This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.
Norwood has launched two new tumblers under their Evolve line, the Evolve(TM) Traveler Mug – 16 oz and the Evolve(TM) Infinity Tumbler – 16 oz.
Both units come in a variety of colors, both are Prop 65 compliant, both are top rack dishwater safe, both are microwave safe, and both are packaged in eco-friendly packaging for shipment.
The Evolve line is also made in the US and is “designed to biodegrade within 1-5 years in a managed landfill” according to the Norwood website. With one color imprint the units both run under $2.75.
I wanted to write about the Norwood Evolve line because, if you look again at the bullet points offered in the sales material, it seems Norwood developed these mugs to specifically address issues that Ecopreneurist has raised regarding eco-friendly promotional items.
Let us look at some of that list again.
1) Dishwasher safe – this is a direct attack on the corn plastic mugs. They biodegrade well, but generally need to be hand washed. This annoys some clients.
2) Made in the USA – a lot of Norwood’s products are made overseas, not all, but many. The fact that the Evolve line is a US made product was likely done to address the issues of both buy American sentiment and buy local. Sure they are not as local as having a factory in every town (would we want that anyway?) but it is a lot better than bringing the mugs in from overseas.
3) Shipped in eco-friendly packaging – This is a big deal, yes that it is done, but more so that Norwood has learned enough to know to advertise the fact that it is done. I myself have written blogs on eco-friendly items being delivered in non-friendly packaging. This packaging is a big step. I wish Norwood went into greater detail about it on their website.
It seems to be that the manufacturers are really starting to address the hot button issues that need to be addressed upfront regarding eco-friendly promotional items.
I think the way Norwood is talking about the Evolve line shows a growing understanding by the producers of the needs and wants of the green business audience.
We will see how this continues to play out as the 2009 line of products starts to appear. But once again it seems that the more green we buy, the more green the industry will make available.
Please vist the Norwood website to learn more about these products or email us at info@proformagreen.com.
Adventures in Green Marketing 
Hi John! Thank you for writing this blog on these two recent editions to our current line of Eco Soultion product ideas. We currently have over 30 items that may be used for companies to help communicate their green message. Just use this link:
http://www.norwood.com/search/basic/?search=%20eco
We’re also very excited about our 2009 line-up of new GoinGreen(tm) products that will span many of our product categories from totes to calendars to golf balls to desktop items and more. Thank you for your efforts here and have a great day!
James Simone, CAS
SVP, Chief Marketing Officer
Norwood Promotional Products, Inc.
I like you site, very fresh and great info and products….well done!
John excellent article. I was unaware of the new Norwood products and had generally stayed away from them on the whole for the very reasons you mentioned. So much of what this industry sells comes from overseas. How can any product be eco-friendly if it has to be shipped from China? Worse a lot of the recycled materials are shipped from the US to China only to be shipped back again.