offers in your area.
4. Share the wealth. This year, members will also be able to donate points to one of several designated charities to support a cause you love.

Other perks:
• Exclusive travel related benefits just for members (not sure what this entails but I guess you can find out more when you start to rack up those points).
• An online system to purchase discounted tickets to first run movies playing at more than 1,400 theaters nationwide, including those in your area.
• Access to a members-only on-line shopping mall that offers major discounts and cash rebates for purchases.
• Introduction of the Greenopolis App for iPhones that will allow GO members to use their phone to scan materials destined for recycling and automatically upload points.

So if you need a little incentive to rid your residence of recyclables, Greenopolis is a great way to make sure your good deeds don’t go unrecognized. They have modified their three R’s to: Rethink, Recycle, Reward!

Reused is better than Recycled which is better than Trashed. The team has been collecting items at Viv headquarters (HQ) for a donation run and to get some “reuse” from things collecting dust: old clothes, printers, cables, and a ton more.

The team hurried through lunch and bounced over to the local Salvation Army for a drop.  A big bonus: the California sun was out with blue skies!  What a day to stretch the legs.  With arms full of boxes and bags, we even reused some “old-fashioned” food packaging to bundle up the loose clothes.

Jenny with her hands on a giant Quaker Oats box... oats, yum-yum!

Having an (eco) excuse to get out of the office never hurts.  I admit… I had to make a “green” reference somewhere.  Anyways, did you ever think you’d see such a big smile on someone carrying a giant box of oatmeal?

This post is actually inspired by my mom. She rang me up the other day and told me about a whole slew of eco-friendly changes she’s started making in her life.

Some of them are incredibly simple and almost all of them can be applied to both your home & office. As such, I thought we should do some sharing. Here it is – straight from a Viv Mama:

1. “We haven’t used paper towels since Christmas”
2. “I’m not buying paper napkins anymore; we’re using cloth napkins and I just throw them in the laundry”
3. “We’re using recycled toilet paper; I really don’t mind it at all”
4. “I’m actually noticing that we’re recycling a lot more too; I’ve even been rinsing out tin foil and those plastic containers that lettuce and spinach come in and putting them in recycling. Raleigh actually takes a lot of stuff”
5. “I’m even breaking down my Cheez-It boxes!”
6. “I’m trying to cut back on tissues, but that’s gonna be hard…”
7. “I almost always bring re-usable bags to the grocery store (even the Indian Grocer!). I try to keep them on the front seat of the car so that I remember them”
8. “We’re also buying more organic… and cage free for eggs. I was watching this clip from this movie that showed some of the chicken farms. It starts out with these baby chicks on a conveyor belt… and they’re going along… going along… and then they get to the end of this conveyor belt and then there’s this shoot and they slide down it… except they’re all tumbling over each other and everything down this shoot – i really was not ok with it”
   • “Also, they were talking about chickens and how they can take a chicken from birth to slaughter in 7 months now. And how everyone prefers white meat, so they’re breeding these chickens that have such enormous breasts and such weak bones, that they can only take a few steps before they topple over. It’s really pretty sad.”

Looking to make a purchase? Check out our Viv utensils that are 100% compostable.

Our offices are based in SOMA San Francisco and after picking up a salad at Whole Foods for lunch today, I saw the following sign next to their disposable cutlery – Taterware. If you can’t read the sign it says:

“Dear customers, we have been informed by Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling that the present formulation of Taterware cutlery has not been found to be compostable in the commercial compost program at Jepson Prairie Organics where our compost is currently being sent. The product is not presently acceptable in the San Francisco composting program or in its recycling program.”

First, I’ll say this was not a suprise to me, as Taterware is not certified as compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). Further, I have reports on my desk from Cambridge Polymer Group which state that Taterware is made up of 73% polypropylene (or plastic).

I imagine though that this will come as quite a surprise to the many business owners & consumers that use Taterware everyday, expecting it to compost in a commercial composting facility.

Something that many folks don’t know is that “biodegradable” does not mean “compostable”, and while Taterware is labeled biodegradable it was never certified compostable.

I am happy to say that our food ware partner, World Centric, uses cutlery that has been 3rd party tested as containing no plastic and is currently under process of ASTM 6400 testing. (Further speaking to the integrity behind World Centric, they share on their website, that they were previously using cutlery which despite being BPI certified and meeting ASTM standards was found to be not fully compostable. They discontinued the corn-resin which was causing the issue and have now had their utensils re-tested and confirmed as fully compostable containing 0% PP).

If you have further questions, there’s a Whole Foods contact (noted in the sign) that you can reach out to. We’ll be reaching out to Whole Foods to see if they’re interested in switching over to World Centric’s compostable cutlery: a mix of 70% non-GMO PLA and 30% talc.

(ps – sorry for the spills on the sign, looks like Whole Foods customers were a bit messy today.)

UPDATE (8/3/2010): Viv Video | “Biodegradable Packaging vs Compostable Packaging – DON’T get Greenwashed”

We recently received a note from our sticker manufacturer Lightning Labels stating that they would be switching their eco-friendy Earthfirst PLA label material over to a new material called Natureflex – a wood pulp based substance manufactured from sustainably farmed trees. As a side note, cheers to Lightning Labels – these guys have great customer service and noting that we are an environmentally friendly (understatement ;-) ) company made sure to send us a specific note on the switch.

Most importantly though, it sounds like the right move from an environmental perspective. Lightning labels cites 3 main reasons for the switch, and I’ll add a 4th:

1. PLA is made from corn which takes away from the food supply for humans and farm animals, and has contributed to an increase in food prices for products with a corn component.
2. There are problems with the recycling of plastic containers with a PLA label – which means many such containers actually end up in landfills rather than being recycled.
3. Whole Foods is actively discouraging its suppliers from using PLA.
4. Many forms of PLA are only compostable in a commercial composting facility (not in your backyard).
   

You can read more at lightning labels blog about their reasons for switching, and you can also check out an article from Oregon Live regarding composting & recycling concerns with PLA.

For now, we have quite a few PLA-based stickers already eagerly waiting to be stuck. We did however want to share what feels like a smart move on the part of one of our suppliers and let ya’ll know that we’ll be keeping a close eye on the most environmentally responsible way to manufacture Viv stickers.