Scarborough Fair Organic Fairtrade Coffee
Scarborough Fair Foods was established in 2004 by a New Zealand based food marketing company. They wanted to take a mainstream approach to distributing Fairtrade certified organic coffee rather than the usual method of premium priced low volume products.
Fairtrade is reasonably well know with their logo now on many products globally. Briefly, their mission is to ensure the producers receive a fair price for their products and the flow on from this is better quality of life, clean water, minimum safety standards and no child labour, just to name a few.
The Scarborough Fair organic coffee is sourced from Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. Most of these are based around the co-operative farming model. There are a variety of options with ground roasted, beans and instant. They are then available in a variety of blends using, for example, arabica and robusta beans, with dark roast, medium roast plus others.
Check out the Scarborough Fair website for a list of all the Fairtrade organic coffees.
Poppies For Grace wedding invitations
Poppies For Grace cards and tags have previously been described so basically you should already know that all their paper stock is 100% recycled, FSC approved and they use vegetable based inks.
In relation to weddings, let’s face it, there is usually some wastage. Be it the invites you have to send to be polite, knowing full well they won’t come, through to the deserts left untouched at the end of the night. So try and be a bit conscious and use Poppies For Grace wedding invitations made from 100% recycled paper. Actually it is 65% post-consumer waste and 35% pre-consumer waste. Delivery time is about 2-3 weeks.
Lost more detail at the Poppies For Grace website.
Billabong Recycler Series Boardshorts
Billabong, in conjunction with Project Blue have released a range of men’s and women’s boardshorts whereby proceeds from sales are donated back to the Surfrider Foundation.
The board shorts are made from eco-supreme suede, a 100% recycled polyester. To give you an idea, each garment is made from approximately ten recycled plastic PET bottles. These are so good they even won the 2008 Sima Product of the Year.
The men’s range includes the LSD, Tropical Itch, Eco Dots and Super Sonic (pictured) models. The women’s model is called Life and has a floral logo.
Check them out at the Billabong website or buy them from Killer Dana or Pac Sun.
SKN organic reusable tote bags
SKN Design (pronounced skin) is a personal home accessory design company. They cover the two ‘s’ words, style and sustainability. As a company they are aware it is not only things like products mode from sustainable resources, it is business processes that also need attention. For example, they use USPS Priority Mail where possible as this is the only US mailing/shipping company to achieve cradle to cradle certification by MBDC.
You probably have plenty of reusable bags around the house, however, if you need ore then consider the SKN organic tote bags. A perfect replacement for the plastic bags that don’t biodegrade and paper bags that aren’t made from recycled materials. Normal grocery bags aren’t currently made from recycled paper because it isn’t strong enough.
The organic cotton bags are made from 100% organic unbleached cotton and strong enough to hold up to 40lbs. They are gusseted to fold flat when not in use. They are easy to maintain and machine washable and drip dry.
Available in five styles with different prints and also a non-organic version.
More details on the SKN website.
Kiehls Aloe Vera Biodegradable Liquid Body Cleanser
A quick look at the packaging used for the Kiehls products and you can tell they do things differently. No fancy packaging and unnecessary printing. Their containers are made from post consumer recycled bottles, soy based inks for printing and the gladly accept the containers back for recycling.
Kiehls have partnered with actor Brad Pitt through JPF Eco Systems and their Aloe Vera Biodegradable Liquid Body Cleanser is the first product to hit the shelves. As the name suggests, it is biodegradable and only takes 28 days for this to happen.
The product is also certified cradle to cradle by MBDC and that ensures a minimal negative impact on the environment, recyclable or compostable packaging and manufactured using renewable energy and efficient, socially responsible uses of water.
One hundred percent of the net profits from this product are donated to Make It Right a project created to provide affordable and environmentally sustainable housing for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Half Crepe and Half Crepe Lace Up shoes by Vans
More fine footwear from the folks at Vans Surf. Vans as a company has been through ups and downs and deserves your support. They offer great products and put so much back into sports like surfing, skateboarding and BMX just to name a few. Think of events such as the Vans Triple Crown and Vans Warped Tours.
The Vans Half Crepe shoes come in slip on and lace up varieties. Not a low shoe and not a boot, they are the ‘half’ shoes. made from natural hemp, corduroy and suede with bamboo charcoal linings and a natural crepe outsole. Water based glues hold them together and the inks are also water based.
To purchase Vans shoes, have a look at the range here.
ReSurf is recycling surfboards into industrial fillers
The harsh reality is that surfboards don’t last forever and the majority end up in landfill. As you can imagine, because of the materials used to manufacture them, they take forever to decompose. A few surfers from Orange County, California have come up with a way to use the surfboards by recycling them into a powder that is then used as a filling agent.
ReSurf are partnering with places like surf shops to act as collection points and then the used boards are transferred to a facility to be pulverised into a powder. This is being done in conjunction with Simba International who have affiliates worldwide with the necessary machinery.
The powder is then used in asphalt and concrete as a filler, with the added benefit of making it lighter and more flexible. Roofing tiles are another product benefitting from recycled surfboards.
The shaping waste is also being used, thus if a board is shaped by a shaper participating in the program and the subsequent owner ends the used board back, then it becomes a 100% recycled blank.
Learn how to donate, participate or find a collection point at ReSurf.
