Picture a huge trade show full of organic, fair trace, recycled and energy-saving products and services. With London Drugs right in the middle of it all.
We assembled a ‘What’s the Green Deal’ booth featuring an exploded laptop, a pile of styrofoam blocks, a shelf of Green Deal products and two eco-friendly banner stands. (In fact, the whole display was reusable, recyclable or made from recycled materials) We had a great time fielding questions, discussing issues and taking a few breaks to sample the other eco-friendly food and bevvies on display. Check out the video!
If you didn’t make it to EPIC Vancouver this year, be sure to mark it in your calendar for 2011.
June 7th, 2010
The Green Deal team visits EPIC 2010 – Western Canada’s largest green trade show and eco marketplace.
June 5th, 2010
KINeSYS continues to B even better and greener.
When I interviewed KINeSYS spokesman Rob Takeuchi for the Green Deal blog last year, I was impressed with their commitment to local sourcing and lowering their carbon footprint. For 2010 they’re turning it up a notch further.
KINeSYS has launched two new products with London Drugs this year – both are SPF 50 sprays – both are fragrance-free and one is a product designed specifically for kids, called Funscreen.
“Funscreen is our first formulation to replace one of the basic carriers with a plant derived alternative called Dodecane.” says Rob. “In the long run, plant-derived alternatives may be more sustainable so we feel it is something worth investigating now.”
KINeSYS has also achieved official B Corporation certification. B Corporations are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. They must first meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards. (find out more at www.bcorporation.net).
Rob is naturally excited.
“I think companies at the forefront of a movement realize fairly quickly that nothing happens in a vacuum and certainly there is strength in numbers.” he says. “Thankfully, there are an increasing number of companies who share this view and based on some of the feedback we have had, many of our customers would agree!”
KINeSYS is featured at London Drugs check-outs this June, and look for it in the sunscreen section and online at londondrugs.com. You’ll be protecting more than your skin.
May 20th, 2010
Get your green thumbs around some green garden tools.
Spring is WAY in the air so it’s time to get digging and raking. Fortunately, you can do all this more sustainably with the sturdy new ENVIRO line of tools from Garant, available at London Drugs.
To begin with, using hand-tools instead of a leaf-blower or gas-powered rototiller puts you on the green path already. But these tools offer even more sustainable attributes.
The Garant Enviro Leaf Rake is made with 25% recycled plastic and features a handle made from FSC-Certified sustainably-harvested wood. The Garant Enviro Round Point Shovel features the same handle design, with a 20% recycled steel blade protected with a powder coating made of 75% recycled paint material. The Garant line is Made in Canada as well.
According to the Garant press release, this means a 9% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
manufacturing the shovels, and a 14% reduction with the leaf rake, compared to similar products made with virgin materials. Garant has a nice eco-website as well, which also outlines some of their corporate initiatives.
Dig it.
May 17th, 2010
Spreading the Green Word at Vancouver’s Olympic Village Open House
It was a beautiful day to be hanging out at Vancouver’s newest and (some say) most sustainable neighbourhood. This was the Grand Opening for the Athlete’s Village, and London drugs was there with a booth focused on What’s the Green Deal, and yours truly joining the LD crew behind the table. Come September there will be a new London Drugs right there, giving people shopping options without having to use their cars. In Fact, the whole zone is an extension of Vancouver’s Smart Growth philosophy, letting people live an ‘Urban Village’ lifestyle, with walking, transit and cycling being the main modes of transport.
Interest in the booth was high, with a good number of folks stopping to find out more about Styrofoam recycling, Bring Back the Pack and browsing our display of What’s the Green Deal products. Though many more were interested in entering our contest to win the basket of Green products and the DVD Player/ Flat-screen TV we had running our Green Deal videos.
A few challenged us on our green-ness. One lady felt we were ‘green-washing’ by promoting the GreenWorks line of cleaners from Clorox. Others loved that we recycled Styrofoam, but were disappointed it was only for packaging on purchases from our stores. But still more were impressed to learn how diligent London Drugs is at recycling electronics properly.
By 3:30pm, a boisterous and musical crowd of protesters showed up to show their obvious disappointment at the reduced amount of social housing in the new mix of suites. This provided good entertainment value, but event organizers were not amused.
All in all though, it feels like more and more people are making green shopping decisions, at whatever level is right for them.
My favourite conversation was with a young couple pushing their baby in a stroller, who described themselves as ‘totally green’. “We shop at London Drugs, specifically because of your green programs’ they told me.
Music to my ears.
April 20th, 2010
Green Deal Products for Earth Day are as close as your local LD!
I went down to my local London Drugs (Store #4, Broadway & Cambie, Vancouver) to help build a Green Deal products display for earth day. Did a little shopping, had a little fun, made a little video.
You may be surprised how many green products London Drugs carries – and this video by no means shows all of them.
So if you know anyone who likes to shop green, why not send them this link? It’s a good Green Deal for everybody!
Lorne Craig
April 14th, 2010
Intuit works to reduce their eco footprint, as well as your tax payments.
It just goes to show, you don’t have to be a green business (or product) to make a diffference. Intuit Canada, makers of popular Quicktax personal tax software, have been using FSC certified paper on approximately 90% of their packaging, direct mail, POP, marketing and internal correspondence. And now they are going beyond the retail packaging. All the posters, display and promotional material London Drugs gets form Intuit are also now printed on FSC certified stock using vegetable-based inks. (FSC is a certification that ensures paper comes from recycled material and/or well-managed forests)
And because taxes change yearly, Intuit is left with unusable leftover CD’s after each tax season. These are now being recycled through a company called Duplium. The CD’s are shredded and smelted to separate the aluminum and printing inks from the plastic resin. This resin is then used in the manufacture of automobile parts, office equipment, and other plastics.
These are small changes in the big supply chain picture, but at What’s the Green Deal, we appreciate hearing about the sustainability stories that go on behind the scenes. When companies make efforts to do things better it’s worth recognizing.
April 6th, 2010
Are you a Styrofoam Hater? Bring Back the Pack!
Here’s episode 2 of the What’s the Green Deal webisode series, where I get to rant about one of my least favourite substances. Fortunately, if you buy your styrofoam-encased products at London Drugs, there is a responsible recycling solution – Bring Back the Pack! Please pass this link around to any other styrofoam haters you know so we can keep our landfills as foam-free as possible! Oh, and if you want to know more about what happens to the styrofoam in the recycling process, you can find out right here.
March 8th, 2010
GreenDeal blog goes live…
Greetings, Green Deal readers. As you can see, I’m now going live by video to find out ‘What’s the Green Deal’ with London Drugs. This series, like the intro movie you see here, will be posted on YouTube and spread throughout the social media universe. It should be a more fun, interactive way to look at some of the products, issues and opportunities for shopping a little greener at London Drugs.
got an issue you want me to cover? A product you want me to investigate? A bone to pick? Send me an email and let me know. Your story could be the next Green Deal feature film…. Academy Awards, here we come!
March 3rd, 2010
London Drugs PhotoLab envelopes focus on FSC certification.
When it comes to sustainability, even the small decisions count. London Drugs uses a fair number of paper envelopes to deliver photo prints to customers. A closer look at the back of these envelopes reveals there’s more inside than precious memories.
First, the paper is made in Canada. That means less carbon footprint from shipping, and support for Canadian suppliers.
Second, the paper stock is FSC Certified. The FSC ‘check-tree’ logo can only be used on paper and wood products that come from responsibly managed forests, and verified recycled sources. Under FSC certification, forests are certified against a set of strict environmental and social standards, and fibre from certified forests is tracked all the way to the consumer through the chain of custody certification system. The on-the-ground impact of FSC certification is that:
- Waterways are protected
- Wildlife habitat and species are protected
- High conservation value forests are preserved
- Forest management practices are monitored annually
- Genetically modified trees are not used
- Pesticide use is reduced
- Local people are involved in forest management
- The rights of Indigenous Peoples are respected
Look for the FSC logo on brochures, paper and wood products you buy. It’s one more thing you can do to help protect forest ecosystems and reward the suppliers who are doing it right.
February 2nd, 2010
Pick up a Sled Head toque and you support Canada in more ways than one.
If you see a bit of proud Canadian red peeking out from beneath my bike helmet, that would be my Sled Head Toque. These are the cheerful fund-raising headwarmers London Drugs is selling to support Pierre Lueders, the five-time Olympian who is leading our bobsled team at a certain worldwide sporting event to be held ‘round these parts in the next week or two.
It’s a good idea to buy one of these, as $3 from each goes directly to Pierre to support his run for the brightest, shiniest medallion.
But another thing that really impressed me was that the toques themselves are made right here in BC at Kootenay Knitting. So we give the local BC economy a bit of a boost, and save the carbon on shipping from overseas. Which gives me almost as warm and fuzzy a feeling as I get from wearing the hat itself.
Get yours at any London Drugs – GO PIERRE GO, EH!!
