At Big Green Purse, we advocate shifting your spending to the greenest products and services available. That also means buying from companies that make a difference when it comes to protecting our health and the health of the planet.

As part of our Earth Day service, we are partnering with sustainable food innovator Hampton Creek Foods to shine a spotlight on 5 eco-friendly companies you may not know about.

LOLIWARE

This company was formed in response to the huge amount of waste generated by food and beverage packaging. The zero-waste idea is that you can actually eat the party cups the company makes rather than throw them away.

The cups are made of plant-based ingredients, including seaweed, organic sweeteners, and flavors and colors derived from fruits and vegetables.

Although an edible cup may seem too perishable to be useful, LOLIWARE claims each container can hold a beverage for 24 hours without disintegrating. The product, which you can compost if you don’t want to eat, comes in several different flavors, including tart cherry (pictured above), citrus, matcha green tea, and vanilla bean, as well as an unflavored option.

I haven’t tried LOLIWARE yet myself, but have requested samples for review on Big Green Purse. I’ll let you know how I like it.

Salty Girl Seafood

Do you wonder which fish you can eat without totally depleting the species in the wild?

Salty Girl Seafood wants to help you make sustainable choices. The California-based company sells fish that are wild caught in environmentally responsible ways and “traceable,” which means that they can tell you both where the fish came from and how it was caught.

Salty Girl also partners with FishWise.org, an organization that promotes sustainable business practices that will help ocean ecosystems recover.  All the seafood it sells traceable, sometimes down to the vessel that harvested it, by means of a high-tech tracking code attached to each package.

The company sells both frozen and smoked seafood, in packages like “pacific rockfish with garlic fresh veggies” and “black cod with sweet & smoky teriyaki.”

Sungevity

Sungevity is a solar electricity company that leases, installs, and maintains solar panels on the roofs of homes and businesses.

The idea behind leasing solar panels is simple: many people who would love to make the switch to a sun-powered home or office lack the funds needed to purchase and install the equipment in the first place.

With Sungevity’s lease option, building owners can switch to solar and do the earth some good without investing a lot of money at the beginning. The fact that Sungevity maintains its leased equipment makes the process more feasible for many homeowners.

In addition to conserving the earth’s resources by promoting solar energy for daily electricity needs, Sungevity collaborates with many eco-conscious nonprofit organizations. These partnerships help to spread the word about the benefits of solar power, and they help raise funds for the nonprofits involved. Sungevity also works with Powered by Light, a charitable organization that helps off-grid schools in Zambia and other places make use of clean, sustainable sources of energy.

Better World Books

This online bookstore is doing its part to reuse and recycle on a global scale.

In addition to its drive for green business practices, Better World Books is on a social mission to increase literacy worldwide.

The company rescues books that would otherwise be headed for a landfill and either sells them online or donates them through its many partner programs. For every book purchased through its online store, Better World Books donates a book to a literacy-focused nonprofit, such as Books for Africa.

Hampton Creek Foods

Hampton Creek Foods has been breaking ground in the sustainable food market.

What is Hampton Creek It is not a geographical location or a farm stand, as the name might imply. It is a high-tech food company, pioneering research in plant-based alternatives to traditionally animal-based foods.

One of Hampton Creek’s core ideas is that, if the company creates a great-tasting, affordable product, making the switch to sustainable, healthy foods will be the natural choice for the everyday consumer.

Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo product, made without eggs, is one of its most popular products for these reasons. The company also produces various salad dressings, cookies and even cookie dough that’s safe to eat because it doesn’t contain eggs.

Happy Earth Day!

Creating a more sustainable world happens one step at a time, one eco-conscious decision at a time.

The next time you are in need of a specific product or service, come back to biggreenpurse.com, where you can learn more about all kinds of companies that are making green choices as well as giving back to their communities.

And remember, use your purse and pocketbook to make a difference. When you switch your spending to the best products and services available, you protect yourself, your loved ones and the planet – and you help motivate companies to do the right thing!

The post 5 Eco-Friendly Companies You Should Know About appeared first on Big Green Purse.

“Farming” fish and shrimp has helped meet consumer demand, but at a cost. The fishmeal salmon eat, for example, is often loaded with dangerous PCBs. Farmed salmon can contract sealice, which can spread to wild salmon. Shrimp aquaculture can destroy the mangrove swamps that protect barrier islands and coastlines from hurricanes.

Now some retailers – including Whole Foods Market, Wal-Mart, and Wegman’s –  are using their marketplace clout to demand seafood that’s farmed more sustainably. Their goal: protect sensitive marine habitats, reduce or ban antibiotics, treat waste water, and mimize or eliminate the use of toxic chemicals. Whole Foods will also require its suppliers to pass independent, third-party audits to ensure they are meeting sustainable seafood standards.

Here’s a good overview from the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions is working with fishermen, retailers, environmental organizations and consumer groups to increase understanding of the nation’s fisheries and make more sustainable seafood available in the marketplace. As a result of its work with the Alliance, the Giant supermarket chain said it has recently started selling Pacific long-line cod, which is relatively abundant, and that it will stop selling shark, orange roughy and Chilean sea bass until their populations rebound.

  Greenpeace recently issued a state-by-state scorecard to let consumers know whether their grocery store has instituted a sustainable seafood policy. Check out your favorite grocer here.

  USE YOUR PURSE:  Most grocers are falling far short in offering shoppers sustainably raised or caught fish and shellfish. Don’t hesitate to let the manager at your favorite fish counter know you expect retailers to support sustainable seafood standards. And do your part by buying seafood that’s sustainably certified.

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