Eco-labels were designed to help the consumers choose more environmental and social conscious products. Today there are literally hundreds of eco-labels. Although the intent is good with eco-labels with so many on the market with various meanings, it has essentially confused the consumers.
A free downloadable report by the World Resources Institute and ecolabelling.org called the 2010 Global Ecolabel Monitor essentially is a comprehensive survey on the performance and organizational structure of all eco-labels found throughout the world. They surveyed over 340 labels from 42 different countries.
Ecolabel Index is another terrific site that is a database of all ecolabels which provides meaning and context. Another site is Global Ecolabelling Network that has good information and reports on eco-labels.
There are a host of calculators out there to help you or your office determine your impact. Once your impact is known then create a goal of how you would like to reduce it. Here are a few of my favorites to get you started:
Many offices are encouraging their employees to carpool or take public transportation to work.Public transportation or carpooling may work well to get to the office, but can be a hindrance when trying to get to outside meetings during the day. Consider joining a carshare that will alleviate the need to have a company car but support alternative transportation programs within your company. Most carshare programs have online or phone reservation systems. Cars are usually parked in convenient areas around urban areas.
Here are some recommended carshare programs;
eGo CarShare is a carshare service located in the greater Boulder/Denver area.
ZipCar is a national carshare program. They have locations in most major U.S. Cities and around University campuses.
CarSharing.net is a directory of other local carsharing companies across the U.S.
Google just added to their Google Maps a way to search for directions via bike. Just go to Google Maps and click on ‘Bicycling Directions” or ‘Bike There’ link. This new service shows you options to get from one location to another via bike paths in that area. This was a joint effort with multiple bicycle organizations including Rails to Trails Conservancy that support about 12,000 miles of bike trails.
This is a great link to share with friends and colleagues who would like to bike but not sure the best route to take that is safe and on designated trails.
A new resource has arrived in Denver. Green Route Denver is a map that showcases businesses and organizations that are green. The map is distributed in downtown Denver retail locations and also available via PDF download on their site.
The organization also offers guided tours of organizations. See website for more details.
E-mail and scanners have all but made the fax machine a thing of the past, but most offices can’t quite give them up yet.The good news is there are now Online Faxes that allow you all the convenience of a fax machine, but use less paper, and offer other benefits:
Lower Cost
More Efficient Use of Time
More Reliable
Environmentally Responsible
Security
How it works:
Sending: When sending faxes, you log in to the fax website and upload the document.If the document is already a file on your hard drive, you simply upload it like an e-mail attachment.If you only have a hard copy, you’ll need to scan it, save it, then upload it.On the receiving end, the recipient will get a paper hard copy, just like you had sent it via traditional fax (unless they too have an online fax).
Receiving: When receiving incoming faxes, rather than a paper print out, you get an e-mail with an attachment.If you need to print it you can, otherwise you can just save it to the appropriate folder on your hard drive.
All those unwanted faxes, just hit delete – no need to save them to your desktop, waste paper.Need another reason?Most spam fax comes through whether you want it to or not, that means it gets printed, and you have to pay for the paper.
Aveda now has a cap program that will recycle bottle caps, a material that has been in the past un-recycleable. They will accept all screw caps that are hard plastic, usually the #5 in the recycle arrows located on the inside of the cap. This includes twist tops on bottles, flip tops from tube or food products and other screw like-type rigid lids. Please don’t send them any flexible or soft lids on tubs. For more details on the type of caps and where to send them, contact Aveda directly at capcollection@aveda.com.
One more material that we can keep out of the landfill!
United has jumped on the carbon offset bandwagon and worked with Sustainable Travel International to develop a carbon calculator that is customized to traveler’s itinerary. The calculator takes into account the carbon footprint that results from each flight also taking into account load factors and fuel usage. The calculator will suggest a tax deductible carbon offset donation that United will process.
Greenbiz.com has released its second report for 2009 on the State of Green Business. A great overview of various business sustainability sectors. It reviews various measures, best practices and successes of companies and the area in general. Could provide for some companies good baseline targets, metrics and goals to reach in the coming year.
A great new easy assessment tool, SCORE is a sustainability self-assessment that identifies opportunities to improve sustainability performance within small and medium sized companies. It also provides a baseline measure against other companies who have taken SCORE to determine where a company lies with sustainability measures within different departmental areas. It was developed by AXIS Performance Advisors in conjunction with the International Sustainable Development Foundation and the Zero Waste Alliance. On their website, they have licensed facilitators to administer SCORE, including eco-officiency who services the Denver/ Boulder metro area.
Uncategorized, eco-labels | eco-officiency September 3, 2010 | 
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A great new easy assessment tool, 