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seeded business cards

Improve your green image with plantable business cards from Eco Marketing Solutions. These full-color cards are printed onto handmade paper embedded with seeds. Customers just plant them indoors or outdoors for a colorful miniature wildflower seed garden.

Ideal for trade shows, direct mail and sales call, these seeded business cards will set you apart.
Also available as seeded postcards, seeded hang tags, statement stuffers, on-packs/in-packs, seeded CD cases, seeded invitations, etc-please inquire for details.
Grows in any climate. Two year shelf life. Click here for more information on seeded business cards.

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At a recent panel discussion at which I was a part of, questions seemed to keep popping up about how to get employees on board for a “go green” initiative.

Some of the human resource directors in the audience expressed how there were certain departments, or individuals within particular departments, that were not on board with the program. Others expressed how they have 90%-100% participation and commitment at their work. How was such a wide degree of participation possible?

Now, I have already mentioned how to start a “go green” program at work, which you can read at this link.

The consensus among the panelists was that the “carrot and stick” method was the best approach, by far. Greening a business takes time and patience. Like I had mentioned previously, baby steps work best.

Peer pressure seems to be one of the strongest motivators. So is ease of participation. If there are employees who do not throw out their soda cans or recycle their paper products, low cost recycle bins or stations placed in the break room, in the IT room, in visible and well-trafficked locations around the office will surely increase the recycling rate.

Be sure to make participation fun, with imprinted water bottles, biodegradable coffee tumblers, reusable utensils, etc., that carry your Be Green theme or slogan on them. Also, offer points for participating, both in terms of individual and group participation. Contests for most waste recycled per week, least amount of paper used per office, most car-pool miles, etc. will encourage Read more…

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More and more businesses and organizations are choosing to “go green” these days. Once that decision is made, it is important to get this initiative off on the right foot in order to maximize the participation rate and its effectiveness.

Here are five proven steps to incorporate when deciding to “go green”.

1) Determine why your organization is going green.
Having an eco-friendly business is a nice goal to achieve, but it will take many hundreds of man-hours, training, behavior modifications, meetings and costs, so it is important to understand why this decision is being made.

• Is it because your competition has gone green?
• Is it because of some negative press your organization has received in the trade publications or local press?
• Is it because you want to achieve long-term energy savings?
• Is it because you want to practice good corporate social responsibility?

Knowing the true reason(s) for this “go green” initiative is crucial in order to get the program started.

2) Find a Green Team Leader
One of the most crucial steps is choosing the right person to head up Read more…

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Because I have been working with hundreds of companies that have implemented “go green” campaigns over the past few years, I often wonder how to quantify the effectiveness of these programs.

There are dozens of reasons that an organization will want to run a green initiative—from good corporate stewardship to trying to improve their corporate image in the community or within their industry…and everything in between.

In a tight economy, management is often looking for ways reduce costs, so every program is under fire, including green initiatives.

So how can a business or organization justify the time and costs involved in their green campaigns?  Here are six steps to help in quantifying the results of a “go green” initiative.

1) Certifications: Some organizations, such as those in the building trade, can use the LEED certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.  This program measures how well a building or community performs against a variety of criteria, including use of materials, energy savings, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and others. LEED addresses all sorts of built environments including neighborhoods, homes, offices, schools, hospitals and retail-new construction and existing buildings. More information about LEED can be found at this link.

Other industries may have similar certifications form which you can measure and compare best business practices.

2) Cost Savings: Perhaps you can measure the energy savings from switching to solar panels or the savings from switching to more energy efficient HVAC equipment, new windows, window coverings, CFL light bulbs, thermostat setting adjustments, etc.  These numbers are fairly straight-forward and easy Read more…

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This past year, we sold over 1.2 million imprinted biodegradable sports bottles, like the ones shown below.  Kudos to all who have switched to these bottles, as they prevent plastic bottles from ending up in landfills and reduces our carbon footprint.
Unlike plastics made from corn starch, which is triggered by temperature, our biodegradable plastic bottles, which contain an additive called Bio-Batch, only starts the biodegrading process in dirt with microbes. Placing them in the dishwasher won’t hurt it, nor will every day sunlight exposure.

These bottles will not biodegrade until the landfill microbes start eating it. And no, when you pour coffee into them, they will not eat a hole in the bottom of the bottle.

This additive does not require sunlight to breakdown–only microbes found in dirt.  Many people are still confused about how certain plastics can biodegrade, so we had them certified and tested at the Electron Microprobe Lab,  Institute of Meteoritics,

Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico.

Click here to see other imprinted biodegradable water bottles.

Here’s to a greener tomorrow..today.

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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any company interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Greenwebsite at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

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