Costumes

There are so many great costumes out there and the best ones are always the most unique. Rather than heading down to the store and picking up a whole new disguise, why not make a trip to your trusty storage room and see what you can dig up from years past? Props and the like paired with some of your own unique wardrobe can really make for some original costumes. Look in your garage, too. After all, some of the best robots in the world are made of tin cans and cardboard. Creativity is really the best part of Halloween, so give it a go! If you must have a particular mask or item for your costume, think ahead about how you’ll be able to reuse them in the years to come.
Remember to stay healthy with your costume as well. For the clowns in your circle, water-based paints are a safer choice.

Your party

Start with e-invitations and do your part to reduce waste. Go natural and decorate with fallen leaves, they’re already pre-coloured for Halloween. If you’re going to carve a pumpkin, take the seeds and roast them, they’ll make great snacks for your guests. And, after the party, you can always get to making a pumpkin pie as a treat to yourself for being so Green this Halloween. Dim your lights, soy candles will set the mood and when you’re serving your home-baked treats, serve them using your own plates. Avoid using disposable plates and cutlery; it goes without saying they’re a whole lot of unnecessary waste.

Trick or Treaters

When’s the last time you gave out tricks? Our thoughts exactly. And if you choose to give out treats, try and avoid individually wrapped items when you can. Parents, give your kids canvas bags or baskets from around the home to collect their goodies; you can make a fun tradition out of reusing the bag or basket. Read above for our advice on pumpkins; those soy candles will come in handy again, as well.

Last but not least, walk! Don’t drive. Hand-cranked torches will light the way. Let’s work at keeping our homes and neighbourhoods Green and safe too.

Got an idea for a Greener Halloween? Post it below!

The conservation of our oceans and aquatic wildlife is becoming a prevalent conversation and something which we should all take seriously. After all, approx. 71% of our Earth’s surface is covered with water and the delicate, life-bearing eco-system we live in greatly depends on the maintenance of these water bodies. Check out the video after the break, shot by Darek Sepiolo, and take a look at the beauty and flourishing life you can help save.

Learn about…

1. Ocean Life
2. The Ocean’s Carbon Balance
3. The Water Cycle
4. Seafood Fraud
5. Overfishing

Take action…

1. Commit to The Ocean Project Pledge
2. Simple Steps to conserve and preserve

Come by and visit us at booth #736, it’s a great opportunity for you to say hello, share some stories and give us any feedback you might have. Not to mention, we always have fabulous deals on our Eco-Max natural cleaners at the Green Living Show, so it’s a good time to stock up for all your spring cleaning needs.

And don’t worry about getting tickets, admission is FREE when you bring your old electronics to be recycled.

For details, checkout our Facebook event and let us know you’re dropping by or visit the Green Living Show on-line.

The ball has dropped and the news is in, 2011 is here! We hope you had a wonderful and safe holiday season packed with all kinds of fun and memories. That being said, it’s time to look forward to a new year and make your resolutions to live a Greener, healthier lifestyle in 2011. We’ve put together a short list of things you can do inside and outside your home to get you going on your eco-friendly resolutions for the year, so take a moment and read through!

Recycle less and do more – Wait, recycle less? Recycling is an easy way to help the environment, as it reduces the garbage that’s left in landfills. But here’s the thing, we know you can take it a step further than that! Saying ‘no’ to plastic and using reusable shopping bags, buying concentrated household products and items with biodegradable packaging, in addition to finding new uses for odds and ends around the home are all ways you can throw away less, while doing more for the environment.

Of course, it’s important that you continue recycling everything you can and to take your time sorting your waste so that it all makes its way to the appropriate processing facilities.

Don’t forget to take this mindset with you and Green up your workplace!

Take an electrical diet – Here’s a challenge for you… have a look around your home and observe all your electronics. Do you leave your computer or television on when you’re not in the room? Do you have devices that are powered off, but are left on standby for days and weeks at a time, without ever being used? These are all power wasting situations that can very easily be avoided. Setup your computer to hibernate when not in use, activate the sleep timer on your television and unplug devices when you don’t intend on using them for a while. Not only will you be conserving energy on a whole, but you’ll be saving money, too. Remember to fit your lighting fixtures with energy efficient light bulbs, the initial investment is worth the long-term benefits of cleaner air.

And, if you’re feeling like a leader, purchase electricity from renewable energy providers or make use of solar panels, wind turbines and other clean energy producing devices to inject your home with renewable and sustainable electricity.

Walk don’t drive – If you can get to where you need to go by foot, why not? It’s a simple way to become active and stay in shape. If your destination is too far to walk, consider riding a bike or hopping on public transit, you may even meet someone interesting along the way! All of these options are effective ways at reducing your carbon footprint, which will invariably aid in the reduction of outdoor air pollution.

Get outside and play! – This one is simple enough… enjoy the outdoors. We all live busy lives and can become disconnected from nature rather easily. Make it a point this year to take a hike on a secluded trail, plant a vegetable garden in your backyard, bask in the sun on a distant shore and organize a Green vacation or take part in any activity that gets you away from the computer screen and into the fresh air. Do this again and again and again.

Clean out your cleaners – Yes, we know, but it’s a cause that we truly believe in. There is really no need for anyone to be using traditional, toxic cleaners in their homes for everyday cleaning tasks. Why place your health and your community’s environment at risk by using products that contain synthetic fragrance blends made from hundreds, if not thousands, of harmful chemicals and toxic solvents that can be instantly detrimental to your health, when you can use a natural cleaner that has a toxicity level close to water? Green cleaning technology has come a long way since the early days and it’s definitely time to take a look at what might still be lurking under your kitchen sink and in your laundry room.

Support environmental organizations – Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen a tremendous shift toward Green living and environmental initiatives. This is such an amazing thing to see and it couldn’t have been done without the help of environmental leaders like you. Taking the time to lend a hand or to make donations to worthwhile environmental causes will no doubt help us collectively create a much cleaner and Greener planet for generations to come.

If you’ve made a Green resolution for 2011, we want to hear about it! Post your resolutions in the comment section below and let us know what you’ll be up to.

Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of attending the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) Expo West 2010 conference and tradeshow in Vancouver, British Columbia and it was a great success. It was our chance to receive feedback from our many valued retailers in Western Canada and a great opportunity for us to explore new opportunities with those interested in our Eco-Max Consumer line of natural cleaners.

Expo East 2010 is just around the corner and we are glad to announce that we will be attending. At last year’s Expo East, we met a wide variety of individuals from the natural products industry and look forward to meeting many new and returning faces this year. With over 3,000 attendees, Expo East 2010 is the largest tradeshow of its kind in Eastern Canada and represents an excellent opportunity for retailers to meet with us and discuss where they would like to take Eco-Max.

We welcome you to visit Eco-Max in booth #2234 at this year’s CHFA Expo East!

For more details about Expo East, including directions and admission information, click here.

It seems like just yesterday that we decided to enlist the help of Bullfrog Power to assist us in offsetting our office and manufacturing facility’s carbon footprint. It was a choice we’re proud to have made, because quite frankly, it just made sense.

We have a strong belief in incorporating renewable and sustainable resources in Eco-Max products; it’s part of our philosophy toward developing natural formulations. Introducing clean energy into the mix was a perfect fit because we’d be able to help our customers continue practicing environmental leadership while supporting our nation’s push toward a brighter, cleaner future.

That being said, we’d like to wish Bullfrog Power a happy 5th anniversary and take part in the celebrations by offering Residential and Commercial Bullfrog customers exclusive deals on Eco-Max cleaners.

To take advantage of these limited time offers, click here.

It’s July 1st and you know what that means? It’s Canada Day! Yep, Canada turns 143 today and we’d love to wish all of our friends, nationwide, a safe and happy holiday; we hope you’re out enjoying all our gorgeous country has to offer!

We’re proud to be a Canadian company that’s doing its part to help preserve the beauty which surrounds us everyday. But, we’re especially proud in all of you for showing us that keeping our country Green is just as important to you. Go Canada, you rock!

Of course, you can’t have a holiday without a top ten list, now can you?

Head on over to Alice.com and check it out, you can get up to 75% off! Now is the perfect time for you to get your hands on Eco-Max at an even lower price and experience the difference cleaning with a truly Green cleaner makes.

Click here to check out the sale.

Last week, we had the pleasure of being invited to Winners EcoFest 2010 and what a fabulous event it was. Live music, great food and environmental awareness, how could you go wrong? It was great to see Winners taking initiative to help their employees make better choices for both the environment and their health. Awesome job Winners, we’d love to come back next year!

Congratulations to Jacquie and Luisa for taking part in our raffle and winning our Eco-Max gift baskets, we hope you’ll let us know how they worked out for you! And, a big thank you to everyone who visited our table to learn about our Green cleaners, we appreciate the support and hope you’ll join us on Twitter and Facebook to keep the Green conversation going.

If you have an event featuring environmental awareness that you’d like Eco-Max to attend, please let us know and we’ll do our best to be there.

At last, we can finally show you the new Eco-Max cleaners that we’ve been hard at work developing over the last while!

If you haven’t been following along, then you should definitely check out the hints we posted last week (yeah, we know, they were easy hints, but we really wanted to tell you about these new cleaners!). The posts were focused on helping you get an idea of why we chose to develop these particular cleaners and the way traditional solutions impact our environment and generally miss the mark.

But, lets get right to it. We are proud to launch four new Eco-Max cleaners that will help you live a healthier lifestyle while empowering you to do your part in improving and preserving our environment.

Introducing…

Eco-Max Hypoallergenic Fruit & Veggie Wash – more info

Eco-Max Hypoallergenic Fabric Softener – more info

Eco-Max Hypoallergenic Tile & Grout Cleaner – more info

Eco-Max Hypoallergenic Granite Cleaner & Protector – more info

We’re anxiously waiting to hear what you think, so let us know! Feel free to tweet about the new cleaners or share them on facebook. Help us get the word out of what it truly means to be Green!