How EcoJoe™ was Born — Part III, The Path to Neon Green?.

Photo by mary hodderGreening a product was way easier said than done. WAY EASIER.

So in Part II, you already read about how much I just want to pull all my hair out finding the perfect and most green packaging under budget.

Well, as you may notice already, green products generally cost more. Why? Because green products are more expensive to produce in this country, which in itself, is a great curse to green vendors who want to offer affordable pricing and an ongoing mystery for me.

I was born and raised in Taiwan, and when I left 10+ years ago (sorry, age is a woman’s mystery), we already had recycled paper pad being sold in corner stores side by side with non-recycled paper pad at similar prices. I frankly think being foreign plays to my advantage this time since I decided to outsource the productions to Asia where I was comfortable with the language and knowing that there are already technology in place to do recycled paper packaging easily.

Having had various green education (I was trained as a Live Green Live Smart real estate designation trainer and also went through a 10-month Sustainable Building Advisor training), I know very well the stigma the word outsourcing has. Especially the concern with carbon footprint.

In general, when we consider cradle-t0-cradle, our weakest link is the outsourcing part, because of the additional pollution transportation can cause vs. making a product locally. Unfortunately we did not have the luxury of cheap domestic production nor a bank account like Paris Hilton’s. So I decided to use locally produced recycled paper and just concentrated the production in one geographical area then ship everything over in one sitting. This way, we can minimize the carbon footprint. Additionally, we also purchased certified carbon credit to offset our carbon footprint.

Photo by Eduardo AmorimMe and the Motto ladies (our fab packaging designers) actually fought tooth and nail about where we will produce the packaging. Originally designers wanted to use Mohawk papers, which I loved the idea since I letterpress as a hobby and I use Mohawk paper frequently. They are high quality paper not to mention that the paper were made ethically and FSC certified. The paper was also made 100% using wind power. How cool is that? Unfortunately as I found out from our producer that the only way to get Mohawk paper in Asia was via Hong Kong and because its low demand (since locally made recycled paper were easily available and much cheaper), we actually have to export the Mohawk paper from U.S., produce the packaging in China, then ship everything back here. Hmm. Yeah we are going to carbon footprint hell for that one. So I opted for locally produced recycled paper.

The ink used for the production also took a little education. The problem with most ink for printing is that they contain high concentration of VOC, (think the paint smell and the toxic part of household paint) which is harmful to the production crew and also continue to produce off-gassing even after the product is finished. They are also petroleum based, meaning crude oil was involved in its production. Soy based ink are made from soy beans, so it is much much more environmental friendly. So we decided on soy based inks, duh, it was a no brainer.

The vendor kept asking: “Are you sure you want green materials? The paper quality will print a little bit yellower.” “Yep, proceed. And make sure they are not bleached please.” (The reason why we can get these shiny white paper is usually because they are chemically bleached, which produces large amount of VOC and all the bad stuff.)

“Are you sure you want to do soy based ink? They are more expensive.” “[Clenching my checkbook] Yeah mmm hmm. Soy based ink please.”

Photo by youngrobv (Rob & Ale)Overall, we had a lot of reservation and struggle of using green materials. As a marketer, you know that how a product looks on the shelves often determines how well it sells. So of course if we use bleached paper the colors on the packaging will pop much more and become more attention grabbing on the shelves. However, you also know that if you use bleached paper while you can use the non-bleached, recycled paper, even if they print slightly darker and yellower, you are not being a socially responsible merchant. It is constantly a fine line between design aesthetics and practicality.

Frankly, the whole process of making a product green taught me A LOT what my green trainings did not teach me. It is all very fine and dandy in theory and on paper when you are not thinking about budget and the consequence of having a failed business (to have tens and thousands of EcoJoes sitting in my warehouse is really not an ideal way for me to spend my Christmas this year). I really came face to face with the day-t0-day struggles green entrepreneurs face when they choose to be green (sorry to say this, but it usually has to do with $), as well as being very conscious about not greenwashing the consumer. Moreover, I learned about compromise, which we hate to do in the green industry, but it’s a definite must.

There are certainly extremists in the green community where everything has to be the perfect shade of green, but most of us don’t have the luxury to. We do the best we can. This may sounds like a total cop-out “Oh you are just saying that because you outsourced,” but it is the perfect truth.

Photo by Shedd AquariumOverall the process certainly has brought up a lot of questions and philosophical debates for me about being a green business owner. I also feel that sometimes our ego gets in our own way.

Green certainly has become trendy and the must-do life style.

I once sat at a round table discussion, where this green real estate professional raised her perfectly manicured hands and said: “Oh my god, why can’t every seller just go green? It’s just sooo easy to do.” Yes, when you wear 300-dollar-a-pair high heels and drive $55,000 cars, it’s very easy for you to go green. But for your starter home seller who is facing the possibilities of two mortgages, it’s probably much harder to walk in their shoes.

It is also easy to look down on people because they are not buying green products. But if you are a single mother struggling to put food on the table for your kids, I think that $3 you will save by not using green toilet paper will look real good to put toward buying real food for your kids.

People do what they can, it is impossible to cut out plastic use completely. However, we do what we can to reduce the usage. By not buying bottled water, that’s a start. It’s important to at least plant the seeds and raise  awareness on the issues. This journey certainly has taught me that.

You can read part i & part ii here

Related posts:

1. 12.14.2009 Green Baby Guide: The Four Wackiest Green Gifts
2. How to Buy EcoJoe™
3. What is EcoJoe™ made of?
4. How EcoJoe™ was Born — Part II, How P became the Struggle of B
5. How EcoJoe™ was Born — Part I, the Beginning