Tag Archives: green

Earth Day Promotions that Help Save the Planet

Happy Earth Day! So Earth Day promotions focus on how they are made of recycled material. That’s great. But wouldn’t it be great if your promotional products actually helped save the planet? Here’s one that really does…

Water bottles.

Water bottles are becoming an even more essential promotion as time goes on. Why? We have a whole generation of earth conscious consumers influencing the economy. Need proof? As reported in promotional product journals Advantages and Counselor published by the Advertising Specialty Institute (March 2013), the University of Vermont has become the largest public institution in the United States to ban sales of single-use plastic water bottles. In their place, the college has converted many of the campus’ water fountains into water refilling stations. Yay, UVM!

I’ve seen this trend recently, too, at a smaller suburban campus here in the Chicago area. And these schools are not alone. The articles also report that across the nation 22 private schools have enacted similar single-use water bottle bans.

Think about it. We’re going to have a whole generation of folks entering the workforce that will be trained to refill water bottles instead of buying a bottle. The implications for facilities, food service and events are huge. If these people are in the habit of refilling, they’ll be looking for refill stations and bottles to refill.

This is good news for marketers who want to use water bottles to promote their businesses. And it’s good news for the planet since there will be less plastic floating about (and sometimes it’s floating in oceans, rivers and lakes) and the huge carbon footprint needed to ship water which is super heavy is reduced or even eliminated.

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USA Made Water Bottles at USAandUnionMadePromoShop.com

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Heidi Thorne Writes Book on Eco Friendly Promotional Products

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Promotional products marketing expert, author and speaker, Heidi Thorne, of Thorne Communications LLC, has published a book on eco friendly marketing titled, Eco Friendly Promotional Product Guide: A Green Marketing Handbook for Small Business. The book is available in paperback and e-book format through Amazon.

Watch EcoFriendly Promotional Product Guide Intro on YouTube

“Some of my small business clients certainly wanted to go green with their marketing. But they were having difficulty deciding what to buy and often were not buying environmentally friendly items at all due to cost,” says Heidi. “So I collected many of my green promotional buying tips into a quick, easy to read guide book to help them make more effective and cost effective decisions.”

Unlike other books on promotional products, there are no photos of example products in the book. “This is by design and not default,” Heidi explains. “Product offerings change rapidly in this industry. And because making earth friendly choices is more about having the right mindset and values, once those are in place, making buying decisions gets a whole lot easier.” Also included in the book is a sample of the Green Promo Score Sheet which helps determine how eco friendly and socially responsible a product is.

For more information on the book and links to order, visit EcoFriendlyPromotionalProductGuide.com.

About Heidi Thorne

Heidi Thorne has been selling promotional products since 1999 and has over 25 years experience in sales, marketing, advertising and public relations. Her company, Thorne Communications LLC, has been offering eco friendly promotional products since 2008. In addition to being founder and editor of the Promo With Purpose Today blog, Heidi is the author of two other books, SWAG: How to Choose and Use Promotional Products for Marketing Your Business and Business Competitive Advantage: A Handbook for Small Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Consultants.

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Reusable Bags | When They are Not Green

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We all know that using reusable bags for shopping, events or trade shows are a great idea for the environment because it reduces or eliminates the need for single-use plastic bags. But we’re fast approaching a time when their green value may have peaked. See why in this video:

Click Here to Watch Reusable Bag Glut on YouTube

So how do you know if you should buy or bypass providing reusable promotional bags for your event? Ask yourself these questions:

Will conference attendees naturally be bringing their own briefcases and backpacks? Bypass. Important Note: If you do decide to ditch the distribution of reusable promotional bags at your event, alert attendees in advance so they know to bring their own.
Do you have a lot of small items that need to be distributed to attendees? Buy. It will speed the distribution process at registration and eliminate the need for multiple small bags.
Does the bag design allow for use in multiple scenarios, i.e. shopping, conferences, work? Buy. Look for those with longer handles that allow over-the-shoulder or hand carry use. Also look for those with sturdy fabrics for longer wear.

Got another idea for ditching promotional tote bags at events? Share with us in Comments below.

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Shop for Promotional Reusable Bags from PromoWithPurposeShop.com

Heidi Thorne’s Green Tradeshow Lanyard Tip Featured in Meetings & Conventions

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Earlier this year, Heidi Thorne, of founder and editor of Thorne Communications and PromoWithPurposeToday.com, posted a video blog titled Promotional Tradeshow Lanyards – How to Save Money and Go Green which discussed some strategies for dealing with the waste of earth resources and money that one-time use lanyards create. The ideas presented in the video and comments were picked up for The Frugal Planner’s Tip of the Week for December 6: Lanyard Ho! by Meetings & Conventions magazine.

Included in the tips picked up by the magazine was the “sweet” chocolate-for-lanyard collection idea from Judy Kucharuk of Footprint Management Systems, an event planning firm which specializes in green events, and The Green-Eyed Event Planner blog.

Thorne Communications thanks Jonathan Vatner, Meetings & Conventions, and Judy Kucharuk for their support of the PromoWithPurposeToday.com blog.

New FTC Green Marketing Guidelines | Too Little, Too Late?

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The Federal Trade Commission has recently proposed new FTC Green Marketing Guidelines. (Click here for a PDF summary of the proposal. Click here for a great review of the subject from GreenBiz.com.) Overall, I think this is a good thing. But is it too little, too late?

This proposal is the first change to these guides since 1998. 1998! That’s 12 years, a lifetime in marketing terms. The green movement has exploded since then and pervades just about every aspect of life and business these days. Plus, there are hundreds of green certification programs that have cropped up, estimates going as high as 300-400 different certifications. Why have these been allowed to take root? In my opinion, lack of FTC activism. Even when the FTC called out some companies for their claims of textile products being made of bamboo, it was really a claim based on general mislabeling, not green claims.

In the FTC’s defense, I understand why they may not have taken a stronger role during this time. It’s because we can’t define what “green” really means. It can mean anything from reusable products to LEED certification for buildings to biodegradable packaging to products made with renewable energy… and the list goes on and on and on.

One of the biggest issues is that of biodegradability. Seems like every time I write something about the subject, I’ll receive, usually heated, commentary about how this or that can or cannot be considered biodegradable. In the proposed guidelines, “For solid waste products other than those destined for landfills, incinerators, or recycling facilities, the proposal clarifies that the ‘reasonably short period of time’ for complete decomposition is no more than one year after customary disposal.” Okay, finally a benchmark. Sticking point for me is “customary disposal.” What is customary? That’s where consumer behavior comes in. Do consumers know how to properly dispose of the product? Will disposal instructions have to be listed on every product that claims it’s biodegradable? Then there’s the point of aerobic versus anaerobic landfills. There’s also the question of what residue is left when it biodegrades. Just a lot of room for interpretation.

What I find most troubling about this as a retail marketer of promotional products is that I have to rely on my suppliers to substantiate any green claims they might make. That’s why I hand select my suppliers and the products that are featured in my company’s PromoWithPurposeShop.com. Product descriptions for eco friendly products, which are provided by my suppliers, include why the products are greener options (biodegradable, recyclable, recycled, etc.). However, with the introduction of these new guidelines (a final version of the guidelines is targeted for the end of this year), I hope that we will see even more detailed product information from promotional products suppliers. To date, it’s been pretty vague and pretty frustrating for someone like me who wants to encourage clients to select greener products.

So what do you think about the new FTC green marketing guidelines changes? Looking forward to your comments.

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Green Tradeshow Ideas | 3 Exit Strategies

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Recycle Bin Ah, the irony! While a presentation drones on about the evils of plastic water bottles and what should be done about it, attendees at a green new product showcase search for a place to pitch their now empty plastic water bottles. A showcase host replies, “You know, we hadn’t thought about that. Just throw them in the regular trash.”

In case you’re wondering, yes, this really happened.

Making your tradeshow or event greener is a start-to-finish affair. What we’ll be looking at here are green tradeshow ideas that are “exit strategies” you can use to make sure your green efforts don’t go walking out the door when your event ends.

1. Bins for Used Lanyards and Name Badges at Exit – Unless the lanyard is super-cool or your event is attended by those who need them for their security badges, it is unlikely that event attendees will ever use them again in the future. Same goes for the plastic badge holders. Why not collect them at the event exit and reuse them for next time? This will not only help the earth, but will save you money since you can buy less for the next event.

2. Bins for Plastic, Paper, and Aluminum Waste at Exit – The amount of these waste materials generated at events can be huge. With still low recycling rates at the individual level, chances are the pile of paper, plastic containers, and cans will promptly be pitched into the straight-to-landfill waste stream in a hurry once they leave the building. Tap in to people’s desire to unload unnecessary weight at the end of an event and provide separated recycling bins at the exit. Unless you plan to haul it away yourself, this effort will have to be coordinated with the event facility for pick-up.

3. Recycle or Ship Back Show Materials – It’s the last few hours of an event and what do you see? Booth personnel scrambling to get rid of show materials so they don’t have to pack, ship or drag them back home. What a waste on multiple levels! If you are stuffing brochures or promotional products into the hands of unwilling show visitors, where do you think those items will end up? Of course, in the trash, likely as soon as they leave the show. These materials will also likely end up in the landfill-bound trash, not recycling bin. If you unnecessarily hand out show materials, you will probably have to reorder or reprint them for another event. So you have increased costs for the earth and your marketing budget. Plan in advance how you will handle the return or recycling of unused show materials and advise your booth personnel of procedures.

Click Here to Find Ecofriendly Promotional Products at the PromoWithPurposeShop.com

How to Start an Ecofriendly Casual Friday

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By now, Casual Fridays are a standard business practice in many companies. But what if you could take that concept one step further and encourage ecofriendly values by creating Ecofriendly Casual Fridays?

An Ecofriendly Casual Friday would still allow the business casual dress code of a standard Casual Friday. However, employees would be encouraged to wear at least one piece of ecofriendly apparel. Ecofriendly apparel options would include items that are made with organic, sustainable, biodegradable or recycled materials. You might also want to add social consciousness categories to this list such as fair trade, USA made, and union made.

Sounds easy enough. But once you start looking for the ecofriendly (or fair trade) label in many popular clothing retailers, you’ll find that items qualifying for one or more of these categories are scarce. What’s more is that it is often impossible to determine if an item qualifies while shopping in the store. You would have to do some significant supply chain research to determine many items’ qualifications.

With the retail arena scenario as it presently is, you might want to provide a way for employees to share why the item they chose to wear is ecofriendly and where they purchased the item. That way they can assist fellow employees in finding good ecofriendly sources and make it an educational exercise as well.

What would employees gain from this exercise? First, employees would become aware of how non-ecofriendly many of their everyday purchases are. The goal would be to encourage them to vote with their wallets by redirecting spending to those items and retailers that are aligned with these values.

There may be some resistance by employees to participate because they may not share ecofriendly values. So whatever you do, do not turn this into a battleground. Just make it a fun program to participate in. You might even want to start a contest to reward those who wear either the greatest number of ecofriendly clothing items on a given day or those who wear the most ecofriendly items (i.e. 100% organic, post-consumer recycled, etc.). A gift card to an ecofriendly clothing retailer would be an appropriate prize.

To jumpstart the program, why not consider imprinting some ecofriendly promotional T-shirts with your company name to distribute to your staff? That way those who may not be very interested in expending effort or money to find their own ecofriendly clothing can at least participate by wearing the company-provided T-shirt.

If your business is already in the ecofriendly arena or instituting green initiatives, establishing an Ecofriendly Casual Friday would be a way to help bolster these values in your company and, through your employees, to the community at large.

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Recycling Events: Green is a Habit Not an Event

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This was the scene at a recent recycling event. Hundreds of cars lining up to participate. Hundreds of gallons of gas wasted while idling. What a waste of resources!

Had some electronics, old books, cell phones and such that I wanted to dispose of properly. So I was glad to see that a neighboring suburb was hosting a recycling event which coincided with the United Nations’ World Environment Day.

I planned to arrive at the event about two hours before it was to end. Figured it might take about a half hour. As I neared the site, I saw a stream of cars waiting to turn into the parking lot. Drove up into the queue and waited… and waited while the number of cars in line continued to grow. Eventually, a staffer began walking up to each vehicle in the line to tell them that it would take about two hours to get through the recycling event and that she hoped we had enough gas in our cars for the wait.

Ah, the irony! All of us were going to be participating in a green event while idling our cars for hours. According to the California Energy Commission Consumer Energy Center, for every two minutes your car idles, you use about the same amount of fuel as it takes to go one mile. So with a two-hour wait time, I would have wasted approximately enough fuel to go 60 miles. Depending on your car, that could be anywhere from two to four gallons of gas. Now multiply that by the hundreds of cars that were idling at this event.

As soon as I got the word about the wait, I drove out of line and decided to participate in another recycling event later in the year. Figured I saved about three gallons of gas that would have been used to literally go nowhere.

It might be easy to fault the suburb for not preparing properly for this kind of response to the event. But I don’t think that’s the problem. The problem is that these “recycling extravaganzas” are held so very seldom, maybe once a year. So hundreds, maybe thousands, of citizens are piling up their items for an entire year. Then when the event arrives, they descend upon it like a swarm.

The good news is that there are hundreds of people who are consciously disposing and recycling items that would normally head to a landfill. I was certainly encouraged by that. Green is becoming a habit for many, not just an occasional event.

If you are planning to host recycling events for your group or municipality, keep these tips in mind:

Prepare for High Participation Scenario – The public is interested in doing their part. Make sure you have adequate staffing, waiting areas, collection containers, and traffic control to handle it should that occur.
Consider Hosting Multiple Events or Continuous Collection – Yes, it is added expense to host multiple events or offer continuously available collection points. But weigh that against the expense, both financial and environmental, of a large recycling event. To figure out the carbon footprint of your event, visit the CarbonFund.org website and use their event calculators.

It is not fair to fault consumers for lack of participation in recycling programs. Green is a habit that must be encouraged and enabled. Make sure your recycling events do just that.

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Eco Friendly Promotional Products You Should Never Use for Arbor Day

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Pine Cones Right on the heels of Earth Day is Arbor Day on the last Friday in April. What seems like a natural fit for eco friendly promotional products to give away to celebrate the holiday? Tree seedlings. What’s the one promotional product you should NEVER buy to promote Arbor Day? You guessed it, tree seedlings. Why? Isn’t it good for the environment to have more trees?

Yes, it is good to have trees, lots of trees, in our communities. They help filter the air of pollutants, provide shade and cooling to buildings, and are just delightful to view.

However, what people forget when giving away tree seedlings is that the little sprout could one day reach a height of 40 feet or more, with a drip line (the spread of the tree’s root system) that could be up to 12 feet diameter or more. So an improperly planted tree’s root system could interfere with anything that is within that drip line circumference, including sewer and water systems, foundations, and other structures.

Trees require special care when planting to survive and thrive. If planted too close together, the trees will not have enough room to spread their growth and could fall into ill health or restrict the growth of other surrounding shrubs and trees. They also require some careful watering to establish themselves properly. Once a tree’s health fails, it may need to be removed, sometimes at an expense into the hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Plus, neighboring properties could be impacted by either a tree’s roots or growth. That is not a way to make friends in your neighborhood.

A better promotional product for these environmentally friendly holidays would be products are made of recycled paper. That will really help keep our planet filled with trees!

Image Link to American Forest Global ReLeaf Program Another option would be to buy ecofriendly promotional products that make a donation to an organization that supports trees or environmental efforts. If you buy one of the products in our EcoSmart Collection at the PromoWithPurposeShop.com, a donation is made by the supplier to American Forests’ Global ReLeaf program which plants and cares for trees. Program no longer available.

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See Eco Friendly Promotional Products at PromoWithPurposeShop.com

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Earth Friendly Holidays to Celebrate in April

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Unless you’re living under a rock, you’re probably aware that April 22, is Earth Day. Earth Day was established in 1970 to promote green values. To find out more about this holiday, visit EarthDay.org.

Another earth-friendly holiday coming up right after Earth Day is Arbor Day on the last Friday in April. Arbor Day was established to encourage the planting and caring of trees. For celebration ideas, visit ArborDay.org.

How will you celebrate these earth friendly holidays? Share in comments.

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