My wife, Lenora, and I are fast approaching our third anniversary as entrepreneurs. During the Christmas break we reflected back on how far we have come, not only measured in sales numbers but just as importantly, in terms of friends.

Sure there are headaches and disappointments in owning and operating your own business, but we have also enjoyed the privilege and extreme pleasure of working with some pretty incredible people. We agreed our favorite part of the experience is being able to help create and share some unforgettable Green Moments.

What Are Green Moments?

Green Moments: When a committed green minded individual realizes they can have what they want and that is usually a packaging solution that is as green as the products they are promoting. We call it eco-consistency but our customers usually call it, “problem solved”.

Here are some great examples.

• The lady in Maryland who realized she could have her boxes printed with her very attractive logo and it would NOT cost her an arm and a leg to do so.

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Every once in a while I still run into a good potential printed box customer who repeats a myth or misconception about printing on boxes. Before we get into the myths, let’s talk about what type of company might be a “good” prospect for printed corrugated shipping boxes.

• A company that has worked to develop an upscale image and wants to stand out in a crowded field.
• Someone who does not use twenty or thirty different size boxes. The ideal prospect usually utilizes 4 to 6 different size boxes.
• Someone who currently buys custom size or custom grade boxes

What are the most common misconceptions about printed shipping boxes?

1. The minimums for custom printed boxes are huge. Not true at all. We have custom printed as few as fifty boxes for a customer’s special promotion.
2. The lead time is too long. We usually deliver custom printed orders in a week, after customer’s artwork is approved and they sign off on the print card proof.
3. The cost is way too high. The price of custom boxes rises as the purchase quantities decrease but printing has minimal impact on box cost on any order size.
4. Plate and artwork charges make it cost prohibitive. As long as the copy can be delivered crisp and clear, a PDF or JPEG is fine and no artwork fee is ever required. Plates are a onetime expense, can be re-used indefinitely and remain the property of the customer.

A Perfect Example

One of our favorite new customers is Linda Stein of Zosimos Botanicals. Linda understands the value of branding and wants her packaging to make a great impression, especially on the very first order.

She had some of the above concerns and was also worried her horizontal logo image might be too long and not look right on her small 5” cube boxes. She was also concerned about how her unique purple logo color would look on brown corrugated.

We helped Linda with the logo lay out, provided color samples for her to approve as well as a print card proof so she could see exactly what the box would look like. Soon after her final approval, we delivered the first of her boxes and you can see the results are impressive: to us, to Linda, but most importantly to Linda’s customers.

Let us know how we can help you break out of the brown box rut!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays,

And wishing you the best and greenest

2010

From your friends at

Salazar Packaging

and Globe Guard Products

Even before the yearend packaging industry numbers are in, I feel fairly confident predicting the glass segment had a great year in 2009. Glass has a quality, clean and green image that today’s sustainably minded consumer really likes. It’s retro but as effective as ever and it fits organic products like a glove.

Eco Consistency and the Organic Products Industry

Organic manufacturers tend to understand their customers better than most. They realize their customer who seeks out and buys what can be a substantially more expensive organic product, does not want to see their purchase packaged in a plastic bottle or container. If that consumer was willing to make that type of compromise, they could almost certainly find a comparable non-organic product, closer to home and for less money. The organic customer definitely has higher standards for products and the packaging they come in.

Glass Packaging Experts?

I am not sure that is a claim I am willing to make but I do admit there are probably few packaging companies able to provide a better or broader selection of the excellent eco friendly products we have accumulated and offer our customers. I also feel very comfortable claiming that we have done more ship testing of our products and understand the science and art of shipping glass products via truck, UPS, FedEx and USPS.

Please check out this article about packaging we developed for glass jars that was featured in November’s issue of Packaging Digest magazine. Also, last June as we started down this path, Sustainable Is Good published an article I wrote on the resurgence of glass packaging. These articles may not make us experts, but it sure shows we are experienced.

The Widest Variety of Green Packaging Products for Glass

That is what makes us unique. We are not a single solution provider and we know how to properly use a combination of products to deliver the best, greenest and lowest cost results. As an example, we offer partitions as one possible glass packaging solution but that is far from everything we sell. We also work just as easily and capably in paper board as we do in corrugated board. That sets us apart from companies who “specialize” in product while we specialize in solving problems.

Sustainable packaging is a complicated world but we make it easy and we also make it affordable. Bring us your challenge and allow us to show you what we can do.
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Visit the Globe Guard Green Packaging Store for -

Eco Friendly Shipping Boxes
Green Packaging Materials
Special Deals on Green Shipping Supplies

Every green business has a story and few are as interesting as Maggie Mohs, who was driven to create her own line of cleaning products because of her own health issues. She was kind enough to agree to share her story with our Inside Sustainable Packaging readers.

DS: Maggie, let’s start out with a little background on you, your partner Sara and your company.

MM: In 2003, I left the banking industry to spend more time with my family. To supplement my household income, I began cleaning homes part time.

After several months of cleaning, I developed severe skin sensitivity. At the height of my illness, my skin would itch and my eyes would burn whenever I used any type of skin product. Around the same time, my daughter was diagnosed with asthma and allergies. I began researching asthma “triggers” and discovered the number one air pollutant was household cleaners. It was my “ah-ha” moment. I realized I had been exposing my skin (our largest organ) and lungs to toxic cleaners on a daily basis. I decided to start making my own natural cleaners. Together, with my sister-in-law, Sara, we founded Simply Neutral in August of 2007 and developed our line of non-toxic, plant-based cleaning products.

DS: Please tell us about your health issues and allergies to “standard” cleaning products. (more…)

We all like to talk about products that are recyclable but we often forget that where and how to recycle a specific item varies greatly from one geographic area to another. It isn’t just about city versus rural or California versus the rest of the country, it often differs greatly from one neighboring community or county to the next.

A friend who lives in Minneapolis recently informed me that St. Paul, the other “Twin City,” has a greatly different recycling program compared to residents of Minneapolis. This confuses the heck out of the consumers who usually want to do the right thing but are often not sure what the right thing is.

Recyclable Plastics – The Source of Much Confusion

First let me say I am not a pro or anti plastic bag person. I simply try to deal with the reality that until they are completely outlawed, people are going to use plastic bags.

I know many people hate them, ironically many of the same people who utilize a woven polypropylene (plastic) reusable bag when shopping. Much like plastic water bottles, the biggest problem I have with plastic bags is what people do or don’t do with them after they are done with them. Obviously, plastic bags should be recycled, but where?

A Terrific Sustainable Resource!

I recently found a great web site, PlasticBagRecycling.org, that makes it easy to find a place willing to take in clean, used plastic bags. I have no idea who is behind it, it may be the plastics industry or even large retailers who would prefer to continue using plastic bags but I really don’t care who owns or operates this site. What I do know is that it makes it easy for anyone who wants to recycle plastic bags to do so and I think that is great. (more…)

For the sake of full disclosure, we actually have two customers who order packing peanuts from us, along with their packaging and other supplies. They understand it is not a stock item for us, but they like being able to “one stop shop” for all of their packaging supplies so we provide them as a service to these valued customers. However, I will also admit that we continuously try to convince both accounts to at least review some of our new, and we think better, void fill options.

What do I have against these little, not so environmentally innocent peanuts?

1. Foam packing peanuts are incredibly expensive to store and ship

Even the “green” varieties take up a lot of space in your warehouse, and on the truck that brought them to your facility. The above photo shows the relationship between one of our many options, inflatable air bags, and foam peanuts. You can imagine the fuel it takes to ship them and easily see there is nothing green about shipping green peanuts.

2. Foam packing peanuts are extremely messy
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Sure, our company sells eco friendly packaging supplies but my interest goes beyond the potential business. In an industry measured in billions, there is probably enough for everyone to get what they need and what they earn. No, my concern is more about the environment and “eco consistency” which is making sure your packaging is as green as the product you are selling and shipping.

Sustainability – Doesn’t End at the Door

In fact, we believe that is where it begins. As green business people we have to hold each other accountable and fortunately I have several die hard, green friends who will let me know if our green marketing ever begins to get ahead of the green facts. It is easy to get carried away or take things at face value as opposed to doing the homework and asking the tough questions of our suppliers. I appreciate it when a friend gives me corrective advice because if they see an inconsistency, it is a sure bet our highly intelligent, skeptical, eco minded customers will as well.

Especially if you are an internet based green company, when your product arrives at its destination, that is likely the first real contact you have with your new customer. The quality, cleanliness and yes, the greenness of your packaging is instantly evaluated.

Sustainable Packaging First Impressions

• Is the packaging intact and did it do a good job of containing and protecting the contents? “My goodness, did this get dragged behind the truck?”
• Is it excessive? “I ordered a DVD and this box could hold two basketballs!”
• Is it attractive, is it branded and does it represent you well? “Who are these people”?
• Is it eco consistent externally? “I can’t believe they shipped my baby’s organic cotton clothes in a plastic bag!”
• Is it eco consistent internally? “I did not even realize they still made packing peanuts.”
• Is it recycled content and/or recyclable? “Darn, this paper / poly mailer is going to wind up in a land fill.”

Packaging and the Contradictory Message

Simply put, if our product says “we care about the environment” then our packaging should communicate the same concern. If not, we are contradicting ourselves and our customers will spot it from a green mile away.
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Visit the Globe Guard Green Packaging Store for -

Eco Friendly Shipping Boxes
Green Packaging Materials
Special Deals on Green Shipping Supplies

A lady who has gained the attention of the green community with cool products and her enthusiastic marketing style is “Alix” Gnoske, maker of Recycle Me ™ tee shirts. We have gotten to know and appreciate Alix and are eager to share her with our readers.

DS: Alix, please begin by giving us a little back ground on you and your company. What first got you interested in going down this relatively narrow green path?

AG: Dennis, thank you for this opportunity to let your readers know about Recycle Me and learn about the quality of their clothing.

The environment, conservation, and wildlife are things I’ve been interested in since I was a child. I have a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and a J.D. in Environmental Law. In 2007 I first learned about how heavily sprayed cotton was. I looked for organic cotton clothing for my three children, but had a hard time finding anything. In 2008, I had the opportunity, through the support of my business partners, to start Recycle Me, an organic cotton clothing company, so I took it. I found it a simple way, through clothing, to make a huge difference for the environment and human health and safety.

DS: You are very concerned about the widespread use of chemicals within the textile industry and specifically on cotton. Please share with our readers some of the statistics that you have gathered on this serious problem.

AG: Cotton, corn and soy are the most heavily sprayed crops in the world, and now, commonly genetically engineered. Twenty-five percent of the world’s insecticides are sprayed on cotton. It takes about 1/3 lb. of chemicals to grow enough cotton to produce a t-shirt. The World Health Organization estimates that 20,000 cotton workers die annually due to exposure. Now, only 1% of cotton is grown organically (the U.S. only produces 2% of that). Here is where consumers can have a huge impact. We have a lot of room for growth, to change that 1% into 2%, and then 5% and so on.

I am also concerned about the chemicals, including heavy metals and plastics, that go into the dyes and inks on our clothing. That’s why we use only water based dyes and inks. I feel it is the safest and best quality way to decorate our clothing. There are three places to be concerned about these chemicals (as well as with conventional cotton): there’s the worker who is exposed to them, nature (where the chemicals leak into the water supply, air, and land endangering wildlife and humans) and finally the consumer, who puts these products directly on their skin.

DS: Please tell us what makes organic cotton, organic and how do we know the strict organic requirements have been met?
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We have been busy growing our stock die cut mailer inventory to give customers as many choices as possible. Most of the die cut mailers people buy from us are plain, unprinted but made from our 100% recycled content board to provide the greenest box possible at the lowest possible cost. Then you meet a company like the good people at Fluenz.

Green Is Good in Any Language

CASE STUDY. Fluenz is an environmentally conscious company that specializes in best of class software designed to teach languages to their clients and customers. When they needed an attractive but eco friendly shipper box for their first class product, they turned to us at Salazar Packaging. We assisted with the design and sizing as well as the art work placement and the end result is a beautiful two color print, on our 100% recycled Globe Guard board.

Sustainability and Branding

“Eco consistency and your quality message begin at the door” is our way of rephrasing the old adage about only having one opportunity to make a good first impression. In most cases the package being received by your customer is the very first tangible contact they have with you and your company. They were obviously impressed by your web site design and marketing and they ordered your product. However the package that arrives at their home or office is the first time they actually get to experience touch and feel, and that always leaves a lasting impression.

Perhaps you believe that your product arriving in a traditional, beat up, brown box does NOT necessarily send a negative message. Even if I agreed, and I obviously don’t, I would say that you have however missed a great and unique opportunity to say something positive about you, your product or your company.

Smart Green Companies Believe in Branding and They Utilize Smart Green Packaging to Accomplish It

The people at Fluenz understand this and the end result is a great looking, beautifully branded box that wows at the door and makes a positive and permanent first impression. The best part about it is that the additional cost compared to a plain brown box was relatively insignificant. Ink is not expensive and any print job really stands out when the second color is added.

Green branding is what we do and we encourage you to get creative and as they say, “think outside the box”. Please contact us for a no cost, no obligation review of your application and requirements.