I recently attended the Store Brands Decisions Innovation and Marketing Summit in Chicago, IL, through which I gained a greater appreciation for private label brands, also called store brands or own brands. The Summit brought together a really interesting group of speakers, that included a number of retailers with successful store brands including Walmart, Family Dollar, and Office Max. The first misconception the speakers shattered … More
I recently returned from a week-long trip aboard the MSC Poescia, as staff for the music festival Jam Cruise, managed by Cloud 9 Adventures. This was my fourth year on the boat, where my duties include administration of the “Conscious Cruiser” program and Volunteer Management under the nonprofit arm of Cloud 9, called Positive Legacy. While clearly cruise ships are far from being ecologically beneficial, … More
We are excited to announce that the Packaging Recovery Label System—a voluntary label developed by GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) to communicate to consumers how to recycle a package after its use—is officially in the marketplace! Seventh Generation’s limited edition 180 oz. detergent bottle and new 22 oz. pre-wash spray both now carry the How 2 Recycle label. Both products are widely recycled, and carry … More
Today is America Recycles Day (ARD)! Brought to us by Keep America Beautiful, ARD brings together organizations and communities from across the United States to celebrate recycling. There are events scheduled around the country to bring awareness to the importance of recycling the valuable resources we all depend on for our lives and livelihoods. Like the “Every Day is Earth Day” slogan, integrating recycling more … More
We have received substantial interest in the Packaging Recovery Label System after our announcement of the initial pilot participants this month! We also received some comments focused on the Resin Identification Codes (RICs) for plastic packaging (and durable goods), so I’d like to provide some clarification and additional information about why we are proposing an alternative approach. When we refer to “replacing” the RICs, we … More
Though options for recovering food waste and compostable packaging are beginning to expand, home composting remains an easy and fun way to divert these valuable materials from landfill. Here at GreenBlue, we collect these items and I have the honor of taking them to my home compost pile (though our nine chickens get some choice tidbits). Besides the environmental benefits (our nearest landfill is over … More
Several of us just got back from one of Virginia’s premier music and art festivals, FloydFest, where I led a 32-person Green Team (in my spare time—not an official GreenBlue function!). We focused on recycling and composting, but there is so much more to it than that: waste prevention, volunteerism, education, and community building. It’s so amazing to see the heartfelt gratitude of staff, artists, … More
Many of you may have seen recent media coverage of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s Labeling for Recovery Project, Restart the Cycle, a voluntary national label program to communicate about the recyclability of packages to consumers. As the project manager for this long-term endeavor, I particularly appreciated the labeling system being described as “reality-based.” Indeed, one of the goals of this project is to better understand and implement … More