What Makes Green Tackle "Green"

Green Tackle was founded on core values centered around preserving our natural world for future generations of anglers to enjoy. As such, the way we run our business is no different from the way we advocate all of us run our day to day lives; as stewards of this earth. You are reading the first post in our new Green Business section of our blog, intended to share green business ideas with our customers and fellow entrepreneurs.

We are in the business of selling environmentally friendly fishing products and promoting responsible fishing practices, however, the "green" in Green Tackle goes beyond what we sell on our website and into how we run our business. We would like to share some of the things we're doing here to make our e-commerce business more environmentally friendly.

Shipping and Packaging

The materials used for shipping products is a key area to look at for an e-commerce business. At Green Tackle, we have evaluated numerous products and services to green up our shipping process.

  • Our packing slips are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper.
  • Rather than using printed boxes or stickers for branding on boxes and return address labels, we use the Green Line stamps from STAMPXpress. These re-inkable, water based stamps are constructed using recycled materials and allow us to get our brand on our packages without the environmental costs of stickers and conventional printing.
  • We re-use corrugated boxes when we can. By making our environmental decisions known to our customers through messaging and branding, the re-used boxes help reaffirm our image. When we can not re-use a corrugated box, Salazar Packaging makes Globe Guard boxes, a 100% post-consumer waste recycled corrugated box. Salazar Packaging has several environmentally friendly packaging products.
  • When shipping an order which is small and light weight we use the Jiffy Padded Mailers from Sealed Air. These mailing envelopes are made from 90% recycled material (50% post-consumer waste).
  • We use the United States Postal Service as our shipping carrier for a number of reasons, the main reason being the USPS eco friendly packaging and recycling programs. Not only do they offer FREE eco friendly boxes for priority mail shipments, but they are delivered by carriers out on routes every day delivering mail. By using the USPS, we avoid using a carrier which has to make a special trip out to the delivery address in addition to the USPS mail carrier, thus reducing the unnecessary fuel usage and carbon emissions.
  • The USPS Priority Mail labels used on the majority of orders we ship are printed on 100% recycled labels (such as these 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 labels from Planet Label).
  • We use a biodegradable "plastic" packaging made from wood cellulose fibers sourced with sustainable forestry principles for products which we package ourselves (such as our Lead Free Jig Heads).

Energy Usage In The Office and Warehouse

Reducing energy usage is good for the planet as well as your business as it translates into lower operating costs.

  • Use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) instead of incandescent bulbs in the office and warehouse.
  • Use Energy Star compliant devices (such as LCD monitors and computers).
  • Setup the energy saving features on computers during the day.
  • Turn off all computers, monitors, printers, scanners, etc. through a powerstrip at the end of the day to prevent the "standby" energy these devices are often using.
  • Check with your utility provider to see if you can enroll in renewable energy or a renewable energy offset program. 100% of our energy usage is offset by renewable energy through Portland Gerneral Electric's Green Source program.

Office and Warehouse Supplies

Office and warehouse supplies are not unique to online businesses and there are numerous eco friendly products and services available.

  • Using a paperless accounting system saves immense amounts of resources. A small investment up front on equipment and service (backup hard drive, scanner, online backup service) will pay for itself in costs on resources such as paper, file folders, and file cabinets.
  • For important documents for which a hard copy is necessary, there are many 100% recycled options for filing supplies such as the EarthWise Recycled File Folders and Handing File File Folders from PendaFlex.
  • You will be able to find environmentally friendly print houses in many cities around the country. We have had great results from Greenerprinter, and online print house. Not only can Greenerprinter provide high-quality printing using recycled paper stocks and soy-based inks, but they also run their print shop with environmentally friendly, carbon-neutral processes.
  • When an inkjet cartridge or laser toner runs out you can either refill it for re-use or recycle it for charity through numerous companies. Just search the web for a "refill kit" or "charity recycle" for your make and model of printer/fax machine.
  • Speaking of fax machines, switching to an online fax service such as eFax or SaveOnFaxes saves money and conserves the resources used on paper and toner.
  • For the warehouse, look to sustainable forestry lumber and recycled plastics. We are using the recycled plastic bins from Quantum Storage.

Website Hosting

The most important part of an e-commerce business is the website. There are many factors when choosing a hosting provider and one of those factors should be what they are doing to reduce their negative environmental impact.

We evaluated numerous hosting providers for Green Tackle, and a couple of our favorites for both their service and environmental policies are:

  • AISO.net is a completely solar powered hosting service that was founded on a vision of a cleaner, more energy efficient hosting provider.
  • Hostgator is an affordable and reliable "big name" hosting provider which has been taking steps to reduce their energy usage and offsets all their energy with certified renewable energy credits.

Water Usage and Contamination At Home

As an e-commerce business, we don't use much water in running our company. However, we are a small company and as anglers, we all experience the problems effecting freshwater ecosystems first hand. Living a lifestyle of stewardship means reviewing your environmental impact at work as well as at home. Water usage and quality is close to our hearts here in the Pacific Northwest where wild species of salmon, steelhead, and trout are under very serious threat.

  • Avoid the use of insecticides, pesticides, and other harmful chemicals on your lawn and garden which can pollute local watersheds.
  • If using fertilizer, make sure to properly use it, never over-fertilize. Take measures to prevent soil erosion and do not allow fertilizers to get onto sidewalks, driveways or other locations where it can wash into storm drains. Excessive nutrients such as those in fertilizers (phosphates and nitrates) that get into the storm drains wash downstream into rivers, lakes, bays, etc. and cause algal blooms and oceanic dead zones.
  • Along with fertilizers contributing to the excessive nutrients downstream, other organic matter around our yards that wash down the storm drains or sewage system contribute to the problem. Picking up after your pets, sweeping up any grass clippings on sidewalks and driveways, avoiding soaps and detergents with phosphates, and home or municipal composting of kitchen scraps all help with this problem.
  • Avoid washing solvents, oils, paints, varnish, thinners, paint strippers, pesticides, poisons, fertilizers, and acids down drains into the sewage system.
  • There a numerous ways to conserve water at home. The Water Use It Wisely website lists over 100 Ways to Conserve Water.

You can read more about Caring for our water from the Environmental Protection Agency.