By Tim Leberecht - November 13, 2007
America's consumers offer a warning to business leaders and marketers looking to ride the green wave: either back your eco-friendly words with socially responsible actions or risk a backlash. In the first major study to combine field observations with a national survey on purchasing behavior and social values, increasingly conscious consumers are demanding that companies be transparent about their practices and accountable for their impact on people and the planet.
By Adam Richardson - November 12, 2007
I couldn't take my dogs for a run at their usual park this weekend. Why? Because it is an estuary for the San Francisco Bay, and the Bay's water and surrounding coast is coated with a layer of thick fuel oil that leaked out of a container ship that crashed into the Bay Bridge.
By Tim Leberecht - November 12, 2007
[Tim O'Reilly at the Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin]
By Various frogs - November 11, 2007
This past Wednesday, November 7, there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about how too much junk ends up in the San Francisco compost stream (see article). The article explained that at one point a bicycle was found with the green waste at Jepson Prairie Organics where San Francisco's compost collection goes (Jepson Prairie Organics is located in Vacaville, CA). While I find that incredible, I'm not completely surprised. As the self proclaimed "Captain Compost" of the frog design San Francisco studio, I occasionaly find some weird stuff in the green bin. For example, one time I spotted a plastic bag in the compost bin. I thought, "Who would put plastic in the compost bin?? Don't they get it? Food and paper towels and the like, not plastic!" Then, as I pulled the plastic out, I realized that there was an uncooked sausage in it. Someone had the right idea (compost the uneaten food!), but they missed a small detail. Don't compost the packaging it comes in unless it's compostable as well! Sigh.
I guess it goes to show that education and discipline are huge. We have to continuously educate people about how to compost - because it's not familiar to everyone. And not everyone feels as seriously about it as some of us do. That's to be expected. There's only so much cognitive load that each of us can handle. We have to help each other out. We have to be our brother's keeper. I'll try to do my part.
Niman Ranch, Please Help Me Be Green
Niman Ranch has an excellent reputation in California for producing high quality meats. It's a well know brand. But I was bummed to buy one of their products at the grocery store and then realize later that the packaging was not recyclable. It looked like it might be, but it wasn't. (See images below.)
This is a little surprising because they tout themselves as such a humane and sustainable business. At the top of their web site it says:
Niman Ranch and its family farmers raise livestock traditionally, humanely and sustainably to deliver the finest tasting meat in the world.
Ok, I'll give you that you create a good product. But let's work on the total life cycle of your product. Can't you make your packaging recyclable? Is there a good reason why you don't? So, I decided to write them. After all, on the packaging it says "Questions? Email info@nimanranch.com." Here's what I wrote:
From: Rob Stokes
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 7:36 PM
To: 'info@nimanranch.com'
Subject: Why don't you use recyclable packaging for your meat products?
Hi Niman Ranch,
My name is Rob Stokes. I work for frog design in San Francisco. I’m doing this blog called Trash Talk (http://www.frogdesign.com/frogblog/author/tra...) where I have to carry all my trash around with me for 2 weeks. That means that if I can’t compost or recycle it, I have to carry it with me.
I purchased some of your meats a couple of days ago (see attached photo) and I noticed that there is no recycling symbol on the plastic container in which the meat comes. Why is that? Wouldn’t be possible to ship your product in a recyclable container? I like your meat products, but I’d rather not carry the packaging around with me.
Please let me know.
Sincerely,
Rob Stokes
Let's see if they send me a response.
By the way, my bag is getting heavier. It's not huge yet, but it's not exactly comfortable to attach to my belt anymore.
Cheers,
Rob
By Various frogs - November 6, 2007
Evan Cordes has brought to my attention that Tom's of Maine will take back the aluminum toothpaste tubes if your city will not recycle them (see comments below). I don't think that San Francisco will accept them; so, I guess I'm going to collect a bunch of them over the next few months and send them back to Maine!
Previous Post:
Tom's of Maine is a favorite brand amongst environmental do-gooders (like myself). You get the sense that everything they make is a lot more natural than all the products made by Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.
However, I don't think there's much I can do with an empty tube of Tom's of Maine toothpaste. Natural or not, it's still destined for the landfill. There's some sort of recycling symbol on the back of the tube, but I have no idea what it means (see photo below).
I'll give $20 to anyone who can tell me what it means. I'm not kidding. $20 - it's just one Paypal payment away.
A trip to Peru
As I was peeling off the "Organic" sticker on my banana this morning (which is going to the landfill by the way ... ironic, isn't it?), I noticed yet another sticker on the bunch of bananas. It said "Visit our Farm at doleorganic.com ... FARM 003." The banana said "Peru" on it. So, I thought "hmm ... maybe I will."
http://doleorganic.com/farms/003/003.html
Not suprisingly, the site is very "green," literally. It's kind of cool though. You can see where the bananas come from and the people who work on the farm. Not bad. And the photo viewer is pretty nice as well. I digress.
Anyway, here's a list of what I landfilled/recycled/composted today.
Landfill
- My "I Voted!" sticker
- The two "Organic" banana stickers
- Tom's of Maine toothpaste tube
Recycling
- Miscellaneous voting papers
Compost
Cheers,
Rob
By Adam Richardson - November 6, 2007
Today we are in the throes of a slow return to a world of more personal connection between companies and their customers. Web 2.0 is allowing it, and for some people perhaps it is a new concept, but in fact it dates back to the beginning of commerce, to individual barter or the local market and the personal connection between those selling or buying the goods. For a long time we have engineered and marketed and grown our way out of this type of connection, and it is still quite startling when you see it happen in a genuine way.
By Stacey Gillar - November 6, 2007
We always knew that right? In fact, some may say that life revolves around the push-pull against and for beige. We want the calm and the known or the different and the ever-changing. So it was in the late 60s and so it is today, apparently, and surprisingly.
Consider these two very separate sitings posted on the web today. For your inspection, item one: In response to an article in the New York times about buyer's remorse, a gentleman writes about his experiences selling wall coverings in the late 60s and how they would add "curb appeal items with strong or dynamic colorings to attract attention, realizing that most consumers would end up buying 'beige'”.
Item two: A more detailed and studied offering from TrendWatching - the trend Blandtastic. Similarly to the reaction of the 60s, this is a reaction to the designed and to the styled. It's a return to beige again! From TrendWatching, "Every imaginable luxury item and service has trickled down to the great unwashed, making good design, beauty and style ridiculously affordable and ubiquitous, and thus utterly undesirable to those in the know. Says Brian Pillsbury, manager of the Howard Johnson LaGuardia: 'It took us a couple of months to figure out why we were suddenly seeing occupancy rates of 85%, and why our lobby was crowded with well-heeled European visitors.'"
My first thought: what are they thinking? Soon after: is good design really a quaint idea? Or are those who were into luxury for the sake of L U X U R Y, just moving on to the next trend? Or, is it really the economy which is dictating what things (certain) people can spend money on?
Surprise Witness: Spotted last week, "I believe the evidence is powerful that, as incredible as it may seem, U.S. consumers are going to start living within their means again. Brace yourself," says Fortune Senior Editor-at-Large Geoff Colvin, declaring the 'buying binge' over, October 16, 2007, as read from Iconoculture.
The housing market may have helped these trends along in the U.S., but it may have already been a trend, for whatever reason, in many places around the world.
Personally, I'm happy to have design and art available for the masses, but then again, I'm a studied librarian who is for information for all. Information is basically anything - food for the body or art for the mind. The more it is everywhere, the more it is good. Also, I work at a design company, ergo, I like design. Just because design is everywhere doesn't make me want to go to beige just because doing so is different. Who does that?
By Various frogs - November 6, 2007
I have to admit. Sometimes it's hard to tell if something is plastic or compostable material. I was in Trader Joe's last night looking for a few things. Normally I don't like going there because they wrap all their vegetables with some sort of material. Plus, you can't buy vegetables individually; you have to buy them in fixed quantities. However, they're one of the only vendors in San Francisco that sell Spanish olive oil; so, I have to go there occasionally. (Spanish olive oil is SOOOO good!)
Anyway, we needed some tomatoes and I looked with dread at the container for the tomatoes. Is it recyclable??? I sure hope so! I flipped the container over and searched desperately for the recycling symbol. It was nowhere to be found! Sigh. Then my wife pointed out that the package said "Compostable." Hoooray! I was so busy looking for the recycling symbol that I actually overlooked the big type saying "Nature Works Compostable."
So, I looked "Nature Works" up. Here's what I found.
http://www.natureworksllc.com/
Derived from 100% annually renewable resources such as corn, our product, NatureWorks® polymer, is the world’s first polymer showing a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
I've seen corn products like this before, but never one for holding tomatoes. Pretty cool! See images below.
And here's a list of what I landfilled/recycled/composted yesterday.
Landfill
- Sticker label for baguette
- Clear "window" on an envelope
- Dental Floss
Recycling
- Muni train ticket
- Junk mail
- Wine bottle
- Voting guide
Compost
- Banana Peel
- Paper container for my lunch taco (I eat a lot of these things)
- Used napkin
- Used tea bag
- Cheese rind
- Tomatoes
Until tomorrow.
Cheers,
Rob
By Tim Leberecht - November 4, 2007
By Various frogs - November 4, 2007
Last night I went out to a club called Mighty in San Francisco (http://www.mighty119.com/). And as I looked on while my friend ordered some shots of tequila, I was disappointed to see that the bartender was pouring the tequila in some little plastic cups, as opposed to the customary shot glasses. Sigh, I thought to myself. Another thing for the trash bag.
But as I was finishing up my shot, I noticed the familiar recycling image on the bottom of my glass. Could it be? Could I save myself from more junk in my bag? YES! Indeed! #6 plastic. Excellent. I don't think that recycling a plastic "shot glass" is better than just washing a real glass one (reuse is better than single use), but I'm glad to see that even the nightclub industry is using recyclable products. But, honestly, let's not kid ourselves. Who's actually going to recycle the glasses besides me during Trash Talk? Answer: no one.
Compostable Coffee Bean Bag
My hat goes off to Blue Bottle Coffee (http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/) for selling you beans in a compostable bag. It has a liner, but the liner is made with corn products so you can compost it. You do, however, have to tear off the tin tie at the top before composting (see image below).
Bread Bag Enclosures
Sure, these things are small, but they're used all over the place for baked goods. And I doubt many people reuse them. Why don't they use a more reusable enclosure mechanism or make them out of a recyclable plastic? And why don't more cities recycle plastic bags???
Curse you, Brita filter!
Filtered water rocks, especially in a place where the tap water tastes nasty. But I was loathe to change my Brita water filter because i knew I would have to carry it around. Sigh, this is my biggest and heaviest piece of trash yet. Landfill gods, forgive me.
Signing off from sunny San Francisco,
Rob
