To 10 green companies 2012
Making your business more sustainable and environmentally friendly is cool, but being sustainable by design is super cool!
There are many companies who have developed green business models that provide products and services that have intrinsic sustainability attributes.
In this post I highlight my top 10 super cool, super green and sustainable companies. The list is in no particular order as I think each company has attributes that are worthy of equal recognition. (image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
Top 10 Green Companies, 2012
Green Mountain Coffee believe in using the power of business to make the world a better place. Each step on the long road from tree to cup gives us an opportunity to create better coffee, and a better world. From carefully sourcing and roasting the highest quality beans, to empowering employees and protecting the environment, Green Mountain Coffee focus on what’s important. Their goal is to create truly inspired coffee that’s environmentally sound, socially just, and undeniably delicious. I’m sold!!!
In 2006, American traveller Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.
Abe’s Market is a brilliant and innovative online marketplace for great natural products. Essentially, the company connect buyers seeking amazing natural products with the people who make them. With Abe’s Market there is no need to prowl the Internet for a broader natural product selection than can be found at your local natural market. At Abe’s Market, you can get all your natural product buying done in one place.
Preserve makes stylish, high performance, eco-friendly products for the home. The company believes that choosing eco-friendly products doesn’t mean having to sacrifice quality, price, or performance. Preserve products are made from 100% recycled plastics and 100% post-consumer paper. By using recycled materials, the company’s products save energy, preserve natural resources and create an incentive for communities to recycle. I seriously recommend having a look at this company – where practical art meets recycling!
Remarkable is an innovative UK eco-manufacturing company. The company was established in 1996 and is considered a UK iconic business for inventive and dynamic recycled products. Driven by a passion and belief that the environment needs to be treated with care, Remarkable make economically viable, good quality ‘new life’, cool everyday products, in their red brick UK based factory: UK waste, UK made.
Seventh Generation is a US leading brand of household and personal care products that help protect human health and the environment. Established in 1988, the Burlington, Vermont based company is a pioneer in corporate responsibility, providing products that make a difference—from their development through to their production, purchase, use, and disposal
DIY KYOTO designs products & services that empower individuals to better manage their energy use. The company creates beautifully designed products to help people understand and control their personal impact on the environment. DIY KYOTO value simple things! From their humble beginnings, they have aimed to produce products of perfect convenience and utility – elegant in conception, efficient in operation. I think they have nailed it!
Elvis & Kresse creates stunning life-style accessories by re-engineering seemingly useless wastes. The innovative and pioneering Fire-Hose range is made exclusively from genuine de-commissioned British fire brigade hoses which, after a distinguished career fighting fires and saving lives, were otherwise destined for landfill. The company also donates 50% of profits from the fire-hose line to the Fire Fighters Charity.
Belu started as a simple idea – that there was a better way to do business by reducing environmental impact and using all profits to fund clean water projects. Belu use the highest level of recycled materials possible and are 100% carbon neutral. Any emissions they can’t remove they offset. The company doesn’t export their products and questions why anyone would ever want to drink imported water. Belu are an exclusive partner of the water charity, Water Aid, and give all profits to them.
Ecovative’s environmentally responsible products aim to replace materials ranging from petroleum based expanded plastics (like Styrofoam™) to particle board made using carcinogenic formaldehyde. Ecovative’s materials are 100% renewable, and primarily made from agricultural by-products. Using natural principles and radical new technologies, the company are growing the future of high performance, affordable, and environmentally sensible materials.
