Backpacking and Emergency Freeze-Dried Food Company Works to Leave-No-Trace with Announcement of Packaging Recycling Program  TRENTON, NJ (March 11, 2019) – Mountain House, the leader in freeze-dried backpacking and emergency food options, has partnered with international recycling company TerraCycle® to offer consumers a free, easy way to recycle packaging waste from their line of Mountain House pouches.     “Since our inception nearly 50 years ago, Mountain House has been widely regarded as the gold-standard brand of camping food,” said Brandy Lamb, Marketing Director. “We are conscious of how our packaging can impact the people and the planet we share, which is why we’re pleased to add, through our partnership with TerraCycle, national recyclability to our commitment to consumers.”     Through the Mountain House Recycling Program, consumers can now send in their empty pouch packaging to be recycled for free. Participation is easy: sign up on the TerraCycle program page and mail in the pouch packaging waste using a prepaid shipping label. Once collected, the packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products. Additionally, for every one pound of waste shipped to TerraCycle, collectors can earn $1 to donate to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice.       “Mountain House is giving their customers the unique opportunity to minimize their environmental impact by offering them a way to responsibly dispose of the packaging from their freeze-dried meals,” said TerraCycle CEO and Founder, Tom Szaky. “In turn, by participating in the Mountain House Recycling Program, customers are one step closer to truly minimizing their environmental impact.”       Hiking the John Muir Trail eating Mountain House along the way. The Mountain House Recycling Program is open to any interested individual, school, office, or community organization. For more information on TerraCycle’s recycling program, visit www.terracycle.com.  ABOUT MOUNTAIN HOUSE  Based in Albany, Ore., Mountain House has been the first choice of backpackers, hikers, campers and emergency preparation experts for decades. Why? Great taste, ease of use and reliability, no matter how extreme the environment. Born out of Long Range Patrol rations made for Special Forces over 50 years ago – and continuously ever since – Mountain House wrote the book on delicious, dependable freeze-dried meals. According to the Outdoor Industry Association, Mountain House sells seven out of ten outdoor entrées in North America and their line of entrees in pouches and #10 cans has a proven shelf life of 30 years. For more information and a complete list of products, visit www.mountainhouse.com.     

Every year, Emory’s campus is enlivened with new ideas proposed and executed by students, faculty and staff seeking creative ways to participate in sustainability initiatives. The Office of Sustainability Initiatives’ annual incentives funds programs seek new knowledge, support new behavior patterns and foster cultural change toward social justice and sustainability at Emory and beyond.   The newest awards range from research laboratory efficiency and clinic space waste reduction, to public art and enhanced learning environments. All projects embody Emory’s sustainability vision “to be a model of transformative practices and sustainable choices at every level. From the copy room to the operating room, from the classroom to the residence hall — among academic units, healthcare units, and operational units — Emory will more deeply engage the challenges of sustainability and expand our leadership in higher education.”   Funding is categorized in three ways:  

• The General Sustainability & Social Justice Incentives Fund allows all university and health care students, faculty and staff to request up to $3,000 for any project or research related to sustainability at Emory and the intersections of sustainability and social justice.
• The  Green Offices Incentives Fund and Green Labs Incentives Fund support sustainability in Emory’s work and research spaces by funding sustainable processes and procedures in Emory University and Emory Healthcare offices and labs that are certified through the respective programs. Up to $5,000 is available for proposals that encourage changes in behavior, practices and equipment utilized in these spaces in areas such as energy, water, waste, safety, health, engagement and purchasing.

  The applications for Incentives Fund grants are reviewed and discussed by a committee of Emory students, faculty and staff from across campus. The reviewers represent a range of programming, academic and operational roles for the university. Applications are evaluated for their alignment with  Emory’s 2025 Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan, Emory’s Climate Action Plan, feasibility, clarity, sustained impact and innovation.   “This year the Emory community came out with a bang,” says Vincent Graves, environmental health and safety professional II and member of the Incentives Funds review committee. “It’s great to know that there are so many faculty, staff, students and health care staff from the Emory community taking the initiative to lead projects that will move Emory and the surrounding community forward in sustainability.”   "The Green Labs Incentive Fund and the team in the OSI have been amazing partners, encouraging us to assess our lab’s environmental impact and to implement changes to conduct our research in more sustainable ways,” reflects Simon Blakey, professor of chemistry and three-time Green Labs Incentives Fund grantee. “It’s amazing how much we’ve changed practices in such a short amount of time.”   The newly funded project proposals announced in fall 2019 are as follows:

General Sustainability and Social Justice Incentives Fund

• Air Emory (team leader Eri Saikawa): Monitoring and reporting air quality around Emory University’s main campus in a way that informs and educates the Emory community
• Bee Campus USA (team leader Kaysee Arrowsmith; staff advisor Andrea Mitchell): Raising awareness of the roles pollinators play and enhancing sustainable habitats for pollinators on Emory’s campus through plantings and educational programs
• Earth Matters on Stage: Ecodrama Playwrights Festival (team leader Lydia Fort): Fostering new dramatic works that respond to the ecological crisis and exploring new possibilities of being in a relationship with the more-than-human world
• EmPower: Tackling Energy Burdens in Atlanta with Energy Efficiency Upgrades (team leader Megan Deyhle; faculty advisor Justin Burton): Training Atlanta-area K-12 classes about ways to conduct energy audits and install more energy-efficient upgrades to homes as a means to help reduce the energy burden for students’ families
• Enhanced Green Learning Environments (team leader Cristina Sanchez; faculty advisor Sarah Blanton): Increasing sustainability signage, student art and greenery in the Department of Physical Therapy
• Goizueta Sustainability Campaign (team leader Sophie Reiser; staff advisor Harriet Ruskin): Leading a three-week campaign to equip Goizueta students to commit to reducing waste, eating more sustainable food and using more sustainable commute options
• Let’s Ride MARTA (team leader Aaron Klingensmith; faculty advisor Shaunna Donaher): Educating students about the personal and societal benefits of using transportation, debunking myths of MARTA and hosting a MARTA scavenger hunt to show Emory’s connectivity through public transit
• Monarch and Milkweed (team leader Jacobus de Roode): Raising awareness of the plight of the monarch butterfly and the importance of pollinators through an art installation and public outreach
• The pARTner Project: Arts “Hack-a-thon” Themed with Sustainability (team leader Cynthia Peng; faculty advisor Dana Haugaard): Encouraging a collective of engaged Emory students in all factions of the arts to create sustainability-themed artwork with mostly repurposed materials in a 24-hour competition and showcase
• Reusable Recess Cups (team leader Amneh Minkara; faculty advisor Mindy Goldstein): Replacing 3,000 disposable cups currently used per semester by students at Emory Law School Recess with reusable stainless steel cups to reduce waste
• Sustainable and Healthy Commuting through Bike Repair Services (team leader Lalita Martin; staff advisor Benjamin Kasavan): Providing bike repair services in a hands-on educational way to cyclists at the on-campus Fixie in order to encourage biking in the Emory community
• Using Sustainable Materials to Reduce Bird Collisions on Campus (team leader Ananda Woods; faculty advisor John Wegner): Studying bird mortality on Emory’s campus and piloting using bird-proofing vinyl on windows to decrease the mortality rate due to collisions with glass

Green Labs Incentives Fund

• Blakey Lab Goes Greener and Cleaner (team leader Taylor Farmer Nelson): Adding a dishwasher to decrease water used in lab cleaning procedures by 80% while maintaining a standard of cleanliness required for research
• epGreen Centrifuge Implementation (team leader Radhika Sharma): Replacing current centrifuges with an epGreen centrifuge to reduce energy, costs and environmental impact.
• Lab Waste Management (team leader Elena Jordanov): Diverting waste in labs by purchasing Terracycle nitrile zero waste boxes for gloves and increasing color-coded composting and recycling bins

Green Offices Incentives Fund

• Brain Health Center (BHC) Sustainability Initiative (team leader Elizabeth Dee): Facilitating the reduction and diversion of waste from the BHC by installing a hydration station, dishwasher for reusable kitchen items and hand dryers, as well as piloting a composting and recycling system.

What’s the first thing you do when you get out of bed in the morning? A well-rounded morning routine sets the tone for the day and gets you prepped—both mentally and physically—before diving into a packed schedule filled with emails, chores, happy hours, workouts, and more. Our series Morning Person profiles those who have mastered the art of the morning routine. Tune in every Monday morning here and on our Instagram to learn exactly how the pros get it all done before the sun comes up, from their go-to breakfasts to their a.m. workouts.   Of all my hobbies and pastimes, one of my favorites is discussing with my boyfriend which brands we'd invest in on Shark Tank. It's never just a simple "I like it" or "I wouldn't use it" but a full analysis of the target audience, how we'd market it, and in which ways we'd imagine the brand expanding. (We're a really fun pair, I know.) While I'm obviously no expert—and really have no authority to speak on this whatsoever besides the fact that I simply enjoy it—all the products I always root for have one thing in common: They're relatable. Take Blueland, for example. It replaces single-use plastic cleaning products with reusable bottles and eco-friendly soap tablets. You might have been unfamiliar with the brand (it only launched less than a year ago) until recently when its founder and CEO appeared on an episode of Shark Tank and won (!) a deal with Mr. Wonderful. Like many of us, Sarah Paiji was frustrated with the amount of plastic pollution that constantly floods our environment and wanted to create an easy way to cut back on waste. On a personal level, one of her biggest concerns was the high amount of microplastics that were found in the water she was using for her baby's formula. Amid recent reports on the rapid escalation of climate change and its scary impact on the environment, it seems that protecting our Earth has become even more top of mind for many of us as of late. States have passed legislation to replace plastic straws with paper, Greta Thunberg has taken environmental activism by storm, even our own office has recently replaced plastic utensils and cups with reusable mugs and utensils in an effort to cut back on waste. In conclusion: Blueland is completely on point. As you might expect, the company's founder is on her own personal journey to be more sustainable, and her morning routine certainly reflects that. Whether you want to be inspired by someone who runs her own company or a person with an eco-friendly morning routine, keep scrolling for all the ways Sarah is a sustainable morning person.       6:15 A.M.   Every morning, I wake up before my husband and 2-year-old son, Noah, and I head straight into the kitchen to hydrate. I have a glass of water and fix myself a cup of coffee to enjoy while taking a few quality moments for myself.     6:30 A.M.   With my coffee in hand, I sit down with my gratitude journal and write one to two things I’m thankful for before starting my day. This is an important routine for me as it’s so easy to lose sight of all the things I have to be grateful for in this hectic mom and startup life. Journaling helps me set the tone for the day and helps me channel the positive energy I need to take on the world as a mom and leader!     6:45 A.M.   Time to get ready! First things first, I wash my hands with Blueland Hand Soap and put in my contacts. Living a low-waste lifestyle and being mindful of recycling has been a personal mission of mine and is now what I’ve built my business on. Many contact-lens wearers are not very conscious of the plastic waste accumulating from daily use, but we can change that! I collect my contact cases to recycle in bulk with TerraCycle.     I get ready in our guest bathroom, as it’s right next to Noah’s room so I can keep an eye on him in his crib as I put on my makeup. I keep my makeup routine simple and quick. I swear by The Ordinary’s 100% Plant-Derived Squalane serum and Kjaer Weis’s organic mascara and blush, and I never leave the house without sunscreen!        7:30 A.M.   Back in the kitchen! This time I’m feeding Noah breakfast so we’re both ready to take on the day! Today he’s having cereal and pears. 8 A.M.   Out the door! Noah and I take a morning stroll to the farmers market at least twice a week to drop off our compost. I collect food scraps from the week in the freezer (which eliminates any risk for foul smells or bugs) and empty it at the composting station at the Union Square farmers market.     Did you know that when we send food to landfills, it can’t properly break down? Instead, it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change! Composting in a large urban city might seem tricky, but there are foolproof ways to compost your food scraps such as dropping them off at your local farmers market.     8:30 A.M.   Next, Noah gets dropped off for school. I love having school drop-off duty, as it allows me to have those extra precious moments with my son and see him in his school environment with his friends. Running a startup gets to be demanding, and an unpredictable schedule comes with the job, making it more likely that I’ll miss out on the afternoon pickups for Noah.   After I drop off Noah, I head for another coffee fix, always in my reusable Byta. Most coffee spots offer a discount if you bring your own reusable cup. Pair that with saving the planet, and it’s a win-win!   The commute to the Blueland office, albeit short, provides a momentary escape since I listen to my favorite podcasts. Depending on the day or my mood, I’ll use this time to catch up on world news, listen to fellow entrepreneurs’ journeys on series, or continue to educate myself on sustainability and environmental impact initiatives. My favorite podcasts include Girlboss, Town Haul, and Product Hunt.  

9 A.M.

Just got to the office! Time to build a better future with the amazing Blueland team!  

With the goal of reducing waste, the Keep Golden Isles Beautiful 2019 School Recycling Challenge did just that. This fall, 14 local schools took part in the challenge to collect non-traditional items for recycling. By collecting items not accepted in local curbside recycling programs, participating schools had an immediate and profound impact on reducing landfill waste. In just two short weeks, students collected 192 pounds of oral care products, pens/markers/highlighters and cereal bags – all diverted from the landfill and now to be recycled via TerraCycle. At the recent awards ceremony held at Hello GoodBuy, first, second and third place schools in each of the challenge categories received an upcycled award and bookmarks for their entire student body, as well as their choice of a school recycling bin or coastal-themed books. The challenge was supported by a Hello GoodBuy community grant. “The Challenge was a tremendous success and we greatly appreciate the effort of all participating schools,” said KGIB Executive Director Lea King-Badyna. “The collected poundage is even more impressive when we consider the individual size and weight of the collected materials, meaning a huge amount of little items comprised the final poundage.”   Participating schools included Brunswick High School, Burroughs-Molette Elementary, College of Coastal Georgia, First Baptist Preschool, Frederica Academy, Glyndale Elementary, Glynn Middle, Golden Isles Elementary, Morningstar Academy and Glynn Learning Center, Oglethorpe Point Elementary, St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, St. Simons Elementary, Satilla Marsh Elementary and Sterling Elementary.   Top placing schools included:  

• Writing implement category – Frederica Academy, first place; Satilla Marsh Elementary, second place and Sterling Elementary, third place.
• Oral care category – Satilla Marsh Elementary, first place; Sterling Elementary, second place and St. Francis Xavier, third place.
• Cereal bag category – Satilla Marsh Elementary, first place; Oglethorpe Point Elementary, second place and First Baptist Preschool, third place.

Welcome to the GZW gift guide of 2019! Creating gift guides every year is one of my favorite blog posts to write.   Both my mother and I have the love language of gifts. And, I’ve worked to reconcile that with adopting a more minimal and low-waste lifestyle to the point that my love language has probably shifted to acts of service.   But, the fact remains, I still love gifting and receiving physical gifts. I love gifting experiences and consumable gifts, but I also love giving physical things too.         Gifting physical gifts is a rare opportunity to spread the sustainable living message in a kind way. I have gifted small reusable items like straws or beeswax wraps and watched my non-eco parents and friends love the products SO much that they started adopting more zero waste habits.   If you’ve ever gifted a zero-waste swap, then you know what I’m talking about!   I’ve divided this blog post into a few separate categories so you can easily find the perfect gift for everyone on your list.  

1. gifts for the adventurer
2. gifts for the home
3. gifts for the budding environmentalist
4. gifts for the fashionista
5. gifts for the foodie

  There will also be a stocking stuffer post coming out this Friday for smaller gifts so be on the lookout!  

gifts for the foodie

  I LOVE good food. I mean who doesn’t? I love simple pleasures like my homemade morning latte traditions which are always made with tea instead of coffee as well as getting to whip up a feast and entertain a crowd. I mean, I think you’d have to, to have hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the last five years. So, here are a few of my favorite kitchen items.    

 

    reVessel Adventure Kit This adventure kit is designed as a completely modular system so all of the pieces can be used together or separate making this perfect for packing up leftovers, getting take away, bringing lunch to work or school, and even for meal prepping.   The kit is also leakproof and oven safe making it a foodies best friend. ReVessel also gives back a portion of each sale to Farmer’s Footprint and Changing Tides.   Check out the reVessel Adventure Kit  

 

  Bestselling Bundle The best thing about the Further Food blends is that they’ve already mixed the adaptogens in!   While Further Food is packaged in plastic, they use 100% post-consumer recycled plastic #2.   Using recycled plastic reduces the carbon footprint by 78%, drastically improves the carbon footprint for travel due to it being lighter than glass, it consumes 90% less energy, and it’s a pure plastic (not a mix!) so it can be recycled again and again.   Check out Further Food’s Bestselling Bundle and get 15% off with the code ‘GOINGZEROWASTE’    

 

  Homestead Turkey & Chicken Let’s be honest, Nala is probably a bigger foodie than me. And, that girl is picky! She’s a food snob and has been known to turn her nose up at A LOT of good food.   However, she LOVES Open Farm! And, I love Open Farm because they have amazing traceability, and they source from Certified Humane farms. They’ve also partnered with TerraCycle so all of their packaging can be taken back for recycling.   Check out Nala’s Fav Homestead Turkey & Chicken    

 

  Loose Leaf Tea Gift Set Wize Monkey has made an award-winning delicious tea from coffee leaves. Yes - coffee leaves! Sounds crazy, but when you taste it, you'll know why it's critically acclaimed.   Coffee leaves normally get discarded during the 9 month off season when most most farmers are out of work so Wize Monkey is helping by offering employment during that time! My personal favorite is the loose leaf Earl Gray.   Check out the build your own loose leaf gift set and get 20% off with the code ‘gwf20’   I really hope you enjoyed my gift guide this year! I’m going to link to a few more holiday posts below, and stay tuned for my Stocking Stuffer guide that’s coming out on Friday!

Dogs need tender loving care, regular walks, entertaining toys and food to keep them energized and well-nourished. Traditional pet snacks made with beef or poultry may not always be healthy for pups or the environment, but food innovators are aiming to provide alternatives. Take Chippin, which sells a line of snacks with cricket protein. Co-founder Haley Russell had worked in food and beverage before starting her MBA at Wharton, and as she told PYMNTS in an interview, she was always extremely interested in the “power of food to change the world.”   Russell was also thinking about the ability to improve health and well-being – for both people and pets – through nutrition. And she was also considering the effect that daily food choices have on the environment. The pet food industry alone is responsible for yearly greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that of 13.6 million cars.   Russell, along with her Co-founder Laura Colagrande, who was studying for a master’s of architecture at UPenn, discovered that by harnessing sustainable, complete proteins such as overpopulated fish or insects, they could create food that dogs love while providing the “whole nutrition that they need.”   Today, Russell said Chippin has a “suite of snacks for dogs” in four different varieties. They offer superfood bites, smokehouse BBQ, antioxidant boost and spirulina dailies on its website as well as on Amazon and in some brick-and-mortar stores.   When it comes to sustainability, according to the company, “each five-ounce bag of Chippin snacks saves 40 gallons of water on average over any other dog treats.” And from a nutritional standpoint, crickets have the ten essential amino acids that a dog needs per the company. Beyond crickets, the brand’s snacks include other foods such as kale and blueberries. In Russell’s words, the company creates “smart combinations of all-natural ingredients.”   For its target market, Russell said Chippin aims to share the product with consumers looking to make a sustainable choice. But she also pointed out that there is an opportunity to serve pet owners who want natural nutrition for their dogs.   The Market   Russell said Chippin is creating products that “pet parents who want all-natural options can feel comfortable choosing for their dogs.” At the same time, most pet foods on the shelf are rooted in traditional animal proteins such as chicken, beef and vegan varieties, and many dogs are prone to be allergic to those options. Chippin, however, is intended for pet owners who are “interested in a product that doesn’t sacrifice nutrition and is still eco-friendly,” noted Russell.   The company has held promotional events at co-working spaces, animal shelters and gyms to get the word out about its products. And once consumers discover the brand, Chippin offers a website that provides an introduction to the brand and the environmental effects of protein choices. It also points out that its protein is sourced from a family-owned farm in Canada.   Consumers can order Chippin’s products through its website and pay by credit card or PayPal. The company sends deliveries via ground shipping to 48 states (not Alaska or Hawaii at this time). Chippin also has two warehouses, so it can expeditiously bring products to consumers and save on the number of miles that its snacks travel to get to consumers’ doors. Beyond eCommerce, the company also offers its snacks in a selection of brick-and-mortar stores.     Chippin’s packaging is recyclable: Returning consumers can store the snack bags they use over time and send them back to TerraCycle for recycling. With its focus on sustainability and health, Russell said the company sees itself as the “pioneer and leader” in providing foods that are better for pets and the planet as it aims to build out its next generation of products.

Onde você joga aquelas esponjas usadas e já desgastadas de lavar a louça? Em vez de jogá-las no lixo comum, você pode entregá-las para a reciclagem, para serem transformadas em outros objetos de plástico, como caixas de transporte de frutas e legumes, displays e até cones de trânsito.

Norden

The coats are beautiful, no doubt. But we also highlighted this Montreal-based brand because of the sustainable focus. Coats are made from recycled plastics. The plastics are transformed into a yarn which is then printed with FiberPrint®, a digital serial number that can calculate the number of bottles used in a single garment. The production of Norden outerwear consumes 45% less energy, 20% less water and gives off 30% less GHG emissions than virgin polyester. Which means you can feel good, while looking good. If you feel like you’ve outgrown your coat, Norden’s end-of-life program ensures that it’s repaired and resold or donated to someone in need. If the garment is damaged beyond repair, it will be sent to their partners at TerraCycle, where it will be 100% recycled.

Walmart this year gave the month of September the new designation of “Best of Baby Month,” deploying a unifying signage package, heavy digital support and a first-ever car seat trade-in event that garnered overwhelming participation.   Car Seat Trade-In   More than 4,000 Walmart locations participated in the retailer’s inaugural car seat trade-in event, a tie-in to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association’s observance of Baby Safety Month. Consumers trading in their used car seat received a $30 store gift card intended for the purchase of another car seat or other baby items.   Adding an element of sustainability to the effort was a partnership with TerraCycle, the recycling company that took on the task of diverting each component of traditionally non-recyclable car seats from the landfill. The retailer accepted car seats from Sept. 16-21, ending the event nine days earlier than planned after quickly reaching capacity.   “We wanted to use our size and scale to create an event that offered unprecedented access to trade in an outgrown car seat for a gift card,” vice president of Walmart baby Melody Richards said in a media release.   TerraCycle chief executive officer Tom Szaky had expected to divert the plastic equivalent of some 35 million water bottles from landfills; that number had reached more than 200 million by the time the event was closed. During that time, the retailer collected more than 1 million car seats – twice as many as Target has tallied since introducing its periodic car seat trade-in program in 2016. Instead of gift cards, Target offers coupons for 20% off select baby gear in exchange for the car seats.   In Stores   Encouraging shoppers to cash in all the gift cards it doled out, Walmart outfitted pallets in Action Alley merchandising products such as Evenflo and Cosco car seats, Safety 1st walkers, Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies diapers and even an out-of-the-box crib (this one without a pallet) with “Best of Baby Month” headers and balloons.   The retailer’s Parents Choice private brand and the exclusive Hello Bello brand it rolled out earlier this year took center billing, commanding a majority of the secondary merchandising space in the baby department.   In the aisles, the retailer used the occasion to promote the Baby Registry it overhauled earlier this year by identifying “Registry must-have” items such as new wipes from Hello Bello and Edgewell Personal Care’s Playtex Diaper Genie with shelf talkers depicting a QR code linking to the retailer’s top 20 registry items. Endcap side panels also depicting the QR code presented the registry as “better than ever,” touting a complimentary welcome box of essential items from a variety of brands and other registration perks.   Online Deals   Online, Walmart extended hundreds of deals on big-ticket and everyday baby products from brands including Newell Brands’ Graco, Procter & Gamble’s Pampers and Mattel’s Fisher-Price.   The offers were corralled in a themed shop that also invited consumers to locations hosting baby events on Sept. 28 or 29. Participants got health and safety tips, and were able to interact with baby gear and nursery items through activities such as a “diaper challenge” and “stroller testing.”   Bloggers plugged both the deals and trade-in event. A feature in the retailer’s September circular promoted the trade-in incentive while showcasing car seats from manufacturers including Evenflo and other baby items including Hello Bello diapers and VTech’s video baby monitor.