Brita partners with Nalgene to create FilterForGood campaign

Bottled water waste has become a very real environmental concern, with more than 38 billion water bottles ending up in landfills each year. Last year Brita, who is the Official Water Sponsor of this year’s Good And Green™, and Nalgene partnered to create the FilterForGood <http://filterforgood.com,/>  campaign, which works to reduce plastic bottle waste by reminding people that filtered water and a reusable bottle are an ideal solution for reducing bottled water waste. One Brita pitcher can effectively replace 300 plastic water bottles, which can also save the average person more than $145 a month. In addition, individuals can take the FilterForGood pledge to reduce their bottled water waste and receive a coupon for a Brita filtration system or replacement filter. Filterforgood.com also offers stylish FilterForGood reusable bottle, which are made of Tritan, a BPA-free plastic. To date, the pledge has helped keep more than 110 million bottles from American landfills! Attendees at this year’s Good And Green™ will have an opportunity to experience FilterForGood during the two day conference, December 3 & 4 in Chicago.  Visit filterforgood.com  to take the pledge and for more information, including bottled water statistics <http://filterforgood.com/learn_the_facts.php> and green tips <http://filterforgood.com/tips_from_josh.php>  from Josh Dorfman, author of The Lazy Environmentalist.  The FilterForGood campaign won the IPRA Golden World Award in the Consumer PR – Existing Product category, the Silver Sabre in the Household Product category and the PRSA Bronze Anvil in the Web sites: External category. 

Office Depot announces winners of Green Customer Awards

Office Depot has announced the winners of the company’s second annual Green Customer Awards. This innovative award concept was created by Office Depot in 2007 to recognize business customers who show leadership in green purchasing.  The 2008 Green Customer Awards were given out at a special reception hosted by Office Depot on November 18. The ceremony coincided with the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Boston, MA, at which Office Depot was a platinum sponsor. Office Depot also introduced the company’s fifth annual Green Book catalog of environmentally preferable products at the event.  Office Depot’s Green Customer Award recipients for 2008 are: DLA Piper, Edelman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), New Balance Athletic Shoe, Ricoh Electronics and U.S. Communities.  “Office Depot is very proud to recognize these influential organizations with our 2008 Green Customer Awards,” said Steve Schmidt, president of Office Depot’s Business Solutions Division. “Few suppliers take the effort to publicly recognize customers – and even fewer do so with a focus on green. These awards show Office Depot’s commitment to recognizing environmental leadership in our customers, and increasingly displaying such leadership ourselves.”

New NPD study looks at consumer attitudes towards green

According to a new report, Green 2008: Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors, from The NPD Group, Inc. more than half of consumers surveyed consider themselves extremely or very interested in environmentally-friendly products. Women appeared to have a stronger interest in ‘green’ products than men (57% vs. 47%). In addition, women are significantly more likely to be purchasing ‘green’ products and more likely to be willing to pay a higher price.  Interestingly, more men than women consider themselves to be well-informed about ‘green’ products. “While men may be well-informed and have less interest in the category than women, the question to ask is why – is it the fact they are well-informed that is making them less interested, or is it a case where they don’t know what they don’t know?,” said Mark Delaney, director of The NPD Group’s Home division. “In either scenario, manufacturers and retailers need to drive marketing and education efforts that will help the less-involved consumer understand the benefits of ‘green’ and what makes a product ‘green’.”  When using environmentally-friendly versions of products, consumers place an emphasis on those that seem to offer an immediate return on their investment. Recycled products, compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFL bulbs, and Energy Star-rated appliances are the environmentally-friendly products currently used by most respondents.  Hybrid automobiles top the list of items respondents plan to use in the future. Thirty-five percent plan to use a hybrid automobile compared to only three percent of consumers who are currently using them.  For those consumers who plan to use ‘green’ products in the future, over 7 in 10 said they will use recycled products, CFL bulbs, and Energy Star-rated appliances.  “While consumers are doing what comes easy, most are inclined to keep doing more. In a struggling economy, those products marketed as being environmentally-friendly and saving consumers money will be the products that stand the best chance of growth in the long run,” ended Delaney.