How green are we?

Like you, we are making environmentally sound choices whenever possible.

OUR PRODUCTS

Ensuring that the items we carry are not known to be harmful (ie., organic) is our #1 priority. The clothing we carry for instance are made with low impact dyes - ie., they are manufacturered using a process that uses produces less water runoff. [Details]

We also focus on carrying products that reduce indoor pollution. #1 culprit are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by offering plastic liner free shower curtains, mattresses without fire retardant chemicals (which are known to off-gas VOCs) are have been certified by Greenguard. [View Products]

We have products that will help you reduce your environmental footprint - eg., try to use every item more than once before discarding it. eg., use a glass straw, re-useable lunch boxes, water bottles and produce bags. [View Products]

We try to source locally as much as possible.

Articles on: Green your Nursery, Green Gift Guides, How to buy smart when going green (ie., how to read the labels), Green renovations

RETAIL LOCATION

We installed Eco-logo certified Bamboo flooring at our store location. Bamboo takes 5 years to harvest compared to 60 years for conventional hardwoods. They have similar 25 year warranty to conventional hardwoods and can be re-finished upto 3 times. Its held together using low VOC glues to reduce offgassing.

We painted our walls using zero and low VOC paints from AFM Safecoat. They have one of the most extensive colour palattes available today

Cleaning Products - Ecover cleaning products. We use a steam floor mop to wash our floors which requires only distilled water for a great clean.

We reduce the use of electrical energy by using a thermostat and by turning off 90% off lights when not in the store . We use bulbs that use less voltage. Even our computer equipment is shutdown overnight!

SHIPPING

We consolidate and coordinate inbound shipments to reduce our carbon footprint.

Our packaging is paper based, no plastic at all.

We collect inbound cardboard boxes and re-use them for outbound shipments. We use newspaper for padding instead of foam.

The little things can (and do) add up....

We ensure we use both sides of a piece of paper before recycling it.

We've been paperless with pay stubs and email invoices as much as possible.

We use 100% recycled, 100% FSC certified, chlorine-free, acid-free Paper as much as possible

We use an e-fax service and scan everything we can and handle via email. Thus, we've been able to reduce our paper requirements significantly.

Recycle inkjet cartidges while looking to source consumer soy-ink cartrdiges.

Adoption of technology to consolidate information on our website to reduce the need for multiple copies of paper. eg., informing customers that pricing and brochures are available online vs picking up a brochure in-store that you may or may not use.

Our website is powered by Ethical Host, a Toronto based organization that is 100% Wind & Renewable Energy Powered and Carbon Offsets.

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