homeaboutthe workresourcesbarenose shopblog
 

What does it mean to be a green business?

Green Business Logo

The Green Business Program recognizes businesses that:

  • Comply with all environmental regulations

  • Take steps to conserve natural resources, prevent pollution, and reduce waste.

The 10- Second Plastic Bag Lesson

  • Regular polyethylene-based plastic bags can take over 100 years to degrade and are not compostable. Less than 2% of all plastic bags ever get recycled. Plastic bags litter our streets, backwoods and waterways.
  • Studies indicate that 100,000 marine animals and 2 million birds die each year from ingesting or being caught up in plastic debris. Some manufacturers are blending additives to polyethylene to produce "degradable" bags.
  • Unfortunately, this process fragments the bags into pieces of plastic debris that do not meet the ASTM D6400 standard for compostable plastic.
Taken from a BioBag product.
We start with our work space. We have energy efficient lighting and equipment, low-flush toilets, and energy-efficient windows and doors, and use energy wisely when heating and cooling. We use chemical- and fragrance-free cleaning products and production materials. We offer clients and visitors filtered water, tea, and other drinks, in reusable glasses and mugs, thereby eliminating the use of plastic, or paper, cups and bottles.

Next you can see it in our packaging, where we try to reduce waste to benefit the environment and buy products with as little packaging as possible. You’ll see that we reuse boxes and envelopes (we even make envelopes from maps and other recycled papers) so excuse us if it’s a little rumpled. When using new packaging, we use only biodegradable, nontoxic packaging such as paper and cardboard, all of which can be recycled or composted, and we support businesses that do the same.

We are members of the Sustainable Business Alliance, Green America, Friends of the Earth, GreenPeace, and CARE . We participate in a Zero Waste program, where we recycle, reuse and compost our garbage to reduce our waste to almost nothing. Our hosting company, 1&1, is also a green host. We also have an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Policy.

When traveling we group trips together, and promote car and ride sharing, and encourage public transportation whenever possible. These actions are aligned with our mission of being an environmentally conscious business. Thank you for supporting our efforts.

 

HOME | ABOUT | THE WORK | RESOURCES | BARENOSE SHOP | PRIVACY | CONTACT