Here’s a green business idea for ya. If you have say, plastics, textiles, building materials, etc that you normally take to the landfill as part of your business you’re going to definitely want to check out RecycleMatch.com.
Or, if you’re in need of say organic vegetable scraps for your farm compost heap, Recycle Match can hook you up with a business that is selling these scraps on their site; veggie scraps they’d normally pay to take to the landfill!
A landfill is no place for useful items!
At Recycle Match businesses (or anyone that has or needs a large quantity of materials really) can post or buy said materials on their website For Free. The end result is that these materials end up with a second life instead of languishing in the landfill. No new materials need to be manufactured either because these unused/unneeded ones can do the job. And, businesses are both making more money for their waste and recyclables while other businesses are able to make better products for less because of these auctioned materials; not to mention the savings in dumping fees!
Its really a win win, and because posting is free there’s no risk. If you don’t make your ‘match’, you owe Recycle Match nothing. Its only when there’s a successful deal that they charge a fee.
Avoid the dump and help people reuse instead of buy new by using this great new auction site created to help businesses become more efficient and more green!
Part of having a kid in public school is, and has been at least since I was a kid, participating in fundraisers. Its usually a total pain in the butt. Hell, the last one I. had I just sent $30 to the school instead of doing the actual fundraiser because the products just weren’t anything I could really ask my friends and family to buy. Plus, the amount I’d have to buy/sell for the school to actually get $30 from our fundraising efforts was quite a bit!
Luckily, I. brought home a notice about a fundraiser I was actually happy to participate in and even sell to my family and friends; The Fedco Seed School program!
Fedco Seeds is a company based in Maine that sells both their own seed and seeds that are assuredly GMO free from other companies. They are a very nice, local company and they’ve sold seeds gardeners really believe in and have done so for some time.
The Seed School program is a special fundraiser for schools, as well as non profits like brownie and girl scout troops. The children simply get orders for seeds in the winter (the school picks a certain package of some of Fedco’s best sellers) and a % of the sale goes to the school. The seeds are then delivered to the buyers in the spring.
A fundraiser like the Seed School program gives kids the opportunity to sell something that is green, made in the USA, and provides everyone participating the opportunity to grow their school as well as their gardens! Its really a win for everyone and I’m definitely one parent that’s really glad I can participate in a school fundraiser I can actually believe in.
Its the middle of November. Thanksgiving is just around the corner….and Christmas and Hanukkah (AKA The Gift Giving Season) is just around the corner.
This year, feel good about the gifts you buy for others and celebrate with a conscience this year.
What do I mean by that? I mean think about what you’re buying.
Is it from far away, trucked miles and miles just to get to you?
Who made it – sweatshop labor is alive and well and used by some of the most popular companies in the world?
Is there another alternative that is local, made in a more environmentally friendly way, created by a company that offers good working conditions, or even maybe benefits a charity?
Think about it.
How you spend your dollar matters – and we spend a LOT of extra dollars during the Holidays. So, in the next few weeks I”ll offer up some helpful hints for celebrating this Holiday Season with a Conscience so you can give amazing and unique gifts you and everyone on your list will actually feel good about.
A common school lunch including corn dog, french fries and chocolate milk!!
There are lots of great things about school – the food, however, is not one of them…..and I don’t understand why that is.
We all know that a balanced diet is required to have our bodies and brains perform at their peak. This is widely accepted and supported by lots and lots of data. But, that’s not what’s kept in mind when feeding children (or hospital patients for that matter…).
Public schools provide school meals that they claim are balanced and nutritious, often however, the food our kids are eating is made of less than nutritious ingredients.
High fructose corn syrup, Artificial flavors and colors, Preservatives – all these harmful ingredients about in the food that the government run schools are feeding children. Yet, people wonder why kids are so heavy and can’t concentrate.
I understand that the school lunch and breakfast programs are catering to the masses – and that they do the best they can with that they have, but, I honestly think that it has to be better.
Children can’t function on crappy food. Good, home style meals, made from real honest to goodness food. That’s what will help kids do their best during their school day.
Some ways to get this idea going in your local school or district include -
Helping secure funds and supplies to start a school garden that kids can plant and then eat from. Try to focus on things you can plant in the spring (before school ends for the year) and then harvest in the fall (when the next year begins). Some ideas include pumpkins and other squashes, corn, and cabbage. The kids then can give this food to the school kitchen, make their own meals (if possible) or even donate their veggies they’ve grown to a local soup kitchen.
Talking to your school and local farms to try to arrange field trips, organize special “from the farm” meals, and if you’re lucky try to arrange a partnership where the school gets their veggies for the meals from local farms.
Organize apple picking or berry picking field trips – things that get kids in the dirt so they see where real food comes from and learn why its important to eat it.
Many different companies that make personal care products like to tout that they use “Natural” and “Organic” ingredients. Unfortunately – many of these products aren’t all that “Natural” when you read the list of ingredients.
Many people have been frustrated by this reality over the years. The products can masquerade as quite natural, especially in labeling and packaging, as well as where they’re sold. But, when you read whats actually in them, there are all kinds of problem ingredients.
This isn’t the case for organic food. It now has to be certified by the USDA to use the word “Organic” on its packaging. Not so for personal care products like deodorant, shampoo, soap, makeup, etc. They can use the word organic in whatever way they want….in other words, there’s no ”legal” (for lack of a better word) definition of the word as there is with food and therefore, when its seen on personal care products it is not a guarantee that it is truly “Organic” as you might think it would be.
This results in consumers, unwittingly, purchasing products that aren’t in line with what they really are looking for; all natural, organic ingredients free of pesticides and toxic chemicals. Also, because of the market they’re targeting, they often charge a pretty penny for these “natural” and “organic” products – all the while people are still rubbing the same funky chemicals into their bodies and washing them down the drains.
Finally, the government is starting to take notice and has begun looking into regulations for personal care products. I’m not always for government involvement/intervention – but you can’t trust corporations either!
Until then though – read the list of ingredients in all the things you buy. Make sure its really what you want. You can check ingredients online – I often use SkinDeep. Better yet, make what you can yourself; there are some simple recipes here as well as online.
You can help further accountability along by writing to your congresspersons and even The President about this issue and demanding change as a constituent.
We all deserve to be able to purchase what we want. Advertising, in a perfect world, should be an informational tool – not an attempt at manipulation. W e as consumers are the only ones who can change that – and we have to do it, like everything else, one step at a time.