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Last weekend was the 33rd Natural Products Expo West (Expo) where 63,000 industry members and 2,430 Exhibitors gathered to sample or showcase the latest in natural and organic products from supplements to socks, with a smattering of sweets. Deals were done, friendships were forged and announcements were made: way to go Whole Foods for doing …

The best tradeshow ever, EXPO West (a natural and organic products show held annually in Anaheim, CA) began yesterday morning with a press breakfast to introduce us to some of the new products and companies at the show this year. Hosting the breakfast was Lyfe Kitchen, which not only served us a delicious meal, but …

  When we were young life was carefree. We needn’t be reminded to have fun or to play and we weren’t caught up in taking things too seriously. Most of us probably were unaware of the environmental and social ills facing society, which were different and less grave back then as well. But times have …

KoAnn Skrzyniarz, CEO and Founder of Sustainable Brands (SB) opened the conference by sharing a bit of the background on how we got here. KoAnn and her team have been working on this gathering for many years. SB launched in 2006 to reframe the conversation about the obligation of business and brands as one of …

Two years ago, the FTC proposed revisions to its Green Guides (Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, “the Guides”) which first were released in 1992. The Guides then were revised in 1996 and 1998 before lying dormant for twelve long years. I first wrote about the Guides back in August, 2010, and they …

Shortly this evening, I will be leaving to drive to Oakland over Donner Pass on I-80.  A snowstorm is expected and I couldn’t be more excited!  My Subaru handles brilliantly in the snow — gliding like butter while gripping like glue — so here’s hoping winter’s starting and we get a lot of it over …

The good folks at the Huffington Post last week reported that California Attorney General (AG), Kamala Harris, filed a lawsuit on October 26, 2011 against ENSO Plastics, Balance Water and Aquamantra for making the alleged greenwashing claims that their bottles are “100 percent biodegradable and recyclable.  “Such claims violate California law, specifically California AB 1972, …

If your community recycles — you can find out here if you’re not sure — then you probably are familiar with the plastic recycling symbols shown here: As if this system weren’t challenging enough to understand, what do you do when the packaging is comprised of multiple layers of different materials?  How do you know …