Plastic Bag Ban in Austin

There's a group organizing with the goal of banning plastic bags in Austin. Here's their website: http://bagthebags.com/index.htm
I think it's awesome! There's really no need for the conventional plastic bags anymore. Yes, they are cheaper than their biodegradable alternatives, but their impact on the environment is significant. Many cities and countries have successfully banned them.

We here at Greenling looked for alternatives for our produce bags (what you put lettuce, etc. in to keep it from drying out) since we started. We finally found an alternative in oxy-biodegradable bags. From that point on we haven't used any non-recyclable packaging materials for anything we sell (well, unless it came in non-recyclable packaging - which we frown upon but will put up with for certain products). We also sell the bio-bags they recommend people using for their trash bags. They're so cool! Just don't leave organic waste in them for too long, cause just your kitchen scraps will eat the bag up. So we're ready for a ban and we'd love for the rest of Central Texas grocery to follow suit.

Dell Asset Recovery

We were recently featured in a short video about Dell's new asset recovery program. It's a good upgrade from their old system and really makes recycling technology equipment easy. Greenling is the feature of the video.
http://tinyurl.com/2dszp8

Texas Association of Organics & Sustainability

or The TAOS Group, is in the works. I'm very excited to be creating this association as an extension of the Organic Advisory board to the TDA that I had legislation drafted for and recently was signed into law. The Organic Advisory board's main role is to monitor the Organic food industry and recommend to the TDA activities and opportunities for the state to support the Organic industry in Texas. The TAOS Group will soon be the first legislative advocacy group for the Organic and Sustainability industry in Texas. My hope is that the group will help educate legislators on the industry and how the State can better develop public policy to support sustainable growth and organic agriculture.

Aurora Dairy finally penalized

This is great news for Organic Dairy consumers and valid producers. The USDA has stepped down and penalized the largest organic dairy farm in the US for its not-so-organic practices. See more here:
http://tinyurl.com/39mj45

This story first made the news almost 2 years ago when a consumer watchdog group investigated the dairy and broke the news. Hopefully in the future the USDA investigation process will not take so long. One problem, though, is that the USDA organic enforcement staff is all of 6 people for the entire $17 billion dollar industry. More support is needed to properly regulate the industry and ensure continued consumer confidence in Organic products.

Spider Plugs

So, by now you know that I am a founder of Greenling Organic Delivery.
What I just learned is that blogs like this can be a good tool for Search Engine Optimization. Inbound links are a fairly important part of a healthy google ranking for a website like www.Greenling.com
Obviously I don't want to overdo it, but please excuse this rant aimed at primarily being a vehicle for creating inbound links to Greenling. Some of you may also know that you can go to www.AustinOrganicDelivery.com and get to our website too. We don't advertise that anymore, but it's amazing how many times we still find references to www.AustinOrganicDelivery.com instead of Greenling.com. We thought AustinOrganicDelivery.com would be easy for people to remember, but it turns out we were wrong. People much more appreciated www.Greenling.com as our website.

I hope that wasn't too dense, but it's actually a valid topic. I should also mention that aside from your favorite local and/or organic fruits and vegetables, we also carry dairy, bread, meats, and many, many grocery items too. They all adhere to our strict standards for not just organic certification, but corporate principles as well. We investigate every item we sell and ensure that the company behind it is as committed to organic leadership as we are.

So, again, sorry for the plugs.

Mason Arnold