bGreen: Thoughts On Green

Sweet Sales

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:56:31 -0500

Here we are. It’s February, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel…it’s warm and sunny! What a better way to gear up for the upcoming spring and summer than with some awesome deals at bGreen? If you’re looking for gear to get you through the rest of the winter, don’t worry, we have that too!

Here are some products we’d grab ourselves if we didn’t already own them.

ChicoBag Duffel:

This might be the best duffel bag you will ever own. Toss it in your suitcase during your next vacation and you’ll be happy you did when you see that empty housekeeper cart at the hotel. The ChicoBag Duffel also makes a great gym, overnight, weekend, and why does my pet have so much damn stuff bag.

ThinkSport Yoga Mat:

Is this the year you finally keep that New Year’s resolution to get in shape? I think it is. So after you get the ChicoBag Duffel for youe gym trips why not pick up a ThinkSport Yoga Mat? What’s that you say? Yoga’s not for you? Wrong.

Klean Kanteen Steel Pint Cups:

Finally everything you love about your Klean Kanteen water bottle in a cup. Take your Klean Kanteen Pint Cups to work, camping, school, or use them at home.

Those are just a few of the great products we have available in our sale section. Make sure to check out the rest of our sale section and of course the rest of our site. Oh, if you’re gearing up for a spring renovation don’t forget about the bGreen Mobile Showroom! We’ll come right to your house and help you kick that project off.

Happy New Year from the bGreen Team! Enjoy the best songs of...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:42:19 -0500

Happy New Year from the bGreen Team! Enjoy the best songs of 2011!

There's Still Time...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:31:00 -0500

…to pick up last minute gifts at the bGreen Mobile Showroom in Faneuil Hall!

We’ll be open the next two days with plenty of gifts ranging from Stocking Stuffers (like Skoy, Solar Flashlights, and ChicoBags) to Under the Tree/Next to the Menorah items (like ThinkSport PVC-free Yoga Mats and Vers iPod Players).

Hours

Thursday, 12/22: 10am - 8pm
Friday, 12/23: 10am - 5pm

Not sure what to get that special someone? How about a bGreen Gift Certificate? Click here to purchase your gift certificate, good for over 700 eco-friendly items available at bgreenlifestyle.com.

If you’re looking to do a little post-Holiday shopping, the bGreen Mobile Showroom in Faneuil Hall will be open the week after Christmas (Tuesday - Friday, 10am - 6pm). So stop by!

Happy Holidays from the entire bGreen Team! (yes we have a team)

bGreen listed as 1 of 5 startups you should be following

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:02:56 -0500

bGreen listed as 1 of 5 startups you should be following:

Feels nice to be followed…

Introducing bGreen Team Member Kristen

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:41:06 -0500

Hi! My name is Kristen, you will find me on the bGreen truck lusting after all of the sexy bamboo products and shiny Klean Kanteens!

I grew up in the middle of the country, in a small town in Nebraska then migrated to the West coast. It was in Seattle where my journey to design sustainably began. After 11 years of learning and practicing green architecture and design and just as the final coat of low VOC paint dried on our 10 year home remodel, we moved our family across country to Arlington, MA. I am enjoying exploring the East Coast and getting a refresher course in American History!

Come and visit me at the Mobile Showroom at the big Christmas tree at Quincy Market and I will tell you all about the cool green building products that are on the truck!

Eco Friendly Hanukkah

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:20:06 -0500

Eco Friendly Hanukkah

Groove Bamboo Backs for Macbooks For some reason I see a bGreen...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:25:06 -0500

Groove Bamboo Backs for Macbooks

For some reason I see a bGreen custom branded bamboo back coming soon, but in the meantime, this recycle symbol may have to do…

Introducing Evan, a new bGreen Team member

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:41:06 -0500

Hey y’all!

My name’s Evan, native to Westport, MA, new to the Boston area! Ever since I was 14 I have been involved in eco friendly practices while working on an organic farm during my high school summers, but it wasn’t until I attended Ithaca College that I really knew what it all meant. Being encompassed in sustainabile practices throughout my four years at Ithaca taught me to be conscience of my eco footprint, and how I can reduce it in my daily activities.

After graduation in 2009, I headed to Hawaii where I wwoofed (world wide opportunities on organic farms). Here I worked for 4 months on an organic lettuce farm on the Kona side of the Big Island. After these 4 amazing months I continued on to Australia, where I lived and worked for a year, mainly on the Gold Coast of Queensland. Upon the expiration of my visa I set off for 6 months traveling all throughout Southeast Asia, and found myself back in the States this past May!

Working with bGreen has allowed me to focus my time and effort on promoting and spreading eco friendly practices to all. I would consider myself to be easy going, with a passion for trying new and exciting things. Feel free to swing on by and chat to me if you want to know anything else!

Glad to see our friend Emily in the Fashion Truck is doing...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:06:14 -0500

Glad to see our friend Emily in the Fashion Truck is doing well!

thefashiontruck:

Woah- another crazy lunch hour(s) at Downtown Crossing! Stop by until 7 tonight!

Just added: ChicoBag Duffel RePETE bags

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:30:06 -0500

ChicoBag Duffel RePETE Meadow

ChicoBag Duffel RePETE Amethyst

ChicoBag Duffel RePETE Onyx

ChicoBag Duffel RePETE Sapphire

ChicoBag Duffel RePETE Smoke

Just added: ChicoBag Duffel RePETE bags

Update - 2 more items added to our Eco Friendly Holiday Gift Guide

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:01:05 -0500

Update - 2 more items added to our Eco Friendly Holiday Gift Guide:

We added two new items to our Eco Friendly Holiday Gift Guide:

ChicoBag Duffel rePETe Bags - Available in 5 colors, these ultra-portable duffel bags fold up into their own pouch for easy travel and storage.
Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Pint Cups - Great for tailgates (hello playoff season!), hiking, or even at home, these steel pint cups are great alternative to plastic cups.

Introducing Yaicha, a new bGreen Team member

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:55:23 -0500

Since the bGreen Mobile Showroom is open in Faneuil Hall this Holiday season, we had to go about adding a few people to the bGreen Team. We’re happy to say we have three AWESOME people that are helping us out. So, without further adieu, meet Yaicha.

——-

I grew up in rural Vermont and was raised to be environmentally conscious without even noticing. We composted, grew our own fruit and vegetables, and raised our own organic poultry. My family would work hard to can and freeze as many garden goodies as possible to help us get through the winter.Our yogurt came from the dairy farm down the road and the firewood that kept us warm throughout the winter was supplied by our neighbors.

Flash forward to the present: I now live in an apartment complex that doesn’t recycle and the closest thing I have to a garden is the few plants living on my windowsill. As I’ve gotten older and moved away from rural life, I have found that I have strayed from my eco-friendly roots. I decided to get involved with bGreen because I saw it as a great opportunity to re-connect with my environmental upbringing. I also believe that working with bGreen is a great outlet to connect with others in the community and share ideas about how we can all strive to be a little more eco-friendly in our everyday lives.

Cool Kickstarter Project - PANDA: Eco-friendly Handmade Bamboo Sunglasses

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:31:05 -0500

Cool Kickstarter Project - PANDA: Eco-friendly Handmade Bamboo Sunglasses:

Bamboo sunglasses. Pretty good deals if you get in on the funding.

Square and Square Card Case We were one of the first (if not the...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:05:05 -0500

Square Card Case

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Square and Square Card Case

We were one of the first (if not the first) in Boston to start accepting payments anywhere using Square. It’s a dead simple, beautifully designed payment system that anyone can use - you don’t even need to be a business!

Fast forward to now, and we’re excited to setup the bGreen Mobile Showroom on Square’s Card Case. You can now pay for anything we sell in the bGreen Mobile Showroom by just telling us your name! Tell us who you are and anything you want automatically gets added to your tab. All you need is the Square Card Case app - the rest happens automatically.

So, if you’re in Faneuil Hall anytime soon, stop by our Mobile Showroom and open up a tab!

Our Holiday Announcement From December 3rd through December...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:05:06 -0500

Our Holiday Announcement

From December 3rd through December 23rd, the bGreen Mobile Showroom will be parked right in the heart of Faneuil Hall at Marketplace Center (next the the Christmas Tree). Come on by!

Post your picture of the bGreen Mobile Showroom and we’ll send you a little treat.

Wal-Mart Joins Amazon in Less-Wasteful Packing to Cool ‘Wrap Rage’

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 10:02:06 -0500

Wal-Mart Joins Amazon in Less-Wasteful Packing to Cool ‘Wrap Rage’:

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) are prodding more manufacturers to change their packaging to cut waste and alleviate “wrap rage,” the frustration felt when a product is difficult to open.

The nation’s largest online store and the world’s biggest retailer have been pushing vendors, including Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) and Bluetooth headset maker Plantronics Inc. (PLT), to eliminate excessive and cumbersome packing materials, such as hard plastic clamshell casings that enclose electronics and wire ties used to secure toys to cardboard backings.

“We’ve gotten e-mails from customers who’ve purchased scissors in a clamshell, which would require another pair of scissors to open the package,” Nadia Shouraboura, Amazon’s vice president of global fulfillment, said in an interview.

As much as a third of all consumer trash sent to landfills is estimated to be packaging, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That translates to more than 800 pounds of packaging waste each year per U.S. consumer.

The problem becomes especially acute during the holidays. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste in the U.S. increases 25 percent, according to the EPA.

Besides impregnable packaging, manufacturers have been criticized for not using enough recycled or sustainable materials. This year, Greenpeace targeted toy companies Hasbro Inc. (HAS), Mattel Inc. (MAT), Lego Group and Walt Disney Co. to stop using packaging derived from rain forests in Indonesia. In response, the companies pledged to change their packaging practices.

From 19 to 80,000

Amazon kicked off its “Frustration-Free Packaging” initiative in 2008 with 19 items from Mattel and its Fisher- Price brand, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and memory-card maker Transcend Information Inc. (2451) It has grown to 80,000 products this year, with more than 12 million items expected to ship under the program. Amazon wants to at least triple that number next year.

To help it reach that goal, the retailer is contacting more manufacturers that get poor customer feedback about their packaging. Amazon is also sending engineers to help companies improve their designs.

While reduced packaging can boost consumers’ satisfaction, lower shipping costs and appeal to the environmentally conscious, companies are balancing those benefits with the need for packaging that still prevents theft and damage.

Changes at Plantronics

Ken Kannappan, Plantronics’ chief executive officer, asked the company’s design team this year to take over packaging from the marketing department.

Some early solutions included removing user manuals from boxes, bulk shipping products to retailers and corporate customers without boxing items individually, and reshaping boxes into smaller form factors by replacing AC chargers with USB cables.

“You’re looking at packaging and you’re going, ’My gosh, this is an area that’s designed to be wasted,’” Kannappan said in an interview. “We’re trying not only to optimize our packaging to reduce waste but to fully rethink what packaging is and does.”

By 2013, Wal-Mart plans to reduce packaging by 5 percent compared with 2008 levels, saving an estimated $3.4 billion annually.

To do so, it’s relying more on a sustainability packaging scorecard to determine which products to stock. Wal-Mart is also pushing manufacturers to create innovative design solutions.

Recyclable Messenger Bag

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) won a Wal-Mart design challenge by wrapping a notebook computer in a protective messenger bag made of recycled materials. It replaces conventional Styrofoam and cardboard packaging.

The design reduced packaging by 97 percent and removed the equivalent of one out of every four trucks it previously needed to ship the computers to Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores, the company said on its website.

Amazon, based in Seattle, launched its initiative after Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezosrecounted how he had spent his Christmas struggling to open presents for his children.

Bezos described his “wrap rage” as “the frustration we humans feel when trying to free a product from a nearly impenetrable package,” according to a letter he wrote to Amazon’s customers.

As Bezos shared his story with the staff, “everybody in the room started to chime in with their own horror stories,” Shouraboura said. “It was clear what we needed to do.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Cliff Edwards in San Francisco atcedwards28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

bGreen + Faneuil Hall = Home for the Holidays

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:23:05 -0500

For the past year and a half you’ve been able to find the bGreen Mobile Showroom at different events in and around Boston. We kicked off with Greenfest on City Hall Plaza. We’ve been to green events in Roslindale, Newton, Brookline, and Winchester just to name a few. We’ve done SoWa. We’ve done the New England Home Show. All were incredible events where we met great, interested folks and were able to show off our awesome eco friendly home and building products. But there was just one catch - each event was just a day, or in the case of the Home Show, a few days. Well, that’s about to change.

We are beyond excited to announce that the bGreen Mobile Showroom will have a permanent home for the Holiday Season.

Starting tomorrow, Saturday, December 3, and running through Friday, December 23, the bGreen Mobile Showroom will be parked right in the heart of Faneuil Hall at Marketplace Center. According to Faneuil Hall’s website:

There’s a magical place in the center of Boston like no other - Faneuil Hall Marketplace. As alive today as it was in 1742 when our nation’s fathers proclaimed it “The Cradle of Liberty,” it combines the glories of Boston’s past with the urban sophistication of the city today.

We’ll be setup 7 days a week along side stores like Banana Republic, Crocs, American Eagle, and The Gap. Our shelves are stocked with the latest eco-friendly gifts (check out our Holiday Gift Guide) and as always, our amazing green building materials. Yup, it’s the big-time for bGreen, and we’re beyond excited.

Location: Faneuil Hall Marketplace Center

Hours: Monday - Wednesday, 10am - 7pm; Thursday - Saturday, 10am - 9pm; Sunday, 12pm - 6pm

Dates: Saturday, December 3 - Friday, December 23

We would be remiss if we didn’t thank the City of Boston, Randi Lathrop at the BRA, and Michael Murphy of the Clarendon Group USA for making this possible. We owe you a major debt of gratitude, and perhaps a reusable water bottle or 20.

See you at the truck!

bGreen's Eco Friendly Holiday Gift Guide

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:13:00 -0500

‘Tis the season to be green (or bGreen)! We’ve compiled a list of 14 eco-friendly holiday gift ideas that’ll knock your stockings off (or off the mantle). We’ve pulled together 6 stocking stuffers and 6 under the tree/next to the menorah gifts. Wow, we’re just killing it with jokes.

Stocking Stuffers

Skoy ($5) - Ditch the paper towels and pick up a Skoy. Each one lasts for a year.
Preserve Tongue Cleaners ($12) - Scrape all the candy cane residue off your tongue. Made in MA from 100% recycled plastic.
Solar Hybrid Flashlight ($22) - A great little flashlight that keeps a charge for up to 3 years.
To-Go Ware Bamboo Utensils ($12.50) - Bamboo fork, knife & spoon in a nice little travel case.
Clementine Art Natural Crayon Rocks ($5.50) - A new take on crayons. Easy for smaller hands and made from natural materials.
Preserve Papestone Cutting Board ($22) - Stylish cutting board made recycled paper and cardboard.

Under the Tree/Next to the Menorah

Vers 1.5R iPod Player ($200+) - Vers is based in MA. Great iPod players/docks in your choice of either Bamboo or Walnut.
Green Toys ($10+) - Recycle trucks, fire engines, tug boats and more made from recycled plastic milk jugs.
Instinctive Messenger Bag ($42) - Hip and funky messenger bags made from recycled materials.
ThinkSport Yoga Mat ($37) - Om it out this holiday season with a PVC-free yoga mat from ThinkSport.
Klean Kanteen Reflect Steel Water Bottle ($30) - Put some shine on that water bottle. Mirrored (or brushed) finish with a sweet bamboo cap.
ChicoBag Duffel rePETe Bags - Available in 5 colors, these ultra-portable duffel bags fold up into their own pouch for easy travel and storage.
Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Pint Cups - Great for tailgates (hello playoff season!), hiking, or even at home, these steel pint cups are great alternative to plastic cups.
Eco Friendly Kitchen Countertop Remodel ($500+) - Bamboo, cork, recycled glass and concrete, or paper composite are just a few of the choices.

Fort Point Holiday Stroll Friday Night, 12/2

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:41:05 -0500

For the second year running, we’re going to have the bGreen Mobile Showroom at the Fort Point Holiday Stroll.

This year, we’re psyched to be surrounded by two other Mobile Retail trucks - The Fashion Truck and Green Street Vault.

So come on down and check out the great shops, restaurants, and Mobile Retail trucks tomorrow night from 4pm - 8pm. We’ve got the bGreen Mobile Showroom stocked with TONS of great holiday gifts and maybe even some adult beverages. There are prizes and activities planned all night long.

We’ll be parked at Channel Center. See you then!

Klean Kanteen Steel Pint Cups Coming Soon

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:51:05 -0500

Klean Kanteen Steel Pint Cups

Coming Soon