Going Green
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
It’s unfortunate to think of caring for the environment as a trend, but it seems we need reminding and a little social pressure to keep up with being green. I personally haven’t purchased a fashionable tote for my shopping yet, but I have found myself making extra effort recently to remove the little piece of plastic from kleenex boxes before I recycle them, or re-use paper bags and fabric totes for shopping.
Part of our focus here at Spruce Body Lab has been finding ways to lessen our impact on the environment. As a Vancouver spa, we feel that we want to reflect West Coast values and provide our clients with the best massage therapy and skin care treatments available. Our first priority was to work with skin care products with minimal packaging made of recyclable materials and ingredients that are as natural and effective as possible.
The next stage of our journey to become a greener company was to find a resource for recyclable plastic cups. Up until recently, we were on a bit of a recycling zeal and putting all of our plastic cups, which were made or number 5 plastic, into the recycling bin. Apparently our attempt to be good to the environment was all for naught as the City of Vancouver only accepts number 1 and 2 plastics.
I found this perplexing- why wouldn’t a city that is known for it’s “green” bent, make it easier for people to recycle? With a little research into this, I discovered that the numbers on plastics signify the type of plastic material used to construct the container. Number 1 and 2 plastics are the easiest to recycle and have many uses as post-recycled material. The higher numbers such as 5 and 7 are harder to recycle and have fewer uses as post-consumer materials.
Once we realized that the cups we were taking the time to sort and recycle were just heading to the land fill, it took a few months to find a supplier for recyclable cups. The hard work has paid off because, not only did we find a resource for bio-degradeable cups made of corn-based plastic, we are also working with the same company to supply Spruce Body Lab with recycled paper materials and environmentally friendly cleaning supplies.
It is a happy ending for our “going green” dilemma.
It’s important to remember that as consumers, we play a vital role in patronizing “green” companies and demanding products that have a smaller foot print on the environment. Let’s all do our part!
On that note- Happy recycling!
