a footprint in the right direction

As a Plastic Extremist, I'm happy to report that the folks over at Seventh Generation took an honest look at the packaging of their more "eco-friendly" laundry detergent and thought, "Huh. Well, now... that don't make no sense."

The new packaging is a cardboard outer shell around a plastic bag. It's super-concentrated (so more wash for your wompum) and boasts sixty-six percent less plastic than traditional packaging. It's a rare thing for a company - even an ostensibly "green" one - to put a lot of thought into packaging, so I'm giving them a solid thumbs up on this one.

We've all had to make the annoying grocery store choice between, say, humanely-produced (and much more healthy) chicken eggs wrapped in styrofoam or plastic, and less-enviro-conscious chicken eggs wrapped in cardboard -- so let's vote with our dollars and make sure the people producing our food and other products know we really like it when they marry message and delivery.

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ECO-TIP of the DAY: The term "recycled paper" doesn't mean much, since mills are allowed to sweep up cuttings from the floor (which they'd be doing anyways) and label them as "recycled." Unless it says "post-consumer," then it's not really doing what you think. The best thing you can do is find ways to cut consumption, but if you have to buy paper products, be smart about it.