When I launched Green Behavior onto Twitter (@greenbehavior) I found an interesting Twitter follower, @saveessentials. It’s a PR guy letting us know that Arm and Hammer is looking to cut Essentials cause there’s no one buying it.

Why buy it?

• It’s a great product that really works
• Less packaging = less weight = less transport cost = smaller carbon footprint
• Why waste bottles - reduce and reuse.

Video via the Save Essentials Campaign

Cleaning with Essentials

I grabbed the multi-surface cleaner and went to town cleaning and testing for y’all. I picked a good and dirty place to clean: my best friend and boyfriend’s condo kitchen.

The kitchen looked and smelled clean once I was done - the multi-surface cleaner cut through microwave grease and baked on stove top goodness. The faucet sparkled and the glass was streak free and see through (again.)

About Essentials Multi-Surface Cleaner

• Cleans without streaks
• Uses plant-based cleaners with other biodegradable cleaners derived from coconuts and palm kernel
• Effective and safe, When used as directed — with no ammonia or phosphates
• Light, fresh scent — no harsh chemical fumes
• Refill 2-pack uses 80% less packaging than 2 pre-filled spray cleaners

Safe and Effective Cleaning - the Multi-Surface Cleaner Works Great On

• Counters
• Appliances
• Sinks
• Kitchen & Bathroom Tile
• Glass
• And more!

Register to Get Essentials Coupons here

Featured on saveessentials.com 12/23/2008

This feed comes from Green Behavior The specific article's link is: Arm & Hammer Essentials - Green Cleaning

Every time I hit the stores I poke around to see if I can find any new organic, green or natural products I didn’t know existed. The other day I was at the grocery store and I saw some body butters with packaging that caught my eye.

Their clever packaging with hand drawn retro pinups girls give an old Americana feel to a fresh 72% organic product. Their packaging has been recognized by the NACDS in Boston in ‘06 and ‘07 for best packaging and their products can also be purchased at some retail locations without the unnecessary cardboard packaging.

All of their products come in 4 fun fresh scents:

• New York Cheesecake with an Edge
  Scented with vanilla and strawberry
• Toast to the Coast
  Scented with ocean and grape seed
• Southern Belle
  Scented with peach and mango
• Vermont VaVa Voom
  Scented with green apple, maple and blueberry

The lotion comes in a tin or pump - I prefer a pump. At first the body butter appears a bit greasy but locks onto your skin and is absorbed in seconds with no greasy residue - leaves you feeling fresh for hours. It feels extra good on fresh shaved legs since it contains no alcohol.

I am now in love with the Body America Organic - Toast to the Coast Body Butter. Though part of it might be a scent memory there’s something about Toast to the Coast that sends me back to my Gram’s beach house as a kid.

You can buy Body America products online on amazon (see above) or in stores such as Target, Price Chopper and PRice Rite.

Body America Promo Video

This feed comes from Green Behavior The specific article's link is: Body America Organics - Body Lotion

I am constantly noticing new terms on packaging. One that caught my eye recently was post-consumer content. After a little bit of research I learned there were two similar labeling phrases, and the three are often compared and confused with each other.

Pre-consumer Content

Pre-consumer products are made from materials that would otherwise have been discarded. Examples of pre-consumer content would be trimmings from packaging, or items rejected by quality control during the manufacturing process.

There are more than 4,500 recycled-content products available - a number that continues to increase. Many of the products you buy contain recycled-content.

Post-consumer Content

Post-consumer content is a material that has served its intended purpose and has been discarded. The discarded material, usually what you toss in your recycling bin, is then re-purposed and used as post-consumer content.

Recycled Content

Recycled content might be made of any combination of post-consumer content and recycled content. Recycled content is not necessarily or primarily produced from a typical local recycling program as the name might lead you to believe.

No kind of recycling is any better than the other. Obviously we strive to reuse content again and again as many times as possible, so seeing more post-consumer content coming into the market will be exciting for all of us.

This feed comes from Green Behavior The specific article's link is: Post-consumer, Pre-consumer and Recycled Content