Green cleaning product sold in cartridges, diluted at home with tap water

What a great idea - and they are cdn too!

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Green cleaning product sold in cartridges, diluted at home with tap water

Forward-thinking manufacturers are working to decrease the amount of packaging used for their products. Some offer concentrated formulas, others sell refills in bags instead of containers. Now, a Canadian startup has come up with an innovative solution we hadn't yet spotted: refill cartridges that consumers dilute at home, with tap water.

Developed by Planet People, the iQ line of household cleaning products features small cartridges of plant-based concentrate. Consumers fill a spray bottle with ordinary tap water and pop in a cartridge. The coloured concentrate visibly mixes with the water, and voila: a full bottle of cleaner. iQ comes in four varieties: glass, bathroom, floor and all-purpose cleaner. All made with non-toxic and environmentally sustainable ingredients.

Besides reducing packaging and plastic waste, the system obviously cuts down on transportation, reducing fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. And—appealing to people's wallets as much as their conscience—iQ passes on packaging and transportation savings to its customers. iQ starter kits, which include a spray bottle full of solution and a first refill cartridge, retail for approximately CAD 6.49, while cartridges are approximately CAD 2.79. The products are currently available from natural food stores in Canada, and from Hannaford and Sweetbay in the US. If we weren't so busy reporting on new business ideas, we'd snap up international distribution rights ourselves ;-)

Website: www.iqclean.com

Contact: www.iqclean.com/contact_us.php

Justin

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Compost service for businesses sells the soil it creates

Instead of focusing on end consumer, this eco-friendly venture targets businesses...

Compost service for businesses sells the soil it creates

via Springwise by Springwise on 6/18/10

Where most of the composting initiatives we've seen have focused on helping consumers get the dirty job done on their own household waste, Utah-based Eco Scraps collects leftover food from grocery stores and restaurants and turns it into valuable organic soil conditioner for sale at local nurseries.

Americans throw out nearly 30 million tons of food every year, and 27 million of those come from supermarkets, restaurants and convenience stores. Hoping to put that waste to good use, Eco Scraps collects leftover food and coffee grounds from five grocery stores and six coffee shops in Utah Valley, according to a report in the Standard-Examiner. A delivery vehicle makes rounds to pick up some 2,000 pounds of local waste each day; it then brings them to Eco Scraps' Provo workshop, where they are ground up, mixed and turned daily until the resulting compost is ready to be bagged and sold. Roughly 60,000 pounds of compost are reportedly produced each month and sell out quickly at local garden retailers and wholesalers.

Launched by a Brigham Young University student, Eco Scraps took second place recently at the BYU Social Venture Competition and is also a Sparkseed innovator. The company hopes to expand to five additional markets in California, Arizona, Colorado and Oregon by early 2011, with further expansion after that. Time to make trash part of your next treasure...? (Related: Compost service for urbanites, with soil in return — Garbage into gold, via worm poop.)

Website: www.ecoscraps.net
Contact: contact@ecoscraps.net

Spotted by: Garett Gee

School yearbooks, personalized for each student

Great idea - Would have loved to have this during my high school yearbook club days!

School yearbooks, personalized for each student

via Springwise by Springwise on 5/11/10

By virtue of the sheer numbers of students typically involved, most school yearbooks don't include more than one or two shots of each individual child. Aiming to make school yearbooks more about the student and less about the school, TreeRing is a platform that lets schools create yearbooks that can be customized.

By combining the efficiency of just-in-time digital printing, the collaborative power of online social networks and an array of DIY customization features, California-based TreeRing strives to create personalized yearbooks for each child while also reducing the financial burden for schools. Toward that end, it has built a solution that allows schools to create a traditional "core" yearbook that includes the entire school, but to also invite parents and students to customize their own yearbook pages. Customization can be achieved via templates and drag-and-drop functionality using a combination of personal and shared photos and information captured about each student's stage in life—best friends, favorite activities, future aspirations, etc.—making the end result a record of each student's entire year, both in and out of the classroom. Once a student's yearbook is complete, TreeRing's state-of-the-art digital printing technology then prints that custom version. Pricing is between USD 10 and USD 25, Examiner.com reports, including four free customizable pages.

By allowing families to order online directly, TreeRing eliminates all yearbook costs for schools, including burdensome yearbook deposits. The company also offers a greener alternative to the traditional yearbook by planting a tree for every yearbook sold, thanks to its partnership with Trees for the Future. Could this be the next model for yearbook publishing? (Related: Personalised newspaper targets young readers — Customised magazine from Lexus, Time & Amex — Personalised music mag — Customised cookbooks stir in online recipes.)

Website: http://www.treering.com/
Contact: www.treering.com/Contact-TreeRing.php

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann