Looking for a more eco-friendly way to brush? Ever consider the amount of waste that accumulates from old toothbrushes? It may not seem like much when you only consider yourself, but think about your entire family, neighborhood, town, or state.

Everyone knows how important it is to recycle and choose biodegradable products when possible. We all know about recycling paper, plastic, and glass. It gets harder when thinking about recycling things that aren’t 100% recyclable. What people may not know is that there are alternatives to traditional plastic toothbrushes that will reduce the waste that frequent toothbrush changes cause.

These five toothbrushes provide a unique way to brush that will lessen the negative impact they leave on this earth and still help against gum disease, which will give environmental enthusiast another reason to smile.

Preserve recyclable toothbrushes

This company sends their toothbrushes in a recycled wrapper that doubles as a return mailer for sending the toothbrush back for recycling. The toothbrush itself is also made of post consumer recycled materials.

Environmental Toothbrush

The handle on this toothbrush is made of bamboo, which is a natural cellulose fiber. The brush also features biodegradable bristles and comes packaged in a cardboard box making almost the entire toothbrush and packaging biodegradable.

Radius Source

This toothbrush is made of a bio-plastic handle made with recycled dollar bills, wood, or flax blended with 100% recycled polypropylene. The toothbrush offers replaceable heads which cut back on 93% of waste.

Dr. Du-Mores

The plastic used in this toothbrush breaks down to no more than CO2, water, and humus. The brush is also made with antibacterial bristles and 100% FDA compliant materials.

Acca Kappa

These toothbrushes, made of cellulose acetate, are entirely biodegradable and come in a simple pearl design.
The next time you need to change your toothbrush, consider checking out one of these earth-friendly brands. Each brush offers something that will support the environment, and some at a cost that is less than what you may be paying for your toothbrush now. They will provide the same function as an ordinary toothbrush, but the impact after their use will be dramatically lessened.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Five Eco-Friendly Toothbrushes

I have been a promoter of paperless options since the start of Eco-Office Gals, but I also acknowledge that sometimes you just have to print. When your green business is in need of business cards, stationary, brochures or holiday cards you should at least consider printing responsibly. Two years ago I introduced my initial thoughts about Green Business Card options. Since that post I have partnered with Printing For Less exclusively for my clients green printing needs.

Printing For Less has several sustainable practices in place including:

• FSC Certified Paper
• Veggie Based Ink
• Biodegradable Packing Material
• Water-based aqueous coating
• and more…

Their facilities are also 100% Wind Powered, carpet free, open architecture, and located on a 25 acre wetland. Because of all these aspects of green business, great customer service and competitive pricing, they are my go-to printer for my clients needs!

Additionally, they have recently increased their first time customer discount from $25 to $50 off their first order! Use code RP1D6SEJM at checkout, there is no expiration.

Eco-Office Gals can help you design your print order and submit the project to Printing For Less as well.  Contact us to discuss your project needs.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Options: Green Printing Revisited

Over a year ago I posted about starting a compost pile in my back yard. I started out with several biodegradable lawn bags full of leaves and added kitchen scraps as I went along. Eventually, we made an area for the pile and put it all together. I used an old coffee can to collect the kitchen scraps and dumped it when it was full (or started stinking). I can’t say it was the best system, but it worked.

A few month down the road, I was contacted by BuyGreen.com. BuyGreen.com invited me to try out one of their products and I came across the BioBag MaxAir II Composting Buckets.  This bucket and the BioBags included, stepped up my composting efforts in the kitchen.

Kitchen food waste can build up bacterial odor quickly when collected in a solid plastic or ceramic pail. The reason is food waste creates heat and moisture that can not escape when placed in these closed containers. Many modern collection pails contain charcoal filters or other devices to help mask the odor, but do little to slow the rotting process. The Max Air buckets are ventilated on all sides, including the top and bottom, allowing food waste to breathe.

True to it’s claim, I was able to collect more scraps without stinking up the house. Additionally, it became a cleaner process since the scraps were contained in the mini trash bag. This eliminated the need to gag my way though washing out rotting food from the coffee cans.  Overall, this bucket streamlined my efforts and made it become a habit, rather then a chore. I’m glad I picked this product to check out. A little advice, the Biobags are very thin and start to biodegrade very quickly, don’t let your scraps get too heavy or wait too long, they may break through when you try to remove them.

Over a year later and I have a nice pile started. I recently dug down to the bottom and pulled out some nice dark soil to put around our apple tree.  Composting has been a success in our home. It’s a small effort anyone can do to make a difference.

Do you compost? Comment with any tips and tricks you may have.

In compliance with FTC Guildlines, please note that this is a sponsored post.  I was given these products to test and review free of charge.  However, I was not paid for the review and the opinions are my own.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

What’s In Your Trash? A Review

Our Green Gem of the Week is Sarva Soap. Sarva soap is an award winning soap company owned and operated by Michelle Gilbert. I have had the pleasure of “virtually” knowing and working with Michelle for almost 2 years. She has graciously sponsored both Green My World Earth Day Giveaways as well as a giveaway when Eco-Office Gals re-launched into the world of WordPress.  Yet, it wasn’t until recently had the honor of receiving some of her soaps to try for myself.

First, Sava soaps are eco-friendly in sererval ways (from the site):

• Nature’s own true colors; we use spices, clays, botanicals, and other natural materials to pigment our soaps. We do not use synthetic pigments, including mineral oxides.
• A completely biodegradable product; what rinses down the drain won’t harm our environment.
• 100% postconsumer recycled packaging, all fully recyclable on your end.

All Sarva soaps are entirely natural and cruelty-free, made with pure vegetable oils, herbs, essential oils, clays, and botanicals. Never do we use synthetic fragrances or pigments, nor will you find laboratory-created oxide-based pigments. Everything in Sarva soaps comes straight from nature.

Michelle has paid attention to every detail to bring her customers a true experience of eco-luxury!  Even before having the opportunity of trying her soaps I noticed something great about the company. The passion that is Sarva – is Michelle – is unique. It shows through in her soaps, her packaging and her persona, and all this I learned BEFORE trying the soaps!

Then the package arrived….

I had 3 different soaps to try out:

Ritual: Spanish sage (a camphorous, clean-smelling sage), cedar, orange, and peppermint combine to cleanse and purify your body, mind, and spirit. Its fresh scent feels so healing… deeply therapeutic and rejuvenating. Allow bathing to become your Ritual.

Citron: A sparkling and cheerful lemon soap! And yet, the scent has a distinct warm depth, more than you’d expect from lemon. Beautifully handcrafted to resemble fine pastry and topped with poppy seeds, just the right finishing touch!

Grace: Simply exquisite. Our finest 95% olive oil Castille base, the same as you’ll find in Purity. Grace has a gorgeous, feminine, heady and sweet floral scent, formulated to showcase our sustainably harvested rosewood essential oil.

I admittedly thought Grace would be my favorite, it was the images of grace that were featured on Sarva’s home page which left me dying to try these soaps, Grace was so beautiful! Trust me I was not disappointed! Grace smelled as beautiful as it looked. This soap is all around feminine, in look and scent and would make for a lovely gift. My girls loved this soap and the little rosebud on top was the cat’s meow!

However, surprise surprise, my favorite of the trio was Ritual.  Made with 50% sea salt and almost resembling a huge chunk of white cheese I was skeptical about the description of this soap on the site. However, this soap had such a pleasant scent, was so creamy and left my skin truly hydrated. Ritual is great for the whole family, it doesn’t have a scent that is gender specific, and the bathroom smells great after a shower. If you only choose 1 bar to start with I would try Ritual, it’s sure to please everyone in the house.

The last soap I tried was Citron. Citron was another one that looked so yummy on the site, like a slice of lemon meringue with real poppy seeds sprinkled on top. Of the 3 this was last for me. (I don’t want to say least favorite since I loved them all)  Only because it’s scent reminded me of citronella candles, which I’m not very fond of. That’s just me and nothing is wrong with the soap itself! By looks, I assumed it would have more of a sweet, dessert-like lemon scent.  Regardless, it still had the wonderful properties of the other soaps, and it left my skin nourished with many different oils.

All in all these soaps exceeded my expectations! I knew they would be wonderful and I was right!  I am amazed that just using these handcrafted soaps for the last few months has reduced my need for any lotions to hydrate my skin. I never realized how much the synthetic soaps and “beauty bar” type soaps actually dry your skin out!

Commercial soaps are often stripped of their glycerin through chemical processes; glycerin is profitable and is used to make other products. Artisanal soaps retain all of their naturally-occurring glycerin, and many people notice a difference in how their skin feels with regular use of artisanal soaps.

These soaps are also quite large and last for some time. Although they may seem a little pricey, they last as long as 3 bars of the junk you get at the store (plus don’t forget the price of the lotion for your dry skin when you use that junk!)

Finally, there is also so much to learn about hand-made soaps and their synthetic counterparts, including why the citron soap wouldn’t smell dessert-like as I had presumed it would (guess I should have read that part). Michelle has a very interesting Q&A that is worth looking over.

It has been a wonderful experience using Michelle’s Sarva Soaps and I know you will love them too! And to make your first order even sweeter she has offered my readers a 15% discount off their order! Use the code 15BUBBLES through July 21st on any order you place and introduce yourself to pure, natural cleanliness!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Green Gem of the Week: Sarva Soap

Promote Your Business the Natural Way

Promotional Products are one of the greatest way to Promote your Brand and convey your message among your audience. But with the increasing awareness about the environment most customers prefer to use Eco-friendly products. By using Eco friendly promotional products not only are you able to promote your brand but also establish it as an environment friendly Brand among your customers. There are lots of Environment friendly products which you can use as your promotional products by imprinting your company logo on them. Discover the most popular Eco-friendly promotions which not only protect the environment but would also keep your brand name in the mind of your customers.

• Bamboo Flash Drives: Everybody needs to Transfer data from one place to another and now they can do this in smarter way with the help of Eco-friendly custom Flash Drives. Bamboo Flash Drives imprinted with your Logo are one the coolest way to promote your brand in better way.
• Organic Tote Bags: Organic Tote Bags are available in various Sizes, shapes and colors providing you a lot of options to select from. Organic Tote Bags are made with 100% cotton fabric and perfect for carrying items to work, markets and meetings.
• Biodegradable pens: Promotional pens imprinted with your logo are one of the most common way to promote a product But you can make it special by giving Eco-friendly Biodegradable pens. These Pens are same like other promotional pens and come with your logo on it but these pens are made from biodegradable material Plastic providing no harm to environment.
• Organic Caps and T-Shirts: Organic Caps and T-shirts imprinted with your logos would take your promotional campaign to the next level. Attractive organic caps and t-shirts are available on lots of colors and sizes and advertise your brand to countless people who see them at an affordable price.
• Solar Powered Devices: Solar powered Electronic Products are a great way to promote your business in Eco-friendly way. There are lot or Solar devices available in market like Solar Calculators, Solar Flashlights, solar Chargers which never need any batteries and get themselves charged by sunlight. These solar powered devices are easy to use and would keep your brand name in your customers mind every time they use it.

Gagandeep Singh is working as internet marketing Executive for Fortepromo, which create a wide range of Eco-friendly Promotional Products for all kind of businesses and help them to promote their brand in a cost effective way.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Guest Post: Eco-Friendly Promotional Products