It is that time of year again–no not for April showers and May flowers, but for Earth Day. As April 22 approaches, every small business will be trying to find ways to ride the green wave of increased environmental awareness. Positioning your store, product or service as green makes perfect sense no matter what your industry. Countless studies show more consumers prefer to patronize sustainable companies. In fact, according to market research firm Mintel, almost 68 percent of consumers can be classified as “light greens” or those whom show some preference toward environmental, ethical products and services. A 2012 Cohn & Wolfe study shows 1 in 5 consumers are even willing to spend a 10 percent premium on a green product.

3M introduced a more eco-friendly version of one of its core products: Scotch masking tape. The new Scotch Greener Masking Tapes are made with 56 percent renewable resources, including paper backing made with 30 percent post consumer recycled content and adhesive made with natural, regenerating latex harvested from rubber trees. The tapes are manufactured using solvent-free and water-based processes. The tape core contains 87 percent post-consumer recycled fiber and the shipping cartons are made with 100 percent recycled fiber. 3M says the new tapes will provide DIYers and professional painters with a more environmentally sustainable choice for painting and other household or school uses. The tapes can also be used towards LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification credits for green building projects. The tape comes in two varieties: high adhesion for use on surfaces such as vinyl, carpet and wood; and medium-high adhesion for woodwork, wood cabinets and trim.

TerraCycle, a Trenton, New Jersey-based waste management consulting firm, has 105 employees, 20 of whom travel. Of those 20, five are "highly intense" travelers, says TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. Some of Szaky’s traveling workers use websites like Kayak and Orbitz, but many turn to a few select employees within the company to handle elaborate arrangements. These employees have proven to be standouts when it comes to managing complex flying, and now act as de facto, in-house travel agents. One such employee is TerraCylce chief administrative officer Ricahrd Perl, the second most frequent traveler at the company. He has flown between 50,000 and 100,000 miles a year for the past 25 years. "I usually do better than travel agents," Perl reveals regarding his ability to book cheap flights. The main advantage to handling his and fellow employees' travel is that he has an intimate understanding of each person's travel preferences and busy schedule. There is no added value in using a travel agent, he says.

Des de l'Ampa col·laborem amb la iniciativa d'una mare de l'escola i d'algun mestre en la recollida de retoladors i bolígrafs per al seu reciclatge. S'han col·locat  capses o contenidors a les classes per posar-hi els bolis reciclats i els pares que vulgueu podeu portar els vostres retoladors i bolis de casa al despatx de l'Ampa, on també els recollirem.

Balfour Beatty Communities is participating in the TerraCycle program to help keep waste out of the landfills and support a good cause. You can help this effort by bringing new life to your old items. Let’s “upcycle” your old shoes, ink jet cartridges, cell phones and smart phones, plastic bottles and cans. Drop them at the community center and we will do the rest. The proceeds from each item will help the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance of Phoenix. Questions/Suggestions?

Frugal and clean ways to use and recycle all that makeup and moisturizer!

Having a lot of beauty products is fun. But there's a responsibility that comes with that, which includes begin green. I feel I must test samples before I can recommend anything. Plus, there's the issue of green beauty — where does it all go afterward? Because really, shouldn't every day be Earth Day? I have a very very frugal and thrifty streak, and I hate throwing anything away when there's even just a smidge left. It just seems wasteful to me and I dislike waste. But that leads to a lot of stuff in every cabinet, closet and corner of my abode. For Earth Day Week, I am determined to make a little more room, and get some feng shui going in the beauty department. Not to mention streamline! I have 12 foundations in my repertoire right now! That's ridiculous. Although, I do use a lot of them... So, a quick look at some money-saving strategies and green routines to get into: 9. Packaging: Let's face it, beauty products are over packaged. Look for green beauty options such as: Physicians Formula cosmetics come in recycled & recyclable cardboard-type packaging. I did have one fall apart in my purse — anything that goes in there takes a beating - but I still used it. You can use some jars for jewelry, other left over makeup (see #3) or container for kids paints but in the end you're still left with the stuff. I don't know about you, but that makes me feel massively guilty, so... The BEST Discovery: A points program for recycling beauty products! TerraCycle is a company that specializes in recycling harder-to-recycle goods, so the you don't have to worry.  Lotsof beauty products are accepted (not: hair spray cans, polish remover, nail polish bottles). Bellasugar says:

Products are then upcycled to build eco-friendly playgrounds throughout the U.S."

As the student manager of his school's recycling effort, James West, 11, has had to teach some Deep Springs Elementary teachers a thing or two. A dead mouse, for example, is not suitable for the recycling bin. "I had to tell them that they can't put it in there," said the fifth-grader, recalling one of his more unusual discoveries in his recycling career. But as James and other Deep Springs students have learned, juice pouches, plastic cups, tape dispensers and even spray nozzles may be recycled with some special effort, in addition to the more typical kinds of plastic thrown into recycling bins.

When my daughter, Olivia Moreland, told me last summer that she wanted to pick up trash at her school, I thought it was a passing fancy, something that she would forget when the school year started. But she didn’t forget. She persisted and decided she wanted to create Earth Patrol, a group at her school that could help. Since the club’s formation, ambassadors – as members are known – have recycled Capri Sun drink pouches through TerraCycle, performed regular classroom audits to monitor recycling and reuse activities, scoured the campus in monthly cleanup efforts and planted hundreds of bulbs donated by Mecklenburg County as part of the 2012 Great American Clean-Up and Keep Mecklenburg Beautiful campaign.

TerraCycle fokuserer på gjenvinning av avfall som sees på som vanskelig å gjenvinne, og som ellers hadde endt opp på søppelfyllinger eller blitt forbrent. Som speider i Mandal KFUK-KFUM-speidere er Hilde til vanlig veldig bevisst på å kaste minst mulig i restavfallet—og det passet henne derfor fint å nå også kunne ta miljøansvar for varmdrikkskosen sin.