The Brewlux® Disposable Tea Infuser is made from Cereplast Biopropylene® 106D and allows you to brew loose leaf tea in a standard to-go cup. Loose tea leaves have room to expand in the large volume tea filter for optimal flavor. Created and distributed by The Tea Spot, a company that makes a wide selection of organic loose leaf teas, the Brewlux is an alternative to messy paper filters and tea bags. This unique loose tea infuser is convenient and is made from a grade of Cereplast bioplastics that provides a lower carbon footprint when compared to conventional plastics*. The Brewlux is also the winner of the World Tea Expo “Best New Product” Award.

Here’s The Tea Spot founder Maria Uspenski’s explanation for why she decided to use bioplastic resin for the Brewlux:

“Foodservice corporations are measuring environmental impacts in their supply chains by identifying the biggest impacts and opportunities for reduction in waste production and carbon footprint reduction. Teabag tea has approximately ten times the carbon footprint of loose tea and as such, loose leaf tea presents an environmentally responsible choice in foodservice. The strong growth of the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) market segment demonstrates consumers’ increasing willingness to practice ‘responsible capitalism’ through social and environmentally sustainable business practices. From product sourcing, to packaging and delivery systems, consumers are making daily economic choices in favor of helping subsidize environmentally responsible choices. This trend in consumer consciousness allowed us to maintain economically viable product margins and market pricing while making our Brewlux® product using a renewable bioplastic resin.”

*Cereplast Biopropylene^® 106D is a polypropylene starch compound with 50% starch, which provides a lower carbon footprint when compared to conventional polypropylene, low density polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate and high impact polystyrene. It can also be used for the manufacture of consumer goods, furniture, toys, fashion accessories and automotive applications.

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Dominique Duval bag made from Cereplast bioplastics with fiber glass plus recycled cashmere bows and amber citrine stone.

Luxury accessories brand and celebrity favorite Dominique Duval is branching out from its line of chic hair accessories to introduce an eco-conscious handbag collection made from Cereplast bioplastics. The bags feature accents of recycled cashmere, semi-precious stones such as black onyx and amber citrine, metal chain and metal zippers. We caught up with Dominique Duval and The Barrette Factory founder Jane Gauthier to ask her a few questions about the collection.

Cereplast: Why did you decide to use bioplastics?

JG: I wanted to incorporate Cereplast bioplastics into my bag and hair accessories collections because of its timelessness and its timeliness. I am personally committed to protecting the environment, and now is the time to do everything we can to preserve our planet. As a designer, I am always looking for ways to improve the carbon footprint of my products without sacrificing quality. Bioplastics are more environmentally friendly than traditional plastics, and that’s important to me and to my customers. My entire family has switched over to cars that are partially or totally electric and burn far less fossil fuels. I was raised in San Francisco, right in the very heart of The City by the Bay. It was the seventies and people in that time and beautiful place were very concerned about the forests, water quality and air pollution. Growing up in that environment helped cultivate my respect for nature and a sense of responsibility for the choices that I make.

The first products I made with Cereplast were hair accessories from algae bioplastics for The Barrette Factory. It’s funny to think that as a child I used to scoop up algae and other sea flora while running down the beach alongside the ocean out at Stinson, and now I’m harnessing algae through Cereplast. I ship the material to France to be shaped into the forms I need for my hair accessories, and I get it back silky and formed into various shapes. My customers love the algae collection. They think it’s really neat that plastic can be made from algae and other plants.

Cereplast: What do you like about the material?

JG: I love that the designs look delicate, but are actually extremely durable and eco-friendly. The algae has a wonderful grip and silky texture. The material I am using for the bags is very unique too because it’s soft, flexible and strong, which makes it great for bags, all while being a better choice for the environment!

Dominique Duval bag made from Cereplast bioplastics plus recycled cashmere bows and black onyx.

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Original recycling icon designed by Gary Anderson.

The recycling icon has come a long way since its birth in the seventies, which was designed by Gary Anderson when he was an architecture student. It’s one of the most famous icons in the world, and yet, is misunderstood by most. Over the past four decades, its use has become quite ubiquitous and it is often misconstrued. People are still confused about what they can and can’t recycle, and often assume that the symbol’s presence automatically means an item is recyclable. Plastic resin identification codes only indicate the type of plastic, and do not give information about an item’s recyclability. In an effort to reduce confusion and improve recycling rates, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a project of GreenBlue, has introduced their “How 2 Recycle” recycling label. Soft launch participants include ConAgra Foods, Costco Wholesale, Seventh Generation, Microsoft, REI, Ampac, The Estee Lauder Companies, General Mills, Sealed Air and BJ’s Wholesale Club. Additionally, GreenBlue recently announced that Best Buy, Clorox and Minute Maid will also implement the new recycle label on select products in 2013.

The goals of the “How 2 Recycle” label are: to reduce consumer confusion about what items you can recycle and how by implementing a national recycle label that is clear and easy to understand; to improve the reliability of recyclability claims; and to incentivize companies to participate in a program that follows the FTC Green Guides.

The soft launch is scheduled to run through the first quarter of 2013, and full implementation of the new recycling label is expected to follow. GreenBlue hopes that the label will be used on a majority of consumer product packaging by the year 2016.

Click here to view a gallery of images showing products with the new recycling label.

What do you think? Does the new labeling system make it easier to understand how to recycle?

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Over the past few decades, our society has become addicted to plastic. Plastic is everywhere. No matter where you are, you are probably surrounded by plastic products. Lightweight and strong, plastic has revolutionized our world. From medical to automotive to aviation to household items, plastic has allowed for many advances. However, plastic has also taken a serious toll on our environment. Some organizations encourage people to refuse plastic altogether, particularly disposable plastics, but is this practical? Can our society flip a switch and simply stop using plastic? Probably not. We need to tackle our plastic pollution problems, but completely ridding our lives of plastic is not realistic.

Bioplastics are sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics. A bioplastic is defined as a plastic that is fully or partially biobased and/or biodegradable or compostable. Biobased plastic replaces fossil resources with renewable resources such as plants. In addition to reducing our dependence on non-renewable resources such as petroleum, biobased plastic often provides a lower carbon footprint as well. Compostable plastic offers a more desirable end-of-life option for single-use disposables such as cups, straws and take-out containers. When disposed of in an industrial composting site, certified compostable bioplastics will biodegrade within 180 days, returning to nature without leaving any chemical residue behind.

It’s important to note that while bioplastics have many benefits, they are not a panacea, and will not solve the problem of littering, for example. Bioplastics are viable alternatives that are revolutionizing the plastics industry and the way people think about plastic. The adoption of bioplastics as alternatives to traditional plastics is growing worldwide. We may not be able to completely eliminate our plastic addiction, but we can change the way we think about and consume plastic.

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Home kitchen garden. Flickr user: Gardening in a Minute.

It’s understandable if you don’t grow your own food because it seems like too much work or you don’t have the space. However, if you’re a homeowner, you may assume that growing your own food is your choice and your right, regardless of whether or not you exercise that right. And that’s where you’d be wrong. Depending on where you live, if you plant your own garden and grow your own vegetables, you may have an illegal garden.

Roger Doiron, a home kitchen garden evangelist, believes that growing your own food is subversive. That it’s a form of power. That kitchen gardening is “a healthy gateway drug to food freedom.” Doiron believes that growing your own vegetables can help solve the problems of hunger, obesity and environmental pollution. But, in order for kitchen gardening to take root (couldn’t resist), it’s essential that growing your own food is legal. Even if you don’t plant your own garden, you can get involved by making sure that others in your community have the legal right to their own food freedom. Who knows, maybe your neighbors will thank you with some of their bounty.

The local food movement has its benefits, but kitchen gardening takes eating locally to a whole new level. Growing your own food is hyperlocal. With hunger and food prices on the rise, and the heavy toll that the industrial food system takes on our environment, Doiron says that we need to redefine what “good food” is: where it’s grown, when, how, by whom and for whose benefit.

In a highly industrialized food system, ten calories of fossil fuel energy is needed to create one calorie of food energy. In the United States, food travels an average of 1500 miles from field to fork. One third of our greenhouse gas emissions come from food and agriculture.

The industrialized food system also takes its toll on genetic diversity. Ninety percent of vegetable varieties went extinct in the twentieth century, and according to Doiron, diversity is an insurance policy against climate change. Watch Doiron’s inspiring TEDx Talk. It might motivate you to plant your own garden!

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This Garden is Illegal

Here are some articles about people getting in trouble with the law for their edible gardens:

Grist: City Officials are Waging a War on Gardens

“Across the country and even in Canada, cities’ thinking about front lawns is more than a little bit antiquated. It comes down to this simple formulation: Grass good! Vegetables bad. We’ve heard one too many stories in which people decide to use their yards to grow some fresh vegetables, only to have city officials come down hard on them, forcing them to tear out their food or bulldozing the gardens themselves.”

AOL News: ‘Cabbagegate’: Man Fined $5K for Home Garden

“The Clarkston, Ga., man was fined $5,200 for growing too many vegetables in his backyard.”

Oklahoma’s Own: Woman Sues City Of Tulsa For Cutting Down Her Edible Garden

Tulsa authorities cut down Denise Morrison’s garden months before her court date. “Morrison said she used many of the plants that were destroyed to treat her diabetes, high-blood pressure and arthritis. ‘Not only are the plants my livelihood, they’re my food and I was unemployed at the time and had no food left, no medicine left, and I didn’t have insurance,’ Morrison said. ‘They took away my life and livelihood.’”

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Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012. Flickr user: NASA Goddard Photo and Video.

Hey climate change skeptics: do you still doubt that climate change is real? Hurricane Sandy (a.k.a. Frankenstorm) is decimating the East Coast, and according to scientists, is clear evidence of global warming and its tragic effects. The East Coast is under water, transportation has come to a halt, the power is out, the stock markets are closed (for the first time since September 11th) and the death toll continues to rise. We are not suggesting that Superstorm Sandy was caused by climate change, after all, we do understand that hurricanes and storms are a part of nature. However, the intensity of Hurricane Sandy is much greater because of climate change.

As a result of global warming, ocean temperatures are higher than ever, providing more energy to storms. Climate change has also added more moisture to the air, resulting in more precipitation. Global warming is also responsible for rising sea levels, which contributes to greater storm surges and flooding.

Still need more proof of global warming? Here are some articles worth reading:

Scientific American: Did Climate Change Cause Hurricane Sandy?

“If you’ve followed the U.S. news and weather in the past 24 hours you have no doubt run across a journalist or blogger explaining why it’s difficult to say that climate change could be causing big storms like Sandy. Well, no doubt here: it is.”

Mother Jones: Did Climate Change Supersize Hurricane Sandy?

“Warm oceans are jet fuel for hurricanes, so it’s fair to say that these warmer temperatures are revving Sandy’s engine.”

The New Yorker: Watching Sandy, Ignoring Climate Change

“Coming as it is just a week before Election Day, Sandy makes the fact that climate change has been entirely ignored during this campaign seem all the more grotesque. In a year of record-breaking temperatures across the U.S., record drought conditions in the country’s corn belt, and now a record storm affecting the nation’s most populous cities, neither candidate found the issue to be worthy of discussion.”

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: Perception of climate change

“Today’s extreme anomalies occur as a result of simultaneous contributions of specific weather patterns and global warming.”

Munich RE: North America most affected by increase in weather-related natural catastrophes

“A new study by Munich Re shows that North America has been most affected by weather-related extreme events in recent decades. The publication “Severe weather in North America” analyzes all kinds of weather perils and their trends. It reports and shows that the continent has experienced the largest increases in weather-related loss events.”

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Levi’s is making eco jeans. flickr user: .imelda.

Move over organic denim. Now there’s denim made from recycled plastic bottles. Sustainable clothing options continue to expand as consumer demand for eco-friendly fashion grows.  As a part of their Spring 2013 collection, the Levi’s® Brand is launching Waste<LessTM Denim–eco jeans made from a blend of cotton and 20% post-consumer waste from recycled plastic bottles and food trays that are turned into recycled polyester fiber. In addition to diverting waste from landfills, the company claims that the Waste<Less collection saved over 360 liters of water this year.

In a press release, Levi’s Global President James Curleigh stated, “With this collection, we’re doing our own small part by taking waste and making something new from it. We don’t just want to reduce our impact on the environment, we want to leave it better than we found it. We are committed to making products in ways that are good for people and better for our planet.”

This eco denim may change the future of sustainable fashion. It’s exciting when major brands jump on the eco-friendly fashion bandwagon, and Levi’s keeps pushing the envelope with their commitment to sustainability. They have already made steps toward reducing water consumption with their Water<LessTM denim and by working with cotton growers to reduce water and pesticide use. Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on a pair of these new eco jeans!

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Marine debris decomposition rates. Image: PlasticGarbageProject.org.

As a manufacturer of bioplastics, we get a lot of questions about general plastic decomposition and marine debris decomposition rates. The Plastic Garbage Project put together this infographic that shares estimated decomposition rates for various marine debris. It’s important to note that these rates do not indicate complete biodegradation, but rather rates of fragmentation. Instead of actually biodegrading, plastic breaks down into microplastic particles that are smaller than a grain of sand. So it doesn’t actually go away, it just gets smaller, remaining toxic and devastating our marine environments and wildlife.

In contrast, when compostable plastic is industrially composted, it biodegrades completely within 180 days or less, leaving no visible, distinguishable or toxic residue, becoming usable compost. Compostable bioplastics are a great alternative to traditional plastics for single-use disposable items such as cups, straws, take-out containers and packaging. The caveat? We need to strengthen our composting infrastructure and change the way that we dispose of our waste. We also need more companies making the switch to bioplastics and being more considerate of our earth.

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Get gorgeous, glowing skin with these fantastic natural and organic beauty products. The variety of eco-friendly cosmetics continues to expand as demand for alternatives to toxic chemicals in cosmetics grows. Here are some of our favorite eco cosmetics on the market today.

Nature Girl’s I Love Organic scrub. Image: Nature Girl.

ORGANIC BODY CARE

Get oh-so-soft skin with Nature Girl’s I Love Organic scrub. It’s certified 100% organic and is made with jojoba oil, calendula oil, sunflower oil, Brazilian brown sugar and citrus oils. If you’re not a fan of a citrusy scent or you prefer a salt scrub, try their Eco Chic organic scrub. Instead of sugar, it’s made with sun-dried sea salt and a blend of oils that includes lavender and eucalyptus.

Skin 2 Skin Care’s 24/7 Rejuvenation all-in-one organic anti-aging cream. Image: Skin 2 Skin Care.

ORGANIC ANTI-AGING

Skin 2 Skin Care’s 24/7 Rejuvenation all-in-one cream is made with organic ingredients and uses the power of peptides to fight wrinkles and firm skin naturally. Intended for ages 35+ to help prevent the visible signs of aging.

Certified organic skincare from ilike Organic Skin Care. Image: Dermstore.

CERTIFIED ORGANIC SKINCARE

Hydrate and soothe dehydrated skin with ilike Organic Skin Care’s Peach Mask. Cleanse and exfoliate your face before applying the mask, then leave on for 15-20 minutes to restore moisture to dry, flaky skin.

All natural makeup from RMS Beauty. Image: Blush.

ALL-NATURAL MAKEUP

RMS Beauty’s highly pigmented, creamy Lip2Cheek stains add a perfect pop of natural color to lips and cheeks. A little goes a long way–for cheeks, just dab a little on the apples of your cheeks and blend with your fingertips or a sponge. For lips, you can wear it alone, or pair with a lip pencil and top with gloss.

butter LONDON 3 Free Nail Lacquer in Pink Ribbon. Image: Blush

FORMALDEHYDE-FREE NAIL POLISH

Did you know that most nail polish contains toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde? Fortunately butter LONDON has a selection of hot nail colors to match any mood that are free from formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP. Pink Ribbon is a perfect shade for everyday wear.

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Dalai Lama teachings: A call for universal responsibility. Flickr user: artisrams.

Despite the scientific evidence of global warming, there are still those who ponder the question, “Is global warming real?” His Holiness the Dalai Lama believes that, although it may be difficult to understand the science of climate change, “The earth is showing us warnings and clear indications of the vast effects and negative potential of misdirected human behavior.” Furthermore, he believes that, “Destruction of nature and nature resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth’s living things,” and, “because we often fail to see the essential common relation of all beings.” According to the teachings of the Dalai Lama, we should be thinking globally and need to accept universal responsibility for the state of our environment. “Many of the earth’s habitats, animals, plants, insects, and even microorganisms that we know of as rare or endangered, may not be known at all by future generations. We have the capacity, and the responsibility. We must act before it is too late.” The Dalai Lama teachings also state that the earth is our home. If you can help protect the earth, do so, but if you cannot, you should at the very least not do harm. Learn more about the environmental teachings of the Dalai Lama.

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