Eco Blog

Category - green blog

The kids did not disappoint

February 11, 2010

My business partner and I spent two, 1.5 hour blocks of class time with seniors and juniors discussion bio-materials, the state of the industry and where we see it going in the future.  Both classes have some pretty amazing kids who asked some very astute questions about the industry, our business and the future. 

Several students challenged why the products and our closed loop composting system isn’t being made more available to the general public.  We explained that we want to work with the local composting company to ensure that the products are labeled properly and easily distinguished from petroleum based products.  The problem is that many of the products are not distinguishable.  The end result is the composter has contaminates in the form of non-composting, petroleum based products in their compost heap which must be sorted out.

The kids challenged why it is taking so long to make the improvements which have to made to improve our environment.  We explained that there is 50 years and billions of dollars invested in a petroleum based infrastructure.  It will take time for products based on plants to become as cost effective as significant investments need to be made.  What will speed up the transition is the inevitable rise in the price of oil as the world economy returns and demand outstrips supply.  A tipping point will be reached when plant based products will not only make the sense for the environment, but will make the most economic sense. 

We had outstanding discussions on the chemistry of the materials, their uses and where the future lies.  It is our belief that the 80 million tons of petroleum based plastics produced each year will someday mostly be made from plants.  Engineering materials will be developed and uses will extend into automotive, aerospace and beyond. 

The talented juniors and seniors reminded me once more that there is a bright future for our planet.  In their lifetime they will see dramatic changes for the better and they will be leading many of those important changes.  Thanks to the Crescent Valley AP Environmental Science class! We enjoyed the discussion !

Favorite Day of the year

February 9, 2010

On Tuesday the EcNow Tech team will travel to our local high school to teach two Environmental Science classes.  I love the exchange with the kids as they are very tuned into the environment and very savvy.  It always amazes me how they grasp a concept and challenge it.   The students have high ideals and expect more progress than can always be shown in certain environmental fields.  The good news is that they understand the concept of stepping stones and that a curvy path can lead to a better place.  After the class tomorrow I will log some reflections on the exchange with the students.

The Power of Local

September 15, 2009

One of the primary goals of The Earth Smart Store is to purchase as many products from locally made sources as possible.   The new world economy will be based on what can be done regionally and locally.  We are convinced that as the price of oil climbs once again, it will become more and more expensive to ship things long distances.   As the human race wakes up to the fact that we can’t keep pouring carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, locally made products will make more and more sense.  The most important reason is that money that remains in the community, benefits the community as a whole.  

We currently work with a local crafstman to convert old growth Barn Wood into useful furniture, purchase environmentally friendly stains and wood protectants from a local source, and have unique candles and soaps all made locally.  Our goal is to continue to expand the local offerings until most of our store is filled with locally manufactured products.

Choices

September 10, 2009

This may sound like a plea for customers, but is intended to make a more important point.   The  community has been outstanding supporting our company and the green products we represent.   I had a customer come into our store and make the following statement this week (I appreciate the honest feedback):  “You have great, environmentally friendly products in this store, which are affordable, but I have to tell you that unfortunately I often will pick up a non-green product at a place like CostCo simply for convenience because I am there.” 

I understand the customers point.  We all lead busy lives and convenience drives many of our decisions.  My concern is less that they weren’t shopping at my store and more that in order for the products we sell to become mainstream products someday, people will have to choose environmentally friendly products over those offered by the big box stores.  Economics drive decisions in boardrooms.   My hope is that many of the products we sell today become ordinary products in the future.  If that happens it will mean that our society has moved to a much more sustainable way of living. 

   The difference between the big box store products and those in The Earth Smart Store is that many of them are made by local craftsman, all are environmentally friendly either in material choice, amount of energy used to make them or the method they were manufactured.   The more people choose to buy these types of products over those made by unsustainable methods and materials, the faster we will shift our culture to one which is more sustainable. 

I won’t lie to you.  I do hope our company is part of that revolution.  It’s my passion and it’s all about making simple choices.

Green Tailgates

September 1, 2009

The college football season is fast approaching !!  Visit our store and order your Green Tailgate package for your tailgate.  It’s a great feeling to wrap up all the waste at the end of the game and send it to the composter instead of the landfill.  tailgate

Green Events are Great Events

May 26, 2009

Memorial Day was really special this year for several reasons.  We spent a beautfil, blue sky, eighty degree day at Tyee Vineyards in Corvallis Oregon.  Great food, wine and music were provided by the Vineyard and Nearly Normals restaurant.   Both Tyee and Nearly Normals partnered with EcNow Tech to make the event green by using compostable products.

Tyee is a century farm with several generations of the family growing and producing outstanding wines.  They recently purchased a solar grid and will power all of the winery operations with the solar cells.   Not only is the wine outstanding but they are tremendous community supporters.

EcNow Tech helped with the event by providing the compostable wine tasting cups and food service products like plates, utensils, hot and cold cups.   At the event we provided signage for the garbage cans for compostable products and assisted attendees with finding the right cans for regular versus compostable garbage.    Education and proper signage are the keys to a successful event.

I am proud to say that the event went very well and it is very satisfying to say that at the end of the 200 person event there were two fifty five gallon trash bags of compostable and food waste versus a small handful of regular trash.  Before sending the waste to the commercial compost facility sorting was done to determine how well the signage and assistance worked at the event.

The pictures below show the quantity of disposable products ready for composting and the water bottles which were mixed in the compostable waste bags.  There were a few, small plastic bags also mixed in with the compostable materials.  Not too bad for an event this size.  Most people read the signage and made the right decisions with little or no assistance.  

Great food, great wine, great people, great music and two fifty five gallon bags of waste to be turned into useable compost in 60-90 days.  It doesn’t get any better than that !  Congratulations to Tyee Vineyards and Nearly Normals for going GREEN.

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Stepping Stones

May 25, 2009

We do a lot of community service at EcNow Tech.  Educating others and in turn learning from them is core to how we run our business.  Last week we were teaching an environmental science class at the local high school.

The following picture was shown to the students to start the class.   The point I made was that the green industry is not perfect . After comparing it to the current oil based industry the students agreed that we’ve taken a step in the right direction.   We compared the carbon footprint of a fossil fuel based plastic to that of a typical bioplastic.   I view the path we are on as a series of stepping stones, ultimately arriving at the vision of a truly sustainable industry.  Many things are less than perfect, but I think we are moving in the right direction.

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The students asked a lot of great questions which are worth sharing. 

“If the new plastics are made from corn isn’t that taking food out of people’s mouths?”

Fortunately today the industry has not grown to the point where there is a serious impact from using corn to produce bioplastics.  Less than 0.5% of the corn crop is used to create bioplastics.

As bioplastics become more prevalent and the industry grows, this could become an issue.   Corn is a excellent source of starch, but is not the only plant that can be used to create PLA (polylactic acid).    The future vision must be one that does not include a food source like corn for providing the starch needed to create PLA.   Avoiding the issues caused when Ethanol fuel skyrocketed are key lessons to learn. 

“What will happen to one of the products if it is left on my windowsill?  Will it degrade and fall apart?”

The products can be washed, re-used many times or left on your windowsill and nothing will happen to them.  To break down the materials need microbes, water, oxygen and elevated temperatures.   Once the materials are placed in compost conditions they begin to breakdown.  The rate at which they break down is determined by the temperature and conditions of the compost.   Commercial composters will typically break down bioplastic materials in 60-90 days. 

“What if I place the materials in my home compost?”

Home compost piles typically don’t rise to the temperatures that commercial composters do (150F).   It could take 6 - 12 months or longer for the materials to break down in home compost conditions.  Grinding or cutting up the materials helps to speed the rate of breakdown.

“How do I tell the difference between bioplastic and oil based plastic products?  They both look the same.”

This is a great example of one of the stepping stones.  The industry currently labels the compostable materails as “7″ which means “other”.    ”7″ is better than no labeling, but it is confusing to consumers.   Products that are clearly labeled ”compostable” make it  much easier for consumers to distinguish  between products.   

“Can these materials go into our recycling bin?”

No.  The materials are considered contaminants to the recycling streams which exist today.  If a recycling system existed for compostable materials the oil based plastics would be contaminants to the compostable materials as well.  In the future it is likely that compostable products will be both recycled and composted.  This is an area of development as the industry grows.

It was an outstanding exchange with the students who proved time and time again they are very savy with environmental issues and products.   As always we learned as much from the students ad  they did from us.

Why we are in the green business!

May 13, 2009

I just read a great article in Sierra Club magazine www.sierraclub.com  .  It’s titled Message in a Bottle with a picture of a plastic water bottle floating in the ocean.   A man named Charles Moore discovered a patch of  garbage the size of texas floating in the Pacific Ocean.   The effulent of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers were studied and it was estimated that 60 tons of trash poured into the ocean in three days.  It was equivalent to 2.3 billion individual pieces of trash.  Slack currents in the ocean caused garbage from several continents to pile up and grow to a massive size.

Our beaches around the world are littered with plastic refuse and our environment degrades every day as a result of plastics ending up in our waterways.  That’s motivation to help change the way we manufacture and use plastics. 

Developing new innovative and cost effective materials, designs and end of life solutions for products is necessary to reverse the dangerous degradation of our environment with plastics.   This year we will compost over 30 tons of compostable trash, saving it from the landfill and waterways.  That’s our contribution to improving our community and our planet.

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