East Coast– yet another spot where you’re likely to run into your pal Green Genius: King’s Supermarket. Can you dig it? King’s has locations throughout New York and New Jersey, and thank goodness they do, because where else would you stock up on artisan bread and organic and natural goodies while still scoring great prices on laundry detergent, et al? Seriously. But of course, you’re not just after suds and carbs– you’ve got to get your hands on some food and trash bags too, right? Luckily, both our food and trash bags are on the shelf at King’s. Hooray! King’s is also well-known for the variety of cool cooking classes they offer– Mexican tapas? New England clam chowder? You’ll be whipping them up in no time!
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IT’S GOOD TO BE KING’S
September 1st, 2010
This blog post was written by The Bag Lady on September 1st, 2010 at 9:20 AMWHERE'S GREEN GENIUS NOW?. Comments (0)
CLEANING UP BEACH CLEANUP
August 27th, 2010
It’s ironic, to say the least– the fact that the act of cleaning up some of the trash lining America’s beautiful beaches can also generate plastic waste– since you do have to put all that waste somewhere. Our partners at United By Blue gave that conundrum a lot of thought– and came to the conclusion that for their cleanup efforts to be truly “clean” they needed to use bags that wouldn’t simply go to a landfill and waste away (so to speak) for 1,000 years or more. That’s what brought UBB to us, and well, the rest is history. Watch this video to find out how they came to the conclusion that biodegradable is the way to go. (Oh, and if that’s not incentive enough, there are lots of cute surfers in the video…just sayin’).
This blog post was written by The Bag Lady on August 27th, 2010 at 1:07 PMMYSTERIOUS VANISHING PLASTIC. Comments (0)
WHAT DOES IT SPELL? BIG CORN!!!
August 25th, 2010
Senate Bill 1454– the bill we’ve been working to defeat that would greatly limit the development and sale of biodegradable products in California–was defined by some of its backer as a “pro-environment” bill. Why, how wholesome! It was an anti-greenwashing bill! A pro-Earth bill! Or…not.
In reality, SB 1454 is pro “Big Corn,” and little else. Here’s an easy illustration of that. Who were some of the biggest backers of the legislation?
- NatureWorks (Cargill)
- Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
- Biodegradable Products Institute
- Metabolix
Corn, corn, corn. Not exactly a squeaky clean crew (see previous post on ADM, for instance). Perhaps the most frustrating thing about SB 1454 is that if it truly were aimed at curbing greenwashing, we’d be all for it! We’d be shouting it from the rooftops! But in reality, it would just create a more favorable climate for corn plastic companies in California. And corn plastic might sound great, but it’s highly problematic– in fact, even when it goes to municipal composting facilities it’s often diverted to landfills!
So we hope you’ll enjoy our little spoof on the well-meaning folks behind SB 1454. Watch, enjoy, share.
This blog post was written by The Bag Lady on August 25th, 2010 at 3:40 PMSOMETHING FISHY. Comments (0)
BUMMED, BUT UNDETERRED
August 25th, 2010
Image by Micky
We try not to spend too much time on this blog being negative about what’s not working. Actually, we try not to spend any time doing that. Because our company is all about progress not perfection, and so there’s no point in obsessing about what doesn’t work. But we’re sad to report today that SB 1454, the California legislation that we’ve been working to defeat– because it would make it illegal to sell biodegradable products in California that aren’t also “compostable” (according to a standard developed by the corn industry) was passed Monday night, after multiple votes, and plenty of last minute meetings and pleadings on both sides.
The good news is this: it BARELY passed the Assembly. Similar legislation, AB 1972, which imposed similar limitations for similar reasons, passed with hardly a cough of protest in 2008. So, we’ve come a long, long way– and the close vote suggests that our legislators have their doubts about the bill. The final vote was 42 to 28. The bill now moves on to the Senate for what’s called “concurrence”–basically, they already voted on the bill in June (it passed 26-8) so this vote determines whether they approve of the bill in its updated form. That vote could happen as early as this afternoon, from 3-5pm Pacific time. You can watch the vote live here: https://www.calchannel.com/channel/live/1
This blog post was written by The Bag Lady on August 25th, 2010 at 2:26 PMSOMETHING FISHY. Comments (0)
BIG CORN SHOWS HIS FACE
August 23rd, 2010
Several members of the GG team spent today in Sacramento, where our pal Big Corn, stalked the steps of the Capitol in his finest husk, and explained to passersby why SB 1454 is beneficial legislation for the industry that matters most: the corn industry, of course! After all, why should corn plastics have to compete with other biodegradables for market share in California? Shouldn’t there just be one choice for consumers? The corniest choice?
All sarcasm aside though, we’re obviously working hard to oppose SB 1454, a bill that would outlaw biodegradable products like ours in California, in favor of compostable corn plastic products (which, by the way, predominately end up in landfills) . And we’re not the only ones who would be affected by this law– our friends at Lather, for instance, a great natural skin care company, would also preventing from selling their products in CA. SB 1454 might finally be voted on today, and we’re doing everything we can to let our legislators know that this bill is NOT pro-environment legislation–but rather it IS anti-innovation, and passing it would not help consumers. In fact, it seems that only the corn industry itself really stands to benefit.
This blog post was written by The Bag Lady on August 23rd, 2010 at 3:44 PMSOMETHING FISHY. Comments (0)
