I had the opportunity to ask Tom Larsen from Act 2 - Green Smart a few questions about his business, thoughts on the environment, and even college sports. His answers are really interesting.
1. What inspired you to start making bags out of recycled plastic? What kind of research/learning process did you have to go through to go from the idea stage to making it happen?
My wife and business partner was the inspiration. In December of 2005 she asked me whether or not I thought there was yet developed a supply for “green materials” for bags that was parallel to the developments that she was seeing in the apparel markets through her readings of Yoga magazines and such.
As a result of my research and efforts, I found an emerging supplier in Taiwan that was far ahead of the U.S. or other Asian suppliers of rPET polyester. Of course, to determine that, I had to get myself a quick education on the state of the art of fabric making and raw material sourcing, etc. It was interesting. Most bags any of us buy at the store only have a material specification, not a selected vendor. They are designed somewhere and then handed to a Chinese supplier (well over 90% of ALL bags are made in China, now), which then shops their traditional fabric suppliers for the best price on say “nylon” or “neoprene”. The quality of the fabrics is so high now that the fabrics are often just commodities allowing suppliers to simply shop their known sources. Read more…
Okay, not quite, but I did pick all the peppers left in my garden this weekend. I spent 4 hours roasting them on the grill on Sunday, and then eleventy-million hours peeling, seeding, and cutting them. I was so burnt out by Monday morning that I couldn’t even bear to be in the kitchen, but wow, it was worth it. The peppers turned out great.
Who would have thought recycled soda bottles could look so good!
Act 2 - Green Smart sent me a Bottles to Bags tote bag about a month ago, and I love it. It’s the bag pictured above, except mine is “stone,” not “olive”.
The tote works great as an over-sized purse. I use it to carry my assignments folder and extra pencils when I run writing workshops. My Kleen Kanteen fits perfectly, and there’s always room for a book. It’s also great for carrying purchases when I forget to bring my reusable grocery bag. I think it would even work well as an overnight bag. There are two inner zipped pockets, and sewn in pouches for pencils, cell phone, etc. to help keep things organized.
It’s hard to believe the fabric was ever a soda bottle (or in this case, 10-16 oz. soda bottles). It’s durable and stain resistant, but also attractive.
I have a really exciting Act 2 Green Smart Giveaway. Read more…
We’ve talked about deodorant and antiperspirant quite a bit on this site. When I discovered using baking soda, or a mix of baking soda and corn starch instead of traditional deodorant, I thought my conventional deodorant use days were over.
But sometimes, it’s just plain nice to use products that make you feel like you’re pampering yourself. So when Bionsen offered to send me a sample of their Japanese Spa Minerals Deodorant, I figured I’d give it a try. Read more…
Yesterday, I took part in a phone conference with Olga Naidenko, Senior Scientist, Nneka Leibe, researcher, and Jovana Ruzicic, Press Secretary, from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to discuss their latest findings on the safety and quality of bottled water.
We know that bottled water is an environmental issue. The amount of energy and plastic involved in getting water to the store when it is already efficiently delivered out of the tap is mind boggling. But many people still purchase bottled water because they are concerned about the quality of their tap water. Unfortunately, the quality of water from a bottle may be the same or worse than tap water.
I was just about to put up a new post, but decided I’d lounge a bit with my cup of coffee and my Google Reader first. David, The Good Human, has a post up for Blog Action Day, and I was so inspired by it that I decided I’d put aside the post I’d planned for today to talk about the Blog Action Day topic - poverty.
There are almost 11,000 bloggers participating by blogging about poverty today. If you’d like to join in, check out BlogActionDay.org.
My husband upgraded his phone and gave me his old one, so even though technically there was nothing wrong with my old phone (except that it couldn’t send e-mail) I now have a new (to me) phone. And even though my new phone was a hand-me-down, I’m carrying a little eco-guilt about upgrading when I didn’t absolutely need to (although, did I mention that I can now approve website comments where ever I go?).
So what do I do with the old phone? Wisebread has a good answer!
