Posted 04/22/08 by Ryan Morris
It is estimated that Americans toss almost 38 billion water bottles in the trash every year. To combat this environental waste, Brita and Nalgene teamed up to create the FilterForGood campaign.
Gauging it's success by the number of disposable water bottles saved from ending up in a landfill, the program requires participants to pledge to reduce bottled water waste by using a reusable water bottle (Nalgene, encouraged) or filtered water (this is where Brita's pitchers and faucet mount filters come in.)
I'm so excited about this campaign I signed the pledge and am in the process of making sure everyone in the office has a reusable water bottle. You can get involved by taking the pledge and joining the cause on Razoo today.
To see how many water bottles have been saved, you can view a really cool interactive map on the campaign Web site. So go on, take the pledge, help the planet and enjoy a greener, healthier earth.
Happy Earth Day!
Posted 09/28/07 by Rebecca Carpenter
We've been writing about water bottles for a while now, and our Razoo community is really fired up about the topic. So we were psyched to see the latest news about Nalgene and Brita's new partnership, Filter For Good.
The scoop from Filter For Good:
Last year, Americans threw away 38 billion plastic water bottles, about $1 billion worth of plastic. That's a huge waste, especially considering 1.5 million barrels of oil - enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year - were used to produce the bottles. And that's not even including the oil used for transportation.
You can make a difference by choosing to reduce your contribution to bottle water waste. Brita and Nalgene have partnered to create the FilterForGood pledge, a commitment to reduce your personal waste by giving up bottled water, even if it's just a few days each week.
If you purchase a FilterForGood refillable bottle, you'll also be supporting the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people for the rest of their lives by 2027. For every FilterForGood refillable bottle purchased between August 10th and December 31st, 2007, a donation of $4, up to a maximum of $25,000, will be made to the Blue Planet Run Foundation.
Get involved:
Learn the facts about water bottles.
Take the Filter for Good pledge.
Get more information and learn how to get involved on Razoo.
Posted 07/18/07 by Ryan Morris
Building upon a recent blog post I made about recycling cell phones in the U.S., I came across an interesting article from across the pond. According to the article, "electrical and electronic waste is now the fastest growing category of rubbish across Europe."
That's a scary thing. Check out the article for more factoids and a very brief survey on how consumer's view the environmental conscience of large technology companies.
Posted 07/17/07 by Ryan Morris
Recently I was at Ikea to buy some items for my place. If you haven't been to Ikea before, it is definitely an "experience." What I mean is, the store is massive, and has everything you could possibly need to furnish and decorate your home -- at ridiculously affordable prices.
A Swedish-based company, Ikea has a very eco-friendly conscience at the core of the company.
Anyway, when I got to the self-check register, I rang up my order on the touch screen kiosk. Just as I thought I was done ringing everything up, the register asked me how many plastic bags I used to package my purchase. I entered, "3" and the register charged me 15 cents for bags.
On the way home, I thought about the check out experience. Five cents per bag isn't that expensive, but could I have bagged everything in two bags?
It wasn't the few extra cents that I spent on my purchase that made me so consumed with the check out experience; it was the impression that Ikea left on me as a environmentally concious company. The whole reason they charge for bags has nothing to do with profits. It has everything to do with cutting down on pollution caused by petroleum based products, like shopping bags.
If more companies made efforts like Ikea to become more environmentally friendly, I know we'd be able to beat this global warming thing. :)
Posted 07/16/07 by Ryan Morris
I know that some of you have joined the Global Warming Cause on the Web site and are looking for some good figures to support your efforts. This morning, I came across a trade news site which is filled with tons of charts related to recycling trash.
The site contains everything from a list of the top recycling states to the top salaries of U.S. recycling executives.
Sure, you could totally get all Michael Moore with this info if you wanted, but the reason I am highlighting the site, is because it sadly illustrates the lack of recycling the U.S. is doing versus the amount of trash we output.
So, go forth and Razoo ...
Posted 07/12/07 by Robin Weekley
So, I'm sure you've heard the buzz: No More Bottled Water in San Francisco. That's only partially true, though. In an effort to significantly cut down on bottle water waste in San Francisco and surrounding counties, the mayor of the city has banned city institutions from buying any bottled water, including that in community water coolers. City employees will instead be guzzling municipal water throughout the day except in emergency or health-threatening circumstances.
After finding out that 25% of the bottled water we drink is simply tap water re-packaged, this seems like a pretty wise move on the part of San Francisco.
To get the whole story, check out this CNN article.
Posted 07/12/07 by Ryan Morris
A few months ago I moved into a new place. Originally, my abode was a rough stone, but after a little money and a lot of sweat, I've been able to renovate it into a real gem.
Through my renovation efforts, I amassed large amounts of cardboard boxes, plastic wrap, scrap wood and various hardware packaging materials. I made it a daily ritual to take everything I could to the neighborhood recycling center to get it out of my new space and avoid contributing to another landfill. I always felt good after taking a load of trash to the green containers. :)
Yesterday I was coming home from running a recycling errand when I started to think about the new Apple iPhone (I want one!). I also began to think about what I will do with my old phone once I don't need it any more. I came across this article which points out that about 130 million cell phones are thrown in the trash, rather than recycled each year. That's bad news bears for our environment people!
So, if you plan on getting a new cell phone, don't throw your old one away. Donate it to the Salvation Army, or drop if off at a cell phone recycling center (Best Buy and Circuit City have them in their stores, as do most wireless phone store fronts).
Don't forget to visit the Global Warming Cause and check off that you have recycled your old Zack Morris brick phone!
