Consumerist
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bottled water
Can Branding Sex Up Tap Water?
City officials in Venice have come up with a novel plan for getting consumers to break the bottled water habit: they've branded their tap water Acqua Veritas and created a slick ad campaign around it. More » -
waste
Toothpaste Purchase Results In 3-foot Long Receipt
CVS asks: How about some dead trees and a bunch of ads with that purchase? Not in so many words, of course: that would actually give shoppers a choice. More » -
science says
Plastics Industry: Reusable Bags Are Bacteria Traps That Will Kill You And Your Family
Those green reusable bags that are all the rage? The plastics industry this week released a study concluding that they are nothing more than bacterial totes, which might be scary if it were true. BarfBlog looked at the study's methodology and then ate through its main points. More » -
buy.com
Is Buy.com Friendlier To The Environment Than Brick And Mortar Stores?
A study by the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh states that when comparing getting a flash drive from Buy.com versus a physical retailer, Buy.com ends up being about 30% less damaging to the environment. To reach their conclusion, the researchers compared transportation, packaging, warehousing, and energy usage both by the consumer and the retailer. More » -
do it yourself
Six D.I.Y. Tips For Cleaning Greenly And Cheaply
Harsh chemicals aren't just bad for you and the environment, they're bad for your wallet too. Cleaning most things, from clothes to your kitchen, can be done greenly and cheaply with these six nifty do-it-yourself cleaning recipes from Consumer Reports... More » -
stupid shipping gang
Ponderables: Why Must Amazon Ship Air All Over The United States of America?
Reader Marc would like Amazon to stop shipping bubbles of air all over the country. He ordered two items that would have been fine to ship in an envelope — but instead he got the usual large box with several air bubbles. This makes Marc mad. More » -
Just what the hell is "organic" dry cleaning? Nobody really knows. [NYT]
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bank of america
BoA To Stop Lending To Mountaintop Bloweruppers
After activists took them on a field trip, Bank of America has pledged to phase out lending money to companies that mine coal by exploding off the tops of pretty mountains. Well, they explode ugly mountains too, but you get the point. [Switchboard, from NRDC] (Thanks to John!) -
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coinstar
Coinstar Calls Cashing In Change 'Recycling'
Douglas writes, "Coinstar wants you to 'recycle' your coins in their machines, and save the environment! Minus their 8.9% fee of course." They even have a little wizard on their website that estimates how many parts of the environment—water, energy consumption, and geological waste—you save by putting those coins back into circulation, instead of hoarding them like the polar bear murderer you are. They don't provide any source for these estimates, though, and we're not convinced you're doing anything "green" other than lining Coinstar's pockets. More » -
samsclub
Sam's Club Pretends Its Polystyrene Cup Is Green
Gregg saw this cheerful environmentally-friendly message on the side of his Sam's Club soda cup. Wait, what? We guess it saves Sam's Club fuel costs to ship the cups, but that sounds more like a profit-friendly quality. Gregg notes another benefit of the cup: "[it] may never biodegrade but at least it's easy on my drinkin' elbow." More » -
square milk jugs
Will New Square Milk Jugs At Wal-Mart, Costco Save The Planet? Or Spill Your Milk?
Wal-Mart and Costco have something new they'd like you to try— a square milk jug. The NYT says the new square jugs "are cheaper to ship and better for the environment, the milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less." So what's the catch? Apparently, while the new jugs are helping cut costs, they kind of suck at pouring milk. More » -
Home Depot has started a nationwide compact flourescent light bulb recycling program. "At each The Home Depot store, customers can simply bring in any expired, unbroken CFL bulbs, and give them to the store associate behind the returns desk." CFL bulbs contain mercury and can be damaging to the environment if thrown into regular landfills. [New York Times]
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retail
OfficeMax Calls You A Thief For Trying To Recycle
OfficeMax called Chris a thief for recycling empty printer cartridges. OfficeMax's MaxPerks program gives customers $3 for each empty cartridge they recycle, with a limit of 5 cartridges per customer per day. Chris runs a computer repair business that leaves him flush with empty cartridges. According to one cashier, this makes Chris a thief. More » -
stupid shipping gang
Canon Uses Comically Oversized Box To Send You Something They Could Have Taped To A Postcard
Earlier this week I ordered a part from Canon USA Service for one of my Canon cameras and it arrived today. I am impressed for the fast shipping but not so much by the efficiency of the packaging.
Additional photo inside. More » -
stupid shipping gang
Dell Still Ships Tiny Items In Massive Boxes
From the looks of David's package, Dell isn't close to honoring its promise to switch to alternative packaging within the next two months. This obscenely large box contained nothing more than a 2GB flash drive. David's son snapped a few pictures, which appear as an eerie slideshow after the jump.
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corporate crime
Nestle Paying $230 To Suck Millions Of Gallons Of Water From Florida Until 2018
Despite fierce opposition from the local water management district staff, and concerns that it would deplete an already scarce natural resource from the people who live there, Nestle managed to secure a deal to pump nearly 1.5 million gallons of water a day into their Deer Park bottling plant for the next ten years. Nestle pays no other fees for the water beyond the $230 license—in fact, "Nestle has received two [tax] refunds totaling $196,000 and requested a third tax refund." To make the matter even more offensive, the plant hasn't delivered on its commitment to employ 300 workers, and it so far has failed to bring in the estimated $12 million-a-year to the local economy. The St. Petersburg Times has a rich, infuriating history of the Nestle fiasco and how they've conned Floridians out of their own water with the help of state politicians. More » -
polls
Should American Airlines Have Flown Five Overbooked Passengers Across The Atlantic In An Empty Plane?
American Airlines managed to rebook all but five passengers after canceling one of its four daily flights from Chicago to London. The five still needed to get to London, so American rustled up an empty plane and invited everyone up to business class. Seems nice, but Friends of the Earth is outraged that American burned 22,000 gallons of fuel for five passengers. Great customer service or eco-scandal? Vote in our poll, after the jump. More » -
junk mail
"Do Not Mail" Junk Mail Registry Called For By Green Group
ForestEthics has started a petition to enact a Do Not Mail registry, similar to the one that's sort of in effect (when marketers choose to abide by it) for telemarketing. Their reasoning: junk mail is enormously wasteful and damaging to the environment. We agree, but we're in favor of the registry for the simple reason that less junk mail means fewer uninvited distractions, ID theft risks, and trash we'd have to deal with every day. More »
environment
New York, 2:19 AM
Mon Jul 6
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