Green Washing | Guided ProductsGuided Products

Guilt and Hypocrisy in the Green Movement

Hypocrisy and Guilt in Green Movement Guilt is not sustainable…not as a marketing technique, a state of being or a political platform.

In the early days of environmental awareness and corporate responsibility there were leaders. These were folks with vision and the voice to be heard. While we cannot speak to the integrity of their motives, we can acknowledge them for creating awareness and demand for evolving practice and policy. Truth be told, much of their message was based on guilt, fear and the fostering of resentment. While a useful means to get attention, it’s not a sustainable method.

In addition, their message hasn’t evolved much and is now seeing a backlash from the very people it was meant to sway. As consumers, capitalists and patriots, it’s difficult to watch some of these evangelists tout shortsighted policy and positioning while their own actions are in direct contradiction. Regardless of your (or our) position on their policy ideas, the hypocrisy of someone grandstanding about societal communes and redistribution of wealth heading home to their book contract and penthouse in Manhattan, knocking down or ignoring the homeless woman on the street asking for help is not welcome here at ReBinder. Regardless of your policy ideas or where you sleep at night, hypocrisy sucks. Grow up, be authentic and talk about that on a grandstand…more people will listen.

With freedom of speech comes the freedom to listen (or not). When you see environmental blame, claims and recommendations, question them. Do not fall victim to emotional calls for action without first checking the foundation from which that claim was made.

Here at ReBinder, we stay away from blame, guilt and hypocrisy in our messaging and lives. We know that every recycled binder we sell keeps a vinyl binder out of a landfill and that’s worth waking up to in the morning. So, to that end, here’s a 10% discount to anyone who’s bothered to read this far. Enter BLOG10 at checkout on www.ReBinder.com and you’ll be rewarded.

Onward folks.

Brown is the Real Green

Future ReBinder Recycled Binders

Besides the obvious ‘do you make this in plastic’ question that we occasionally field, the second most peculiar question we are asked is if we can ‘cover up the brown kraft’ and flood it with color or wrap it….and yes sometimes, we are asked if we can wrap it in plastic or vinyl.

So the short answer to these questions is – we make zero waste office products that do not end up in a landfill at the end of their useful life…period. It’s very simply language and provides zero gray area that would allow us to cut corners in terms of ReBinder’s core values and guiding principals. So that’s that – landfill bad. ReBinder No Landfill Required.

The next part of discussion usually focuses on why a buyer or user would want brown. We tell customers if green and sustainable office products are what you seek, then naturally you should want it brown kraft. The fact is that ReBinder products are not simply a recycled binder, CD case, recycled notebook, index tab divider, or a pocket folder. They are your responsible message, billboard, corporate social responsibility (CSR) statement, and values…..and no other color speaks to these better then a natural brown kraft. Anything but brown kraft is dyed, wrapped, or otherwise altered or taken out of it’s original form which at best doesn’t highlight them as a sustainable or responsible product, but usually when referred to as green or recycled, is greenwashing.

So in summary, ReBinder is brown kraft. Brown is the Real Green. Lastly, and completely off topic and with no relevance, we like headstands, pugs, and flip-flops.

The Innovation of Greenwashing @expowest

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Some of our team just got back from #ExpoWest. Overall impressions were mixed. The good news, there is still innovation building responsible products out there. The bad news, there is equal innovation in greenwashing…making it more challenging for the authentic to prevail through the noise.

Winners – We loved the Seventh Generation new kraft cardboard packaging and look. It delivered their authentic message on point and above the noise. Everyone else seemed to show a picture of a forest, leaf or dirt – and use the word green…and their messages got mumbled together.

#RUSerious?! – One rep at a booth told us his ‘biodegradable’ plastic stuff ‘went away’ after being put in a landfill. We asked if it composted or biodegraded…he said it just disappeared. A) there’s a difference between biodegrading and composting, B) things don’t compost in landfills, not even newspapers, C) train your reps.

Lastly – we saw a bunch of folks selling their (positioned as) natural/responsible products using vinyl/plastic sales materials. If you’re one of these folks, take a look at our line of zero waste office and promotional products. We’d love to help you out next time you want to break through the noise…and it shouldn’t cost you any more.

Time to ReWork the Green Industry

When you ask most entrepreneurs or aspiring business builders what books have influenced them most as leaders, you usually get the standard Built to Last, Good to Great, Winning, etc. While all these are great books that we can learn a lot from, I don’t think they translate well to early-stage business and specifically, what many others call the ‘green industry’ (while I think the term itself is meaningless, for simplicity sake we will use the term green industry to describe any business creating a more environmentally friendly or responsible product or technology).

A couple months ago a friend of mine Howie from Barokas PR recommended a different kind of business management book to me….written by the founders of 37Signals (makers of Highrise CRM, Basecamp and other web-based apps for business collaboration and sharing of information), the book is called Rework. Truth be told, we recently looked at using Highrise as our CRM tool but decided it was missing a few key features that we needed. However, I am sure if you asked the authors Jason and David they would say no worries and thank you for looking at it, but we didn’t build it for you, so good luck.

While reading Rework (notice I capitalized the ‘W’ in the title – couldn’t resist, it just looks better) I kept translating the mainly tech focused lessons learned to challenges / opportunities in the ‘green industry’. As most that know me can attest, I am not really the buck the system, avoid SBUX like the plague because it’s “the man”, and kill my TV kind of guy. However, there was something about this book’s ‘throw everything you have learned out the door at this stage (for early-stage businesses or products that while different, are better) because the application is wrong’ idea that really appealed to me. Bottom line – the so called ‘green industry’ has not worked. In fact, I think in the last two years we have gotten further away from real, sustainable and responsible thought leadership in the marketplace. Now the industry is more talk about transparency and responsibility then it is about actual execution. It’s more about committing a percentage of profits to ‘green’ causes then it is about actually getting to the profits themselves. More talking about reaching the widest audience possible through direct and niche channels without going through big box (because all big box is apparently evil) then it is about creating a business model or product that can actually scale to the point where it will have a real impact (talking about many more zeros than say 3 or 4 here).

Anyway, before the ramble – my intended point was that Rework is an excellent book for anyone looking to build something – a new technology, a new consumer product, or a new more responsible line of zero waste office products (mmmmm…wonder who that is). At it’s core, it’s supply demand, features and requirements, and No BS (stole that from Howie). Enjoy.

Vultures, Guilt and Your ‘Green’ Dollar

Green Vulture The vultures are circling and they are looking to prey on your guilt and ‘green’ dollar. Long gone are the days of just looking for a recycle symbol and pushing the buy button. Today, this symbol is probably one of the most overly used / abused and diluted symbols in the market place and it has been rendered virtually meaningless.

Note to selves – don’t trust a ‘green’ label by itself. For that matter, don’t even trust a ‘green’ or ‘responsible business’ certification by themselves.

There was a recent piece on WSJ.com titled Misleading Claims on ‘Green’ Labeling that details a study where 95% of consumer products examined committed at least one offense of “greenwashing”. This is not news to us – we have been crying foul on recycle symbols being on toxic vinyl for years. However, it underscores the value marketeers are placing on the ‘green’ fashion and discretionary spend (the fact that is still remains a ‘fashion’ is another blog for another day…more to come).

Take a read at the article. Open your eyes. Peel back the onion on what you are buying, how it is made, and who makes it. The consumer still remains the most effective environmental watchdog – we all need to take time when making buying decisions and scream loudly with our wallets and budgets.

Half of UK consumers aren’t aware that their wood-based purchases could be illegal

In a recent survey conducted on behalf of WWF-UK, 1053 UK consumers were asked whether they believed that by purchasing wood and paper products in the UK, they were doing so through a legal source. Half of those consumers said yes. timber-saw-0507

The reality is that the UK is the fourth largest importer of illegally harvested or traded timber and wood products. The USA is also high on that list, although numbers are decreasing thanks to recent legislation banning the import of illegal wood. Still, consumers around the world can today be supporting illegal forest harvesting without realizing it.

Another great example of how your dollar spent drives production of products, however they’re produced.

What can be done? The solution is as simple as choosing the products we purchase more carefully. WWF-UK recommends only purchasing wood and paper products that carry the FSC logo. This logo tells you that the item in question has been sourced from verifiably well-managed forests in keeping with high environmental and social standards.

ReBinder’s chipboard office products proudly bare the FSC-certified logo. When you choose ReBinder, you can rest easy knowing that the wood comes from verified recycled sources, is environmentally and socially responsible, and is legally sourced.

Learn more about WWF-UK’s What Wood You Do? campaign.

Learn more about ReBinder’s FSC-certification.

The recycle symbol is useless

Don't trust the recycled logo

When we attend industry events, it is always shocking to see how some companies and products use the traditional recycle symbol in marketing. There are times we’ve seen this logo applied to a non ‘green binder’, where it points out that some tiny percent of the chipboard used as the skeleton inside the toxic vinyl is recycled. The new ‘green binder’ now has a higher price and is marketed by the manufacturer as part of their green line.

Horse manure.

This logo has no oversight and has thus become saturated. Don’t trust it. When we see the logo, it makes us more skeptical than trusting.

The real measure of responsibility is the product it self. Take a few minutes to read the label. If it’s not obvious that the product is made from responsible materials and won’t end up in a landfill, then you, as a consumer, shouldn’t put much faith in the logo.

Some companies think consumers aren’t smart enough to do their own research. We disagree. Our customers hold us to account every day, and we thank them for it.

Here’s is the standard our customers expect from our products:

Anyone else stepping up to this plate, we commend you.

Carbon Offsets – don’t believe the hype…

Thoughts on Carbon Offsets and why we choose not to use them.

We are often asked by customers if we offset our carbon output. Looking past the question itself and to why the person is asking it is really interesting and almost pinpoints exactly the reason why we don’t buy into them…….

Often times the question of ‘do we offset’ is asked not because the person on the other end of the phone cares what the answer is, but because it is box that they need to check yes or no in as part of their purchasing process. Apparently some where along the way, somebody decided that in order to be ‘green’ one must a) drive a Prius, b) have a bumper sticker on said Prius, and c) offset their carbon.

Here is the way we look at it – the carbon offset industry is about a $6 Billion dollar industry, the ‘voluntary’ market (in which we would fall) has virtually no standardization, regulation, enforcement or measure. What should be a commodity price with some variance, ranges from $1 to $47 Don't believe the hype ; it preys on environmental guilt so it leads to tons of scams. Bottom line (which yes, as a so called “green” business, we care about), the benefits / reduction is in question and there is little/no accountability.

Now there is ReBinder and what we are all about – we make responsibly manufactured zero waste recycled binders and other alternatives to legacy plastic and vinyl office products. We carefully consider the trade-offs – source, location, end-of-life, fiber content, social benefit – throughout our manufacturing process. While we won’t go as far as saying our products are good for the environment (note to all, no manufactured product is actually good for the environment, regardless of who is making the claim). But what we will say is that it is indisputable that our products are better for the environment than the alternatives made from vinyl and plastic, often sourced from half-way across the globe, manufactured under what most would consider unfair work conditions, and will no doubt end up in landfill. What we will also say is that for every vinyl binder we keep out of a landfill, there is verifiable, accountable, put it in a spreadsheet reduction in carbon. Lastly, there is no vinyl or plastic in the closet so we are not the proverbial wolf in sheeps clothing – you are buying from us and we have a verifiable chain of custody, inlcuding FSC (SCS-COC-002327).

So the question – do we a) offset our carbon and hope that some good comes from it, or b) reinvest any potential offset dollar back into our products to make them even more competitive from a pure customer balance sheet perspective, thereby know that carbon is reduced.

We choose B.

The Great Eco Label Shakedown

We see different eco labels every time we take a trip to the store. In fact, there are over 300 of them now! No wonder why consumers are confused with what is the best option.

Sustainable Industries Journal just published a great article on The Great Eco Label Shakedown . We can only hope that there is some standardization or consolidation of eco labeling that can be monitored by a trusted source.

To Download, To Rent or To Recycle?

I have to be honest, I’m never one to watch a ton of movies but I know that there are a lot of people who love going to the theater, people that rent, download and even buy DVDs. In the past we’ve seen the big box video rental stores pray on the customers who fail to return their DVDs in a timely fashion; surviving on a business model that thrived because of late fees. Then along came online companies like Netflix who found a market to let customers keep movies as long as they like and provide them an “all you can eat” model depending on how many DVDs they want to keep at a time. Big Box video retail stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video took it one step further by offering the same type of service as Netflix but with no downtime waiting for your new movie to arrive. Then there were the cable companies wanted a piece of the action and provided yet one more step of convenience; Download the latest and greatest films from the comfort of your own couch! Personally speaking, I have a great local video store within walking distance from my house that has the latest films, as well as, a great variety of independent and hard to find documentaries.

With airlines cutting back on everything from meals, carry-on luggage and even movies, it’s no surprise that retailers are now renting portable DVD players, movies, etc to travelers of the “friendly skies”. Haven gotten stuck in the Dallas airport last night, I spent much of my time browsing in the only retail book store that was still open at 10pm. I couldn’t help but notice a display that read “Eco DVDs”. My first thought was a recycled DVD packaging or a kiosk with down-loadable movies. When I read further, I found that this company flexplay was offering Time-Limited DVDs for sale. So, you had a choice of buying a DVD for $10-18 that you could watch forever or buy a $4.99 flexplay DVD that was only good to watch for two days. The eco part, I was still unsure about, but then I noticed the drop box customers could drop your old flexplay discs into. Looking more into their recycling partner , GreenDisc (who repurposes old e-waste) the recycling part appeared to be legitimate. To flexplay’s credit, they have also done away with the plastic clam shell DVD case and replaced it with a paper one. The problem I have is that we are just creating products for short term use and disposal. It’s likely that the customer buying a Time Limited DVD is choosing this option because they like the convenience and the price, but unlikely they going to be to remember to recycle their used discs, which will find their way to a landfill.

Weigh in on your thoughts. Is flexplay a good solution? How do you access your movies? Buy, Rent, Download?