Beauty brand Burt's Bees has teamed up with National Geographic on an initiative to draw attention to the issue of climate change.       The US beauty label and the media giant have announced a social media blackout dubbed #NatureBlackout, timed to coincide with the UN Climate Summit. Following the blackout, the brand will appeal to its followers to make a #ChangeforNature pledge on September 26, with each new habit triggering a $10 donation to the National Geographic Society to focus on the reduction of plastic waste in the ocean. "As a brand founded to connect people to nature, we must protect it," said Paula Alexander, Director of Sustainable Business and Innovation at Burt's Bees, in a statement. "National Geographic is committed to generating solutions for a healthier and more sustainable future," added Valerie Craig, Vice President of Impact Initiatives at the National Geographic Society. "To date, we've awarded more than 14,000 grants for bold, innovative and transformative projects. One of our current priorities is researching solutions to prevent plastic waste from entering the ocean. We're thrilled that for each #ChangeforNature pledge, Burt's Bees will donate $10 to support our efforts to reduce individual plastic consumption and the flow of plastics into watersheds." The beauty industry has seen a wave of sustainable initiatives recently. Earlier this year, Procter & Gamble-owned hair care brand Herbal Essences joined forces with waste management giant TerraCycle to launch a series of bottles comprising 25% beach plastic, while REN Clean Skincare has pledged to become completely "zero waste" by the year 2021. The personal care conglomerate Unilever recently unveiled a three-part plan to target plastic use in the US, including a pledge for 50% of its plastic packaging to be made from post-consumer recycled (PCR) content by the end of 2019, and Lush Cosmetics marked World Oceans Day this year with a limited-edition ‘Shark Fin Soap' that saw 100% of its sales proceeds directed to the Rob Stewart Sharkwater Foundation, which fights for the protection of the underwater predators.

Beautiac founder and CEO Drea Gunness-Groeschel shares her journey to startup success, along with advice for other female founders.

Drea Gunness-Groeschel is serial entrepreneur with a passion for product optimization. She recently founded Beautiac, a makeup brush subscription service known as the “Dollar Shave Club” of beauty. The company sends customers a starter kit with brush handles and removable, replaceable makeup brush heads that use a pop-on, pop-off design like a razor. Then, customers receive new brush heads monthly in order to keep their skin clean and clear – without the hassle. Beautiac then collects old makeup brush heads and sends them to Terracycle, a global leader in recycling, to be turned into community beautification objects like park benches and planters.   The Nashville, TN-based entrepreneur created Beautiac to cater to a variety of needs. In addition to makeup lovers and those looking for blemish-free skin, Gunness-Groeschel discovered early on that her product also helps women who have motor skill troubles that make washing brushes nearly impossible. We sat down with her to learn more about her history, her journey with Beautiac and her advice for other female founders. Thank you so much for joining us! To start, can you tell us what brought you to pursue an entrepreneurial career path? Thank you for having me!  Ever since I was a little girl, I was always a negotiator.  I had a clear understanding of what I wanted and I would go after it, constantly looking for ways around the “no” until I hit a “yes.”  This was probably pretty tough on my mother! But my parents are entrepreneurs and they constantly encourage me to pursue big ideas and unique opportunities, and not to settle for the easy path.  Cash flow, marketing, employees, and other entrepreneurial subjects were common conversations at the family dinner table. Nothing was off limits and it was all about my parents facing different challenges over the years as they grew their business.  So you could say I’m cut from the same cloth and I’ve been around startups since I was born.   Can you tell us about your company, Beautiac, and what you think makes it stand out from other companies in the beauty industry? Beautiac is an exciting new concept in the online beauty space.  I invented a makeup brush system that “closes the loop” in a skincare routine by providing a recyclable makeup brush with a replaceable head.  With all the money we spend on great products and cosmetics, it’s important to ensure that when we apply our makeup, we’re using a great brush that isn’t harboring blemish-causing bacteria.  I was getting breakouts and found that clean brushes were the key to healthier skin, but didn’t have the time to wash my brushes and wasn’t sure that when I did they were actually truly clean.  So I invented the brush system and accessories to help others like me. I’m also not the full glam kinda gal, I believe in simple beauty and that we shouldn’t spend hours in front of the mirror.  It can be stressful and there are other things I’d rather be doing, but I still want to look great and be “me” at the same time. This belief gave Beautiac the culture it has today. Some of us are glammy, some of us are more basic, some of us fall in the middle – and Beautiac’s focus is to provide great innovative products that can help everyone with their everyday beauty routine by making it faster, simpler and healthier.  We are the first producer of this cool product and proud to see so many people who are happy we brought this concept to life!   What is the most exciting thing that has happened to you since you founded Beautiac? Getting real customers – of course!  Any startup goes through this moment when you think you’re onto something, but there is always a tinge of doubt looming: “what if people don’t get it, or don’t like the product?”  But since we launched we’ve seen super positive reactions. We also have a product that has the ability to truly help people in their daily lives. People with motor skill trouble often struggle to wash their brushes thoroughly enough to maintain their makeup hygiene.  This was an unexpected value to the product that has really struck a chord with me. We started receiving emails and DMs from customers that thanked us for making a product that was easy to use, so they could have clean brushes and feel proud of their makeup routine. Nothing is more motivating than to help other people feel better about themselves and continue to support their journey for independence and good personal care.   Every founder makes mistakes. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting & what lesson you learned from that? Oh gosh where do I start!  Entrepreneurs make mistakes all the time, but the trick is to be flexible and quickly recognize when a mistake is made so it can be corrected as soon as possible. I will say that sometimes a mistake can be classified as a mindset.  A negative mindset can be the most common mistake that happens without anyone even realizing it! Often a startup is so difficult that it mentally can wear on you, long hours, learning curve, lack of life balance. There might be days when you wonder why you are doing what you’re doing.  Going down that rabbit hole can often be a mistake. So I try to recognize when I begin thinking negatively and force myself to not have conversations with myself, especially negative ones. I’ve trained myself to catch my thought process and steer it back to a positive subject when I begin to criticize myself.  Often those negative self conversations aren’t true, aren’t real and are based on made-up stories about self criticism and “what ifs.” Quickly gain control of your thoughts and push them towards something positive fix to your negative thoughts. It will bring your energy up, and days later you’ll realize the conversation with yourself was nothing but you giving yourself bad advice.  Think big, be positive.   What advice would you give to other female leaders on how help their team to thrive? Have meetings, lots of meetings.  People tend to get tied up in what they are doing, especially when working as a startup can be long hours jam packed with “to do” lists that feel never ending.  Communication can often get lost and it’s the most important aspect of any startup as procedures aren’t fully in place and decisions can change day to day. By having meetings daily, you will ensure everyone is on the same page and it will help a team gel and run smoothly.  Not to mention that as a female leader, I think I can connect on an emotional level. This is a great skill that women tend to possess and often something that is thought of as a negative female trait in business. I disagree and believe it’s a huge positive. It makes me relatable and approachable by my team.  Which is important in the early stages as the startup ride can have several ups and downs emotionally and everyone needs to support one another through the thick and thin as the business builds. There is always a place for passion in my company. I encourage it.   None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?  My family is truly my rock and the reason behind my successes.  They are a great source of honest advice, good soundboards and my cheering squad when things get tough.  I’m lucky because everyone in my family is a business owner, and has amazing insights to share when I ask for advice, and even when I don’t!  But there are two people in particular for Beautiac that helped me get where I am today. Brad Borne is our product technical advisor. He has several decades in development of scalable product and manufacturing techniques, and he is simply the best of the best.  What I believe separates Brad from the rest is that Brad goes the extra mile. He went to China with me to find the right factory. He even went back to China to ensure our production was being handled correctly, when I was unable to go due to my pregnancy. He did this without a question.  He is a major player on this team and I’m grateful for the relationship. My uncle, Andrew Adler, is the other. Andrew is a serial entrepreneur with big wins under his belt. He has an exceptional eye for marketing and has the unique ability to identifying future market shifts. A bit of a business crystal ball reader as well.  He is an expert business mentor and investor, and is by my side as we chase the next unicorn.   What are five things you wish someone told you before you founded your own company, and why?  I’m not sure I have five things I wish someone would have told me.  The reason I say this is that I’m sure someone did tell me, and I probably didn’t listen!  Often we need to learn lessons on our own, or get to a certain place in our expertise where we know what questions to ask and how to discern advice.  After all, not all advice is good advice. When I think back to my beginnings as an entrepreneur, one of the lessons I may have missed would be sometimes you just can’t out-work a problem.  Some challenges, no matter how much time you put in, just can’t be solved without additional resources. I worked so hard in my last company, my personal life suffered greatly. In hindsight, I didn’t need to neglect my personal life as much as I did and I still would have found myself in the same place.  Learning what challenges to prioritize and knowing what you have or don’t have as resources to meet those challenges is a major lesson for success.   Lastly, can you tell us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote” and how that has been relevant in your life as the founder of Beautiac?   “Don’t Expect a Thank You” – my sister once said this to me.  She said if your expectation is to always receive a “thank you” when you do something nice or you put in the extra effort, you will often be disappointed and may even hold resentment when it doesn’t come.  Do it instead for yourself. Being a leader and an entrepreneur is often a thankless job. We are at work first and last to leave, we work nights and weekends, and make huge sacrifices. But ultimately I wouldn’t want it any other way.  I do it for my soul, not because I expect a thank you from my employees, investors, or vendors. Freedom from self-inflicted expectations is an amazing thing! — Published on September 24, 2019

A young Quebec company is dedicated to the nutritional health and better fitness of people swept away by the whirlwind of long working hours, where poor nutrition, lack of energy and good nutrients are slipping into the agenda. This startup is called Landish, a word that comes from outlandish (strange, unknown) and which, unlike the latter, would mean "familiar, not so strange."   This name perfectly describes the brand new Landish products coming to the market, namely protein bars and powders, a range of natural products, nutrient dense and containing beneficial ingredients such as insects, algae and certain varieties of mushrooms. as many high-performance foods that have been consumed for ages in many parts of the world. That's how six bars and five protein powders are offered to meet the needs of people in a hurry and overworked, whether for a quick breakfast, the small cravings in the middle of the day when the energy is on the decline, when traveling between two appointments, and even before or after training. In fact, all the reasons are good to eat with a Landish product, especially when the snack is both good for the taste and for health! A question of balance and well-being at work ... The Landish team is made up of dynamic and dedicated people, who are very aware of the importance of maintaining a good balance between a healthy and varied diet and physical exercise, despite the heavy workload in the office. With this in mind, they organize a series of outdoor activities every month that they offer to various businesses in downtown Montreal with the goal of getting their employees moving. These outings have already started in May and continue throughout the year, even in winter. Already, Mistplay, GoMaterials, Building Stack, Heyday and Life House companies have agreed to participate, knowing that moving in a group is always more stimulating and fun. Transportation is provided by Landish, not to mention the snack with protein bars during a well-deserved break! ... and a question of environment Landish is also sensitive to the future of our planet and is constantly looking for solutions to reduce its environmental impacts. The young company relies heavily on responsible food and sustainable development. And it makes it a priority! It has therefore decided to tackle two problems: food packaging waste and deforestation. The company spares no effort to reduce the impact of its bar wraps, which are made of rolled aluminum to maximize the freshness of the product, like most of these products on the market. Recycling of this type of packaging is not offered by municipalities. Landish has partnered with TerraCycle, a company specializing in the recycling of "non-recyclable". The latter transforms difficult to recycle materials and makes them park benches, garbage cans, chairs, etc. To find out how to participate in this eco-responsible movement, simply register here. In addition, for each online order made on the Landish site from Quebec, the company is planting a tree in the province, in partnership with the organization One Tree Planted. According to this organization, since 2001, Quebec has seen a decrease of seven million hectares of forest land. For more info: www.landish.ca  

Beauty brand Burt's Bees has teamed up with National Geographic on an initiative to draw attention to the issue of climate change.       The US beauty label and the media giant have announced a social media blackout dubbed #NatureBlackout, timed to coincide with the UN Climate Summit. Following the blackout, the brand will appeal to its followers to make a #ChangeforNature pledge on September 26, with each new habit triggering a $10 donation to the National Geographic Society to focus on the reduction of plastic waste in the ocean. "As a brand founded to connect people to nature, we must protect it," said Paula Alexander, Director of Sustainable Business and Innovation at Burt's Bees, in a statement. "National Geographic is committed to generating solutions for a healthier and more sustainable future," added Valerie Craig, Vice President of Impact Initiatives at the National Geographic Society. "To date, we've awarded more than 14,000 grants for bold, innovative and transformative projects. One of our current priorities is researching solutions to prevent plastic waste from entering the ocean. We're thrilled that for each #ChangeforNature pledge, Burt's Bees will donate $10 to support our efforts to reduce individual plastic consumption and the flow of plastics into watersheds." The beauty industry has seen a wave of sustainable initiatives recently. Earlier this year, Procter & Gamble-owned hair care brand Herbal Essences joined forces with waste management giant TerraCycle to launch a series of bottles comprising 25% beach plastic, while REN Clean Skincare has pledged to become completely "zero waste" by the year 2021. The personal care conglomerate Unilever recently unveiled a three-part plan to target plastic use in the US, including a pledge for 50% of its plastic packaging to be made from post-consumer recycled (PCR) content by the end of 2019, and Lush Cosmetics marked World Oceans Day this year with a limited-edition ‘Shark Fin Soap' that saw 100% of its sales proceeds directed to the Rob Stewart Sharkwater Foundation, which fights for the protection of the underwater predators.

In anticipation of the Global Climate Strike, final documents were drafted to establish a new Eco Belles club on Wednesday, which aims to encourage Belles to make sustainable choices and lead recycling and other sustainability initiatives on campus.   Rebecca Klaybor, a Saint Mary’s junior and president of Eco Belles, said she was inspired to start the club after she took a costume shop class taught last semester by Melissa Bialko, professional specialist in costume design in the SMC Program of Theater and now faculty advisory for Eco Belles.   “This class discussed ethics in the fashion industry so that’s what sparked my true interest in the environment along with climate change complications,” Klaybor said.   Saint Mary’s junior and Eco Belles vice president Emily Emerson said she noticed a lack of sustainability clubs on campus and wanted to change that.   Emerson, Klaybor and Bialko began to work together last year to develop sustainability initiatives for the Saint Mary’s community, which eventually culminated in the founding of Eco Belles.   “We’re working with a group called TerraCycle,” Emerson said. “They have a whole bunch of free recycling programs, and eventually we would like to be able to use their boxes, where you can put anything besides food waste in and they will figure out a way to recycle it for you.”   She said though the program is great, buying and shipping boxes is expensive and they are trying to raise the money to participate in the box program. However, other recycling initiatives led by the group are already active on campus.   “We’re also currently working with Nike and H&M,” Emerson said. “Nike will take any kind of shoes in any condition and make them into different clothes, new shoes and even basketball courts. H&M recycles fabrics and is working with the theater department because we use a lot of different fabrics and we have a lot of scraps.”   TerraCycle has multiple different recycling programs that Eco Belles are participating in, she said, including programs to recycle used Brita filters, contact lenses, razors, oral hygiene, clean makeup products, personal products and the packaging in which all of these items are sold.   “You don’t really think about [the waste] until you see that there are ways you can recycle [these products] instead of just throwing them in the garbage,” Emerson said. “I hope this makes the campus much more sustainability-minded and recognize where things are being just thrown in the trash when they don’t need to be. And just being more conscious of how much waste we produce as a campus is huge. This is a necessary step to take as a school, because it can be broadened across the tri-campus community and to other colleges across Indiana.”   The main way that Saint Mary’s students can get involved, Klaybor said, is to start collecting items to donate and recycle. On campus, there are bins outside of the costume shop where students can bring donations or recyclable items. Eco Belles will then organize and send that collection to the proper place.   Eco Belles meetings are every other Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Saint Mary’s costume shop in Moreau. Klaybor invites everyone to bring their own mugs for coffee and tea, as well as whatever donations and recycling they may have.   “I hope that people will learn that being eco-friendly is easier than what people think,” Klaybor said. “People just need to be taught how easy it is to recycle throughout their day. I hope that campus can learn that being eco-friendly isn’t that difficult, and there are small things that can make a big difference in the long run.”

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Brand: Tom's of Maine   |   Manufacturer: Tom's of Maine Item Dimensions: 8.88 x 1.69 x 4.81 inches (22.6 x 4.3 x 12.2 cm)   |   Package Dimensions: 0.6 x 1.5 x 9 inches (1.5 x 3.8 x 22.9 cm) First Available: 2016-05-03 Amazon Price: $17.34 | as of 12/09/2019(3:14pm pst) Availibility: Usually ships in 24 hours List Price: $17.34 See Amazon Reviews | Add to your Amazon Wishlist

Ask business executives, environmental activists and academics what it means for a business to be sustainable, and you will get an array of answers. Also, one company’s “sustainable” move could hurt the environment in other ways. Add to that the fact that making any change to an existing business practice is expensive, and it is easy to see the conundrum facing businesses around the world in light of the climate crisis.

There is no single definition of ‘sustainability’

The head of the United Nations is setting a daunting goal at the U.N. climate summit in New York this week: completely transform the world’s economies to be more sustainable and find solutions to climate change. “The climate crisis is caused by us, and the solutions must come from us,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York. “There is a cost to everything ,but the biggest cost is doing nothing.” But what does “sustainable” even mean? “There is a crippling vagueness about what sustainability means,” said Geoffrey Jones, a business history professor at Harvard University and the author of “Profits and Sustainability: A History of Green Entrepreneurship.” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during the opening of the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 23, 2019. Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters While carbon emissions are receiving much of the focus because of climate change, deforestation, water shortages and soil erosion are also serious problems that should not be ignored, Jones said. Many companies are buying their electricity from renewable energy, which saves them money in addition to emitting fewer carbon emissions, for example. But some environmentalists have raised concerns that rare materials used in solar panels are mined unsustainably, the panels themselves are not recyclable and solar energy companies do not effectively track their carbon emissions. The lack of a firm definition means there is a lack of accountability, as well. Businesses are increasingly claiming to be sustainable, but few can provide hard evidence that their business practices are not damaging the environment. Last month, a group of Fortune 500 CEOs announced they would no longer make shareholders’ interests their sole priority and promised to “protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses.” Environmentalists expressed cautious optimism about the move, saying it needs to be backed up by real change that customers can see. The problem of rhetoric over action has been made starkly clear in investment funds that claim to be socially responsible. Environmental, social and governance, or ESG, funds often include oil and gas companies, which are major contributors to carbon emissions, or other large companies like Coca-Cola, which produces 110 billion single-use plastic bottles per year. Many of the companies included in those funds have taken steps to reduce their environmental impact but are still far from having a neutral or positive impact on the environment.

Determining the value of sustainability

Shifting business practices to be more environmentally-friendly can be expensive, at least in up-front costs, which makes businesses averse to making necessary changes. “Someone can come up with a cost of doing something different much more quickly than determining what is the value to the business,” said Bruno Sarda, president of the Carbon Disclosure Project North America, a nonprofit that collects information about how companies are trying to reduce their environmental impact. It is relatively easy to calculate the savings from buying renewable energy, Sarda said, but not all sustainability solutions are as straight-forward. Changing an entire business supply chain to use more sustainable raw materials or recycle those materials, as Apple has promised to do, is likely to require a costly initial investment even if it would pay off years later. One immediate benefit of implementing sustainable business practices? It can build goodwill with increasingly environmentally-conscious customers. Government regulation can encourage companies to change their practices by putting a higher price tag on environmental damage, but politicians are often hesitant to increase regulations for fear of hurting business.

Consuming less can reduce profits

Supporting real sustainability means encouraging customers to consume less,, environmental experts say. That goal stands in direct contrast to companies’ business models, which is to expand and sell more of their product. But some businesses are trying to find a balance. Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear company, has long advocated for reduced consumption. “We hope our existing customers do indeed buy less. But we hope to attract more customers that are interested in our message: to build the best product, to reduce our impact and cause the least amount of environmental harm,” Doug Freeman, Patagonia’s chief operating officer, told the PBS NewsHour in 2015. Patagonia closed all its stores and offices Friday to allow its employees to join the global climate strike, and it’s pledged to only use renewable or recyclable materials in its products by 2025 as a way to reduce carbon emissions. Patagonia has the flexibility to make these decisions that could cut into profits in the short-term because it’s a privately held company so it is not pressured to show quarterly growth like publicly-traded companies. Patagonia’s products, however, are more expensive than many other companies, which makes marketing difficult in a marketplace where consumers tend to choose the cheapest option. For Patagonia’s model to work in the larger marketplace, consumers either have to believe that the higher price they are paying for a product now will save them money later because they are paying for a higher-quality product and will not have to replace it in the near future, or they have to be willing to pay the higher price in exchange for being more environmentally friendly. Both scenarios require a change in mindset, which economists say is not easy to achieve.

Climate solutions require collective action

The economic problem known as the “tragedy of the commons” posits that people believe if they do not use a natural resource, someone else will, and they will lose out. That mindset leads people (and companies) to deplete valuable resources. As a way to get around this problem, companies have been teaming up with each other and with environmentally-focused nonprofits. Loop is one such effort. Earlier this year, Walgreens and Kroger partnered with TerraCycle, a waste management company, to sell dozens of consumer products through a circular shopping system. Customers of Loop can buy a wide variety of products, from pasta to shampoo, in reusable containers. The products are delivered to the customers’ homes and, when they are empty, the containers can be picked up to be cleaned and reused. Delivery boxes with the logo of Loop are displayed before the news conference held by French retailer Carrefour and U.S. waste recycling firm TerraCycle to launch Loop, an e-commerce service to cut the flow of single-use plastic containers in Paris, France May 14, 2019. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes By working together, companies gain more leverage in the national and global marketplace and legitimacy in the eyes of consumers, said Joanne Sonenshine, the CEO of Connective Impact, a sustainability business consulting firm based in the Washington, D.C.-area. “If you have a group of very respectable nonprofits or research agencies saying we are working with this company because we believe they can make a change, that puts a lot of credence behind what they are trying to do,” Sonenshine said. But Loop is only currently available to customers in a handful of northeastern states, and while other companies are creating similar circular economic models, environmental activists warn that they aren’t being adopted quickly enough to address the looming threat of climate change.

TWO Ocean Grove mums with a passion for reducing waste have joined forces to launch the Bellarine's first micro sustainability hub.   Jackie Matthews and Lana Purcell's mission to help people adopt a plastic-free and low-waste lifestyle saw them open the doors of Susty Hub Bellarine in Ocean Grove five months ago.   The hub, which has already attracted a loyal following, offers a refill station for cleaning and personal care products, is a drop-off point for a range of recyclable items and is the new home for Repair Café Bellarine.   The duo has plans to develop the business into a community education centre where families and businesses can learn how to live well and produce less waste. Currently, the Susty Hub collects soft plastics for recycling through Redcycle, milk bottle tops through the Lids for Kids program, plus toothbrushes and empty toothpaste tubes through Terracycle.   They've also joined the Simply Cups initiative, Australia's first coffee cup recycling program that collects and recycles single-use coffee cups.   A scrap metal trailer is permanently on site for metal tins, aluminium cans and household scrap metal.   They can also accept larger items such as fridges and washing machines if you ring ahead to arrange. All metals are transported to Melbourne for shredding and reuse in manufacturing new products.   The refill station has been a big success with more than 140 litres of quality detergents and soaps already sold.   Repair Café Bellarine will be on site again this month where volunteers skilled in sewing, electrical repairs, bike maintenance and furniture making will be on hand to breathe new life into your favourite items for a small donation. The café will be open from 10am on Sunday 6 October.   Jackie and Lana are regularly adding new features to meet demand from customers and have big plans for the future including introduction of a small chicken run, a working bee hive on the rooftop, and composting of food waste from the on-site café.   'We want to create a one-stop sustainable hub that people can visit and enjoy an educational experience about how to reduce waste,' Jackie said.   'Our ultimate vision is to set up a successful business model that could be recreated in other towns and suburbs across the Bellarine and Geelong region to tackle waste management on a larger scale.'   Susty Hub Bellarine is located at 24 Sinclair Street, Ocean Grove and is open from 9-3pm from Monday to Friday.

Andrea Arria-Devoe, a longtime editor at Daily Candy, is the executive producer of Straws, a documentary about how ditching plastic straws can make a massive difference to the environment. In her column for goop, Arria-Devoe shares her extensive knowledge about the best countertop composter, how to shop bulk, and other hacks to living the chicest, greenest life possible. Start as you mean to go on.   I received this advice from my mommy-and-me group eleven years ago. I was trying to establish good sleep habits for my son, which at the time seemed impossible. (I’m happy to share that he sleeps through the night now…mostly.) These days, I find that same advice just as relevant in helping me be more mindful when dealing with the crazy amount of plastic and waste that can come with raising children.   Because plastic is everywhere—from food packaging to toys to containers—you can’t escape it completely. (When your five-year-old insists, loudly and persistently, on a packaged treat in the checkout aisle, admit defeat and move on.) But with a little gumption, you can reduce the amount of plastic in your little one’s life. Stick to your guns and choose plastic-free reusable products whenever possible. By modeling these healthy values, you’re making better choices for their health and the planet’s. These ten steps will help you get started.   1. Diaper change. About 20 billion disposable diapers are dumped in landfills each year, according to the EPA. And disposable diapers can take an estimated 250 to 500 years to decompose. If you can, choose cloth diapers. There are a number of laundering services, like Diaper Kind, that do the dirtiest work for you. If the idea of cloth diapering doesn’t appeal, look for nontoxic disposables from the Honest Company or Bambo. If you live in the Bay Area, check out Earth Baby. It offers cloth options as well as a professional composting service for disposables purchased through its site.   2. Bottle up. BPA-free doesn’t mean chemical-free. The chemicals used to replace BPA can be just as harmful as BPA itself. Choose glass or stainless steel bottles, like Pura, and make sure the nipple is medical-grade silicone.   3. Wipe right. Wet wipes can be a lifesaver. But they also contain tiny plastic fibers that do not biodegrade and can make their way into the ocean, get ingested by sea creatures, and even wash up on beaches. The antibacterial chemicals in the wipes have also been linked to endocrine disruption and the creation of superbugs. Go for organic cotton cloths or napkins for runny noses and sticky hands. If you absolutely cannot do without wipes, choose a chemical-free version, such as Caboo or Natracare—and use sparingly.   4. Table it. Skip the disposable changing-table pads. The Peanut Changer is nontoxic, it’s easy to wipe down, and it stays still even when your baby doesn’t. A folded-up towel also does the trick.   5. Rethink the puréed food pouch. They’re easy, I know. But they’re made from multiple layers of materials that are hard to recycle—and they contain BPA. When possible, opt for mashed banana or avocado, or make your own purées and store in a reusable pouch. And if you can’t part from the pouch, TerraCycle makes boxes that offer a recycling option for some of the brands.   6. Heat smart. Warming food in plastic containers allows the materials to leach chemicals faster. Choose glass or ceramic for reheating. For everyday kid-friendly dishes, try old-school enamelware—tough enough for stove-top, grill, and outdoor use.   7. Hand-me-down hookup. UpChoose curates the safest and most sustainable preloved baby basics. Once your babe outgrows her onesies, send them back and get a discount on the next size up. If fashion equals self-expression for your little one, check out the kids’ shop on The RealReal for secondhand designer dresses and such.   8. Snack pack. Put snacks (ideally purchased in bulk) in reusable metal containers and cotton pouches. Encourage “naked” snacking by having kids make their own trail mix of dried fruits and nuts. Bulk sections often sell sweets, like gummy bears and chocolates, which can win over mini skeptics.   9. Less is more. Toys made with PVC are particularly toxic. Avoid soft plastic bath toys and books, for example, and choose natural rubber instead. Even if you say no to plastic toys, they can still make their way into your home via well-meaning grandmothers and school treasure boxes. I keep a zero-waste toy box from TerraCycle in my garage to make sure broken plastic doesn’t end up in a landfill or the oceans.   10. Model behavior. If you remember to bring your own coffee cup, takeout containers, straws, and bags when you’re out, your kids will get into the habit, too.   For more information and resources, check out the Healthy Baby Guide, a collaboration between Made Safe and the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

(CNN) - Walmart's new car seat recycling program was so successful, the event is ending early.   The company was offering a $30 gift card to anyone who brought in an old car seat as part of a recycling effort with TerraCycle to keep plastic out of landfills.   The event started Sept. 16 and was supposed to end Sept. 30, but the store ended the program after nearly 1 million car seats were collected, according to a statement it made to USA Today.   It also said that’s the equivalent of diverting 200 million plastic bottles from landfills.