CustomEarthPromos - Eco Blog US

According to Denver Post, Oogave Organic Soda, a Soda company had begun distributing LOCA or natural diet soda line through stores and retail chains like Super Target Stores throughout the nation. The president of the company, Gannon Merrell is hopeful that consumers will like the soda line. While consumers have liked diet soda cans, the president hopes they will also like its bottled version. All Natural Diet Soda by the Company On 30 May, 2013, Oogave Organic Soda announced through a press release that their all natural diet soda line is now being distributed nationwide through Whole Foods in Northern California and Fresh Market stores with their nationwide presence. Meanwhile the company's original soda line, Oogave, continues to be expanded nationwide through the Super Target stores. The company's original soda line was well received by consumers, so the company is hopeful that their new soda line will also do well in the market. Earlier, the consumers warmly received all natural diet soda in cans. This time the soda line has been introduced in bottles to fill in the void of tastier options. The sweetener used in the bottled soda line is agave nectar, while the diet line Oogave sodas is sweetened using a blend of stevia and agave nectar. There are a variety of flavors in which the diet line comes such as Ginger ale, Cola, and Root Beer. They are packed in 12 ounce cans of six packs. It is expected that in the near future WholeFoodsRockyMountain will most likely pick up the diet soda line. Currently, their bottled sodas are available in Super Target stores within the “Grab and Go” section. The Benefits of Eco-Friendly Promotional Items Like All Natural Diet Soda There are a large number of benefits of consuming eco friendly promotional items like organic foods and drinks. The strong reasons why many consumers prefer organic foods and drinks are health and ethics. In other words, it is both healthy and ethical to consume organic foods and drinks. The ethical concerns arise from experiments involved with genetically modified food whether in plant or animal forms. Additionally, there is a growing concern about environmental disaster which can be saved by the organic movement. Several consumer surveys have shown that health is the main reason people prefer to go organic. In addition, consumers are aware that dangerous fertilizers and pesticides, antibiotics, as well as growth hormones are used in the traditional food production and manufacturing processes. So, organic foods and drinks are safer, healthier, ethical, and environmentally sustainable. In fact, the traditional food production processes have led to a number of diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, cancer, allergies, and skin problems. There are over 5000 food additives that are used in food processing and the dangerous chemicals in them have led to current health disaster. Source

It has been reported in an article dated May 30, 2013 that the residents of Austin city and of nearby places, have begun to take advantage of the personalized recycled bags law on March 1, 2013. The large stores such as Walmart, East Ben White, and H-E-B have been surveyed to ascertain whether the rate of shoplifting has increased post the bag ban or not. Statistics of Theft in Megastores Calls for Recycled Bags Law As per a data collected by local police, megastores that are considered as busy places show that incidents of shoplifting have increased since March 1. Walmart reported three cases of theft in January, eleven in March, and about nine cases in April. H-E-B reported 26 instances in January, around 17 in March, and over 30 in April. Only the Texas Retailers Association, which was always against bag ban, stated after questioning their member units that retailers do not have sufficient data to make a graph of whether instances of theft have increased post the ban placed on plastic bags. In other cities as well, rise in the number of thefts was attributed to ban on plastic bags. About a year after the ban came into effect in Seattle, one in every five businesses reported increase in the number of shoplifting cases, owing to plastic ban, as per a poll led by Seattle Public Utilities. Recycled Bags Law Due to Usage of Personalized Recycled Bags J.J. Treviño, Brownsville police officer, said couple of months after the bag ban placed there, that shoplifters were taking away stolen goods in trolleys out of stores. Initially, some stores did not offer any substitute for the banned plastic bags, which is why customers took advantage of the policy, by carrying out unaccounted stuff in carts. But once the stores started offering personalized recycled bags, the number of thefts decreased. However, the officer did not have much data to backup this story like other stores in different cities. Even if there have been thefts, they cannot solely be attributed to the ban of plastic tote bags. David Silva, police officer at Austin, reported that people from neighboring cities are also coming to Austin to take advantage of the system. He witnessed a bunch of minors from Taylor, pushing out a cart of goods from Walmart, without paying or even possessing a receipt. Silva stated if they had no bad intentions, they could have simply purchased the merchandise back at Taylor, but he suspects that they came all the way to Austin to capitalize on the bag ban. These thefts have also risen due to lack of checking at the exit points. Suzanne Guesser, a shopper commented that after she paid the bill at Walmart there was no one to even ask for the receipt. Police and other organizations do not agree with this phenomenon simply because they cannot link shoplifting with bag bans. They feel a number of other reasons such a depressed economy and greed could equally be attributed to these thefts.

According to the Shoreline Area News website, the ban on use of plastic bags in the city is being opposed by a group of people. These people are giving out petitions in order to bring down the ban which was approved by the city council. Paper bags that cannot be recycled are also banned under this law. The ban has certain exceptions like use of plastic for wrapping fresh flowers, fresh vegetables, take out food, and meat. How Does the Non Woven Bags Petition Work? First of all, the opposition needs to obtain a certain amount of signatures from the registered voters of the city of the previous general elections. In this case it is 15% of around 35,000 voters. This means the opposition needs to get around 5000 voters to sign the petition. They need to do all this within ninety days. If they succeed in getting the required number of signatures, they can proceed with a citywide vote. The procedure of signing the petitions was started by them from the 14th of May. On the other hand, the ban is not going to come into existence till February 2014. The rules for getting this petition signed are more challenging than obtaining an initiative in the statewide vote. The latter demands eight percent of the total voters to sign. Also, the time period given for collecting these signs is six months. If the opposition fails to garner enough valid signatures, the power will go in the hands of the city council. In such a case, the city council can either repeal the ban by passing the proposal or let the voters decide in the next general election. Non Woven Bags Manufacturers to Benefit From the Ban The ban on plastic bags will prove beneficial to the non woven bags manufacturers. After the ban, residents of the city will have to switch to recyclable paper bags, reusable bags, non woven bags, and other eco friendly bags. These bags are definitely better than plastic bags. Many of these reusable bags can be customized too. This adds to the attraction factor. These bags can be easily recycled and reused and do not pose dangerous environmental hazards unlike plastic bags. Plastic bags are not bio-degradable. This is the main reason for imposing a ban on the use of plastic bags. This ban has already been implemented in many cities in the United States of America. Source

The beginning of the 2013 season of Jefferson Farmer's Market will be marked by a cutback on plastic bags. It will supposedly be the first-of-its-kind program in the city where the vendors will give away reusable bags like imprinted custom bags instead of plastic bags. These bags have been donated by CareOne of Moorestown, a Senior Care Company. Details of the Imprinted Custom Bags Program Jefferson University Hospitals and Philadelphia's Farm to City organization have partnered in a program to reduce the use of plastic bags. With this initiative, they hope to unite farmers, families, and communities with healthy locally grown food. In this program, the customers will be given reusable bags while they shop and will be encouraged to get the bags back with them, next time they come for the same. This will come a long way in cutting back the use of plastic bags that are very harmful for the environment. One of the officials said that on an average a single farmer uses around 75 plastic bags every week. These bags are used to pack vegetables, fruits, eggs, baked goods, jams, and grass-fed beef. The Jefferson market is held from 11 am to 3.30 pm every Thursday at the corner of the 10th and Chestnut streets. Benefits of Using Imprinted Custom Bags Many cities have adopted rules that limit the use of plastic bags. A reduction in the use ultimately leads to a decline in the littering of plastic bags. Though the council of Philadelphia had proposed a fee on the use of plastic bags, yet the idea didn't really work well. The plastic bag industry itself encourages recycling as a means of reducing the litter that is caused by plastic bags. They also promote the conservation of resources that are used in making these bags. Use of imprinted custom bags is a good way to combat this problem. These bags are not only environment-friendly but also very easy to recycle. They do not affect nature the way plastic bags do and are a safer and better option. About the Organization Jefferson Country Farmers Market is a non-profit organization. It was founded in 1992. It consists of vendors, farmers, and community members that support organic farming. Their main aim is to educate people about environment, health, and benefits of consuming food which is produced and sold sustainably. Over the years, they have expanded themselves with many educational and developmental programs. Source

The Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County officially sanctioned the execution of SB 405 on Tuesday. This ordinance ensures the banning of use of plastic bags by citizens of Los AngelesCounty. This order was initiated by Gloria Molina, Supervisor of Los Angeles County in 2011. However, in 2012, Paul Koretz, the Los Angeles City Council member, motioned a similar law which seeks to ban plastic bags in Los Angeles. The collective impact of both laws shall make California a plastic-free zone soon, says Molina. The Pace of Destruction Saved by Green Bags The state of California accounts for consumption of about 19 million plastic bags in a year. That means that, each household uses approximately 1600 bags in a year. Not even 5 per cent of these millions are sent for recycle or reuse. The remaining 95 per cent are responsible for the vast stretches of litter visible across the city. Once produced, a plastic bag takes 500 years to decompose naturally. By then, the damage is irreversible. Promoting Green Bags To combat littering, the Board has suggested the use of recyclable bags or green bags. Molina inaugurated the Los Angeles County's Plastic and Paper Carryout Bag Ordinance on July 1, 2011 for medium stores and on January 1, 2012 for small stores. The ordinance banned stores from supplying poly bags to customers and applied a charge of ten cents on paper bags if customers chose to purchase. In order to replace plastic bags with green bags, SB 405 shall bring the following changes from 2013 onwards: From January 1, 2015, grocery stores and pharmaceuticals would be forbidden from providing plastic bags to customers. In case paper bags are introduced to customers, they will be charged for, accordingly. From July 1, 2016, the same shall be applicable to liquor and convenience stores. To aid this sudden change, Molina collaborated with the Los Angeles County's Department of Public Works and organized free green bag giveaways at 28 locations in 2011. Rewards for 3 R's In 2009, Molina enlisted more than 1,450 fragmented Florence-Firestone students as “Earth Defenders” to decrease their individual family's usage of poly bags. Students were rewarded with “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” prize stickers. Students who could collect the maximum number of stickers, in a couple of months, received awards, such as Dodgers baseball game tickets or free bicycles. Eventually, pupils from Florence-Firestone could avoid about 4,000 plastic bags from being circulated. Encouraged by this response, Molina appointed another 3,800 Earth Defenders, from Valinda, who protected 7,000 poly bags from littering the roads. In 2010, another 4,000 East Los Angeles schoolchildren joined the cause and saved about 7,500 poly bags from affecting the environment. Source

Recycling lunch trays made of plastic foam at schools can not only decrease a lot of trash collection expenses, but can also train young minds to become environment friendly. Helped by P&R Paper Supply, Riverside Unified School District is doing just this by participating in the recycling program called “Going the Extra Mile”, which will include lunch tray recycling. A Recycling Program for Plastic Lunch Tray Recycling “Going the Extra Mile” is a foam recycling program that has benefitted Riverside Unified School District along with a few others. In this program, students are required to stack their used trays back into the packing cases after they have disposed off the leftover food. The trays are then stored to be picked up. P&R Hybrid trucks pick up these trays once every week and deliver them to Dart Container Corp. where the trays are reprocessed. After being reprocessed, the trays are sent to a local company in Chino, where they get transformed into eco friendly promotional items like photo frames or crown molding. Currently, 28 elementary schools in the Riverside District are participating in the program. This has resulted in 33,000 foam trays to be recycled every week, which results in 1,320,000 foam trays to be recycled every year. Recycling these food trays has effectively reduced the district's waste by half, resulting in fewer trash pickups every week. The program has not only saved Riverside Unified School District a lot of money that would otherwise be spent on trash collection, but has also provided opportunity for the students to be readily involved in the recycling process. This has taught the students how important it is to reduce landfill wastes, and hopefully they would apply this knowledge in their everyday life too. P&R Paper Supply has provided a cost-effective, yet easy way to recycle foam trays through the “Going the Extra Mile” program. However, there are other products made of polystyrene foam, apart from foam lunch trays, which are recyclable. These recyclable products can be recognized by the symbol #6-PS in a triangle found underneath packages. Polystyrene foam is also used to create shock absorbent blocks for packing electronic goods like computers. It would be nice if the program included these for recycling as well. The Need to Promote Lunch Tray Recycling in Schools School waste consists of 80% recyclable items. That is why encouraging eco friendly promotional items in schools can have a large impact. Apart from reducing the amount of recyclable paper that is unnecessarily sent to landfills, recycling at schools also has the benefit of imbuing students with eco friendly behavior. Source

American consumers are becoming more and more aware about the benefits of organic food. Consequently, the demand for organic food is continuously on the rise and the industry is gaining power. But some Congress members are not yet ready to accept that. There have been tensions over a farm bill recently, with disagreements over organic and conventional methods of agriculture. Organic Food Industry Under Discussion The bill that is under discussion aims to permit the organic food industry to set up a unified promotional campaign for the whole the industry, which would be aided by the US Department of Agriculture, but without incurring extra costs for the government. Previously, these promotional campaigns have been limited to individual food items. But after this bill is passed, the organic industry will be able to set up campaigns that promote all organic foods together. Though many of the farm-state Republicans are against this bill, eight newly joined Republicans are supporting it. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, owner of a soybean and corn farm and a farming equipment company, supports this bill not only because a lot of her constituents prefer organic food, but also because she believes that supporting eco friendly promotional items is good for agriculture. According to her, organics are growing rapidly in the market share, so it seems sensible to allow organic farmers to promote their own products. The Benefit of the Bill to the Organic Food Industry The organic industry is growing so fast, that it has earned $35 billion in the last 10 years, and achieved 10% growth in the previous year alone. Above 17,000 organic companies have been certified till now. But some consumers are still not aware that goods marked “natural” may not essentially be certified or organic. According to a member of the Organic Trade Association, Laura Batcha, the new bill can benefit the organic industry by helping campaigns that will make the difference between “organic” and “natural” clear. Rep. Kurt Schrader, who originally proposed this bill, says that promoting organics can bring people back to the farms, especially when popular culture has portrayed farms to be evil. Encouraging eco friendly promotional items and non-traditional agriculture can position the farming industry favorably in the eyes of the urban consumers and change their minds. Currently, the organic products advertise themselves as healthier than traditional products. Though this outlook has helped the organic industry to grab more market share so far, some committee members are in opposition of this attitude. They are of the view that organic products should not promote themselves at the cost of other industries. So the bill would have to become positive in this regard before it is passed. Source

Shopping for the residents of Encinitas in California may not be all that fun anymore. The City Council is planning to ban plastic bags. The customers will be provided with paper bags for which they will be charged an extra amount. A similar ban was considered in 2008 but the rule never got drafted. Reaction to Imprinted Reusable Bags Learning from the neighboring city of Solana Beach, Encinitas City Council has come up with this consideration. Plastic bags have been banned in Solana Beach for a year now and initially the rule received mixed reactions from the customers as well as the sellers. Shay Roberts, who works at Kamay Beauty in Solana Beach, said that people stopped buying from his store after he implemented the rule .They were miffed about paying an extra amount (usually ten cents) for the bags that they once got for free. He also added that he has heard some customers leave saying that they don't want to pay extra ten cents. Shay Roberts also mentioned that the beauty supply store did not experience much of a decline in its business as once the customers realized that it was the law, they were fine with it. After an initial jolt, the customers understood how this law actually helps the environment and are now happy with the law. Why Imprinted Reusable Bags? Banning plastic bags and charging customers for paper bags will be a learning experience for the latter. They obviously will not want to pay extra for something that was once available for free. To avoid this, they will start carrying their own bags. Imprinted reusable bags are a great way of saving themselves from the unnecessary payment and also a sensible step towards doing their bit for the environment. A shopping enthusiast, Danielle Dietz-Livolsi, said she loves carrying her own bags while shopping. She absolutely shuns the idea of plastic bags. She added that plastic bags are very dangerous for the environment given the fact that they take thousands of years to break down. People have understood that plastic bags are non-biodegradable and the best way to take them down is to stop using them all together. The Mayor of Encinitas, Theresa Barth, announced that the decision on banning the plastic bags will be taken by a vote sometime around late August or early September in 2013. She also made sure that the decision will be taken based on the reaction of the residents of Encinitas. Source

The Environmental Club of Lauralton Hall has been holding eco fashion shows annually for eight years to raise awareness about recycling. Named “Trash the Runway”, it is always run only by the female students, and this year, with some help from Village Vogue Boutique, the show incorporated outfits of vintage style mixed with contemporary fashion. The Annual Eco-Fashion Show of the Club The annual fashion show of the Environmental Club of Lauralton Hall has always been run by the students. According to Donna DiMassa, the club moderator, this makes the girls feel empowered as they are the ones who manage the entire project and make it successful. This is the eighth time Trash the Runway was held. This year the students brought some vintage fashion into their eco-friendly clothes. Village Vogue Boutique of Milford helped them do it. Like always, the show this year strived to encourage the use of eco-friendly promotional items and sustainable living. It was held on May 16 in Lauralton Hall. Showcase of Eco-Friendly Promotional Items at the Fashion Show Trash the Runway always showcases outfits made of recycled items, and this year was not an exception. Last year, a skirt created with note cards that students use for studying, and a dress created from sandwich wrappers were among the most stunning recycled clothes showcased. This year, Village Vogue selected outfits for the show, and the club moderator is hopeful that this will encourage students and faculty alike to wear recycled clothes as everyday wear. This year, more than 50 girls wore recycled outfits on the ramp, and the details of the dress and the reason for making them was narrated from the background, during the show. Village Vogue owner, Karen Quinn-Panzer says that she was delighted to work with Lauralton Hall in their fashion show. It is amazing how the show transforms trash into something so beautiful. Wearing eco clothing is not only ecology responsible but can also be very fashionable. The Benefits of Eco Fashion The materials used to make eco-friendly clothes are generally organic cotton or other kinds of natural fabric which are produced using non-toxic methods. After disposal, these products will also disintegrate sustainably since they were not produced using synthetic chemicals. Eco-friendly clothes made of recycled items can also divert materials away from landfills, giving them a better use. Other than being socially responsible, using eco-friendly promotional items in clothing can have personal benefits as well. Eco-friendly clothes can be durable as well as very comfortable. Besides, if you can knit, you can create some very fashionable as well as eco-friendly clothes at home. Source

Wholesale custom shopping bags are very important for retail business. They not only pack their products in them, but can also personalize them which will help in promoting their business. You can get them in hundreds of designs and colors on many online stores. Let's have a close look at your options. Wholesale Custom Shopping Bags Variety of Materials and Styles Wholesale custom shopping bags are available in wide range of designs and size because merchandise available on stores is so varied. From greeting cards, to shoes to clothing, stores should properly package the shopper's purchases. Depending upon your products, you can get them in different sizes. They come in plain tops, but some bags even have handles made using cord drawstrings, plastic or paper twine. Retail stores us bags made from white or brown paper and have matte, glossy or plain finish. You can get these bags in wide range of colors, but most of the businesses prefer them in vibrant eye catching colors. These bags have large surface area and can be easily imprinted with your company logo. Mostly, store bags have satiny, rough or woven textures. You can find plastic shopping bags that are available in T-shirt style with a drawstring top. The plastic used for making them can be either heavier gauge or thin gauge like plastic in leaf and lawn bags. These bags are lined with thin plastic lining. In fact, you can even get bags made using stiff frosted plastic that retains its shape. These days reusable grocery bags made using canvas are quite popular and can be imprinted with stores name and log. You an also find many paper bags made using recycled paper. These bags are best for businesses that care for our fragile environment. Shopping bags- best for advertising For stores, one of the best ways to advertise about their products or services is through their logo and business name imprinted on the outer side of the bag. People not only take their purchases from stores in these bags, but later on reuse them for other purposes also. Office goers take their lunch in small shopping bags or can carry books from or back to the library. You can find such bags on many online stores that sell them at wholesale rates. In fact, you can save good money by placing a bulk order for these bags. These online retailers can even personalize these bags for you by imprinting them with your business logo.