Green Cleaning Products from EcoSierra

Are you interested in finding the best green cleaning products? EcoSierra, a company based in Madison, Wisconsin, has a great-looking line of eco friendly cleaning products, and they specialize in reusable, refillable products. Check out this video to learn more about their cleaning products such as all purpose cleaner, kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, and glass cleaner.

I used to work with a woman who had spent many years as a chemist, and she was very careful about her choices in cleaning products because conventional products could send her into a terrible reaction because of her chemical sensitivity. It makes me glad to see this line of health-friendly products made from natural ingredients because they not only help us maintain our physical health, but they also help us preserve the environment.

EcoSierra is known for their custom "squeasy pouch" refills for their cleaning products. This system saves money and resources and sends fewer materials into landfills. The series of photos below shows how the squeasy pouches work.

I've always liked the convenience of spray products, and EcoSierra has developed their line of cleaners so that you can use the optimal product for each of your cleaning needs. Or if you prefer to just use one cleaner throughout your home, they have an all-purpose cleaner, too. The products come in gentle scents such as cucumber and grapefruit. Visit EcoSierra's website to learn more.

Bashford Jewelry, an Eco Friendly and Fair Trade Company

There's always more to say about a unique independent business, so after interviewing Mildred Stephens, the CEO and founder of Bashford Jewelry, I decided to do a follow up post with more info about this fair-trade company--and share more photos of their jewelry.

Bashford Jewelry has worked to establish a reputation as an eco-friendly company. In addition to selling only conflict-free diamonds, they use recycled golds. The process of gold mining produces a lot of toxic waste and pollution, so it's great news for the environment to find a jeweler who is using recycled gold instead.

The mission of Bashford Jewelry is to create timeless and stunning jewelry using ethical labor and environmentally responsible sourcing. The company does research on the origins of all of the diamonds they use, in order to protect and preserve the environment and improve the livelihoods of the people who participate in mining--and live in areas where mining occurs. The diamonds used by Bashford Jewelry all come from Canada and Russia.

The company has a very nice line of engagement rings. They have a variety of classic and modern designs, many with diamonds but others with different stones for those who like sapphires and other stones. There's a nice selection of both white and yellow gold as well.

Finally, the company gives back to the community in other ways. With each purchase, they donate money to charity, and their website includes information on the different charities they support. The scope of their community support ranges from local (such as a rehabilitation center for adults in need of therapy and housing) to international (such as efforts to prevent human trafficking).

I think we'll be seeing more from Bashford Jewelry as their reputation both online and offline continues to grow. From my perspective, it's great to see a move toward eco-green practices in the jewelry industry!

Norwex Products and a Relationship Based Business Model

In my previous post about Suzanne Holt's blog, I focused on Suzanne as a blogger. But her website also offered me an interesting introduction to Norwex products, so this post focuses more directly on that topic.

Suzanne is an Executive Vice President Sales Leader with Norwex, which means that she helps guide a team of Independent Sales Consultants who sell Norwex products. On her website, Suzanne features information about many Norwex products. Two recent posts focused on a makeup removal product and a bathroom cleaning product, for example. In this way, readers learn about products but through the lens of Suzanne's own perspective.

To purchase Norwex products, rather than shopping on the corporate website, you shop on the website of a specific sales consultant. The company has developed a relationship-based method of sales while at the same time allowing customers to shop online, a unique combo which distinguishes it from many companies.

When you click onto the Norwex corporate website, you're greeted with an image of a blue lake, the blue sky, and a lush green field. The company, which originated in Norway in the 1990s, describes their work as follows: "radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning to promote health." They do this through a vast product line of items you can use for taking care of your home, as well as skin care items, shampoos, soaps, etc. They also have a special line of products developed with kids in mind. If you want to learn about those products, you need to return to Suzanne's site (or another site maintained by and Independent Sales Consultant).

Norwex is hiring consultants in the United States as well. Suzanne also provides information about working with Norwex on her blog, and she invites people to contact her personally, saying that, "you will not receive a sales pitch from me."

Monitors AnyWhere Simplifies Digital Signage

I've been in many stores--plus museums, government buildings, etc--which share information with customers/visitors using TV or computer screens. I never really thought about the set-up required to do this until I read about Monitors AnyWhere and the company's simple solution to a situation that is more cumbersome for a lot of businesses than it needs to be.

Turns out that many businesses who are using digital signage are placing a PC or media player (which is basically a PC) behind each screen that they want to use to broadcast their informational and/or ad content. Another large number of businesses are using solutions that use video extenders over Cat5 cables (network cables), which requires the business owners to run a proprietary network infrastructure just for that cause.

If this seems like a lot of hardware and infrastructure to share information digitally/visually with customers, the people at Monitors AnyWhere thought the same thing! So they have developed a method which allows you to use a single PC and your existing network infrastructure to broadcast up to 20 different content channels by utilizing the VGA over LAN technology.

Well, the easiest way to understand it is to watch this animated video from Monitors AnyWhere...

The best part about the product developed by Monitors AnyWhere is that it's a green solution because it saves businesses the environmental impact as well as the expense of running a bunch of PCs to display digital signage; instead, you can run your content with the resources you're already using. Pretty cool!

More Biodegradable Goodness from Global 1 Packaging

In my previous post about biodegradable and compostable bags for dog waste, I was interested to learn about some environmentally friendly options from a Canadian company to help pet owners reduce their impact on landfills. Now I've learned about another Canadian company producing biodegradable bags for a different market: printed poly bags for a variety of business needs.

These bags are made near Toronto, and there are designs for a range of purposes, such as garment bags, garbage bags, and custom-printed bags for both retail sales and shipping. I've noticed that customers like biodegradable bags so much that they will often reuse them, which is an extra bonus for the business owners who have their business names printed on the bags as this results in lots of free advertising as people carry the bags around town.

Global 1 Packaging has a nice array of customizable shopping bags and other reusable bags that make excellent giveaways, too. With many cities enacting plastic bag bans, who doesn't like a free shopping bag? If I were a retailer, I'd definitely give the idea some thought!

Introducing Discountdogpoopbags.com

Sometimes I think about landfills and certain things that surely account for a lot of the trash that adds up, and bags of pet waste always come to mind. In search of a solution, a Canadian company founded by animal lovers began selling two types of dog poop bags, some which are biodegradable and some which are compostable.

Their affordable bags are made in Canada while other competing products on the market are made in China, and they promise that the bags are sturdy enough that you don't have to be "afraid your hand might rip through."

They also sell compostable kitchen bags, and I'm curious to try their products because in my previous attempts at buying compostable bags, the bags were too thin to withstand the contents (not that I think I had a bunch of heavy kitchen waste, but the bags thought so!).

One other note: the bags are dark in color, so you and your dog can feel discreet about what you're carrying around on your walk!