(In compliance with the new 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.)

In honor of America Recycles Day we celebrate a company that make recycling a part of our everyday lives!

Small Steps™ by Marcal® brand products focuses squarely on the company’s green heritage. For over five decades, Marcal has been saving trees and reducing landfill by making its paper products from recycled paper. Marcal uses paper collected from curbs in residential neighborhoods in cities and towns across America; from the small blue baskets in office buildings, unwanted junk mail, and waste from printers; all in an effort to do something good… to produce something that people need.
Marcal is an integral part of the northern New Jersey community. The company uses recyclables from more than 600 municipalities from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and New England. The company is one of the largest employers in New Jersey, employing over 900 people.

This company had a true passion in recycling way before it was the cool thing to do. Yes, since 1950 they have been using paper waste, not trees to bring paper products into our home. After all is “Your Ass Worth A Million Trees A Year?”

So, Marcal sent me some of their Small Steps products to try out.  Now any of my readers that have been with me a while know that I try not to use paper at all, if possible.  One thing I almost never buy is paper towels, I use my Skoy Cloths and washable rags. So, when I received this shipment which included several rolls of paper towels who would know how perfect the timing would be!

I’m not going to get into too much detail in this post, but I will be guest posting about my family’s experience of living without water for many weeks on another blog soon.  Anyway – this was one point in my life when I probably tripled my waste since washing dishes, clothes, the house etc had to be done waterless or at the kindness of neighbors and friends. So, having these “responsibly – disposable” products were a true blessing!

The paper towels helped me keep the house clean as possible with cleaners, they were not linty and held up nicely. Granted they’re not the bleached white, fluffy soft, almost cloth-like paper towels that many people might use, but as far as I’m concerned… if you want cloth-like… use cloth!

My family got to try out the Small Steps toilet paper as well.  This is one area I’m stuck buying paper for life.  No getting around it… at least none I’m willing to try! So, why not at least try to buy a little more responsibly and use TP made from recycled paper instead of virgin forests? Right? Sure it may take a little getting used to – again it lacks the bleach and fluff many of us… this time including myself, are used to. There were no complains from the family, it served it’s purpose. What else can I ask for?

I would definitely use Marcals Small Steps in my attempt to green up my act.  There’s no reason not to! Take a look around at the paper products you are using in your home, can you make a positive change for the environment by switching to Small Steps?

Marcal is hooking up one of my readers with a great package of their Small Steps products: Dinner Napkins, 180ct Napkin Drawstring Bag, Upright-80ct Facial Tissues, 144ct Facial, Single Roll Giant Towel, 1,000ct Bath, 4 ct bath 1000 ct, 3 roll Regular towel! Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Comment here on what Marcal product would help you make a green step – or something you learned from their informative site.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Follow Marcal Small Steps on Twitter.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Tried a Small Steps product before? Let us know what you think.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 11/18/09 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

Here are your random numbers:

108

Timestamp: 2009-11-19 16:00:17 UTC

Congrats Jessica!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday: Marcal Small Steps

It’s that time of year again, alarm clocks, school clothes, football practice… yep school is gearing back up. Big Box stores are full of parents battering each other down for the last black and white composition notebook.  It’s almost like Christmas in August isn’t it?

I have had a bad habit in the past of not seeing what supplies I already have in the house from previous years, and it is so wasteful, I know. This year thanks to many of the green office products I have had opportunity to review I will definitely be able to scratch several items off of the list and I love it! For the rest of the lot, why not green up your kids supply list?

Green Apple School Supplies offer a great selection of environmentally responsible school supplies for your kids to fill their backpacks. Like Banana Paper or Rulers made from Recycled Yellow Pages, and much more!

My husband has a friend that is deaf and his sign language skills are very beginner, so the banana paper notebooks and pencils made from cedar wood scraps have been useful for hours of written conversations without the waste of virgin materials.  I love the idea of highlighter pencils, no harsh fumes when opening a cap. The raw cardboard binders may not seem too stylish for the kids, but it is an open canvas for them to doodle all over and get creative, which is what they end up doing with those chemical leeching plastic ones anyway, right?! And the list goes on! This is a great way to green up an area of your life, cause every step counts!

Green Apple Supply is happy to offer four of the following giveaways: One Banana Paper Legal Pad with special embossed cover, 50 sheets, one set of Friendly dry erase markers, chisel tips, 4 colors (tubes made with recycled paper/uses 60% less plastic and ink has no VOC’s) and a Green Apple retractable pen made from recycled components. All are perfect fit for the “green” office or backpack. Retail value for each set is $11.00. So, do any or all of the following and leave a separate comment for each one to get a chance to win!

• Visit Green Apple Supply let us know what you would love to try.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from Green Apple Supply and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

Good Luck! Four winners will be picked on 8/12/09.

Here are your random numbers:

36

Timestamp: 2009-08-15 15:31:08 UTC

Congrats! Sonya Sparks

All the best!

I forgot 5 prizes were being awarded! Apologies! Here are the other 4:

Here are your random numbers:

7 - Heather Goldsmith
115 - Veronica Garrett
56 - Chris G.
98 - clarissa neiding

Timestamp: 2009-08-16 15:39:16 UTC

Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday! Green Apple Supply

disclaimer: part of this post is a product review.  I was not paid to write this review all thoughts of the product are uniquely mine.

In my Picking Directions post, I wrote about my personal goal to be more organized in 2009.  I am notorious for letting mail pile up and even scribbling notes on the back of envelopes, only to forget where I wrote it later on.  So when I was contacted about reviewing one of several calendars offered by GreenOfficeStore.com I thought this would be a good way to get my note taking more centralized.

So, far I have stayed committed to this little black book.  Even asking  people to hold so I can find it when I feel myself drawn to a the back of a blank envelope within reach. A description from the site:

Dated weekly appointment book/planner features a two-page-per-week spread with ruled daily ruled blocks in a horizontal format, no appointment hours, simulated stitched cover, current and future months reference, Julian dates and a two-color format in black and blue ink. Ranges 12 months from January to December. Nonrefillable. Bookbound weekly planner is printed on quality recycled paper with 30 percent post-consumer material.

Now, my thoughts:

Pros: I think it is a good size for me, which is why I picked it.  I have very little desk space and anything larger would have gotten in the way.  It is also small enough to fit in your purse if you need to take it with you.  Spaces for each week day are large enough for my notes.  The cover states they use soy based ink (this is not stated on the online description).  Overall, it looks good and serves it’s function.

Cons: it’s only 30% post-consumer material.  There is no reference to what material is used for the cover.  I feel if Dayminder is truly looking to offer a “green” product they can do better in these 2 areas.

If you are interested in trying this product you can find it here.  Or shop for other great products from the GreenOfficeStore.

All the best!
Jen

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Picking Directions: Organization