Products That Treat the Earth With Care
The Environmental Decade is bringing consumers new environmentally safe products that are biodegradable, nontoxic, Earth-friendly, and in some cases, just fun.
Exhibits at a symposium in Santa Monica last weekend included many such items--from low-toxic paint to board games with environmental themes.
* The Earth Basket could be a dandy idea for an unusual holiday gift. The wood basket is filled with many ecological items arranged in Eco Pack, a new biodegradable packing material that looks like little accordions.
A small basket, $40, includes a lightweight mesh shopping tote, a sachet of cedar needles to rid closets of moths, Rainforest Crunch of cashew and Brazil nuts, cellulose sandwich bags, unbleached coffee filters, “Save the Whale” soap, “The Recycler’s Handbook” (sequel to the best-selling “50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth”), and a tire gauge.
The medium basket, $75, includes all of the above, plus Earthwise biodegradable cleaning concentrate, an Earth T-shirt, a cassette of Amazon rain forest sounds, Sierra Club post cards, seeds of edible flowers, simple cleaning tools and more. The large basket, $100, includes all items in the medium basket, plus other energy-saving tools and environmentally safe household items.
You can order Earth Baskets after Nov. 5 through a toll-free number, (800) EARTH-49. Shipping and handling charges average about $5.
* AFM Enterprises in Riverside manufactures a complete line of products “for the chemically sensitive and environmentally aware,” ranging from shampoos for the hair, body or carpet to a mildew-control liquid and low-toxic, low-odor paints.
AFM products, most of which are concentrated, are available from the company’s nationwide distributors. Super Clean all-purpose cleaner costs $20.50 a gallon; X158 Mildew Control, $10.75 a quart; Satin Touch head and body shampoo, $13.80 a quart; Carpet Shampoo, $7.15 a quart, $20.25 a gallon; Safecoat paint (flat), $10.95 a quart, $27.95 a gallon; One Step Seal and Shine floor polisher, $10.50 a quart; All Purpose Polish and Wax, $12.65 a quart. In Los Angeles, contact Mary Cordaro, environmental and nutritional consultant for Meridian Medical Center, 1411 5th Ave., Suite 405; Santa Monica, Calif., 90401; (213) 395-9525.
For a distributor in your area, contact AFM Enterprises Inc., 1140 Stacy Court, Riverside, Calif., 92507; (714) 781-6860 or (714) 781-6861.
* Family Games Inc., a Canadian firm, has introduced in the United States a new line of ecological board games for adults and children. It also produces magnetic puzzles and jigsaws with an environmental theme.
“Colorful Kingdom,” for example, enables young players to match animals with their habitats--forest, jungle, ocean or desert. Its suggested retail price is $15.
The games and puzzles are available at toy, game and department stores throughout the United States and Canada. In Southern California, you can find them at Toy City in Anaheim, Toys International stores, the Price of His Toys branches, F.A.O. Schwartz in Beverly Hills, Merchants West in Long Beach and the Los Angeles Children’s Museum.
If you can’t find them in your area, contact Family Games Inc., P.O. Box 97, Snowdon, Montreal, Quebec, H3X3T3; (514) 485-1834.
* Earth Tools features many environmental home products in its new fall-winter catalogue. From its nontoxic garden section, you might consider White Fly Traps that have no odor or poisons. A package of five costs $2.50.
If you’ve been bothered by yellow jackets, a Plexiglas Yellowjacket Trap might help. Baited with fish, chicken or beef, yellow jackets find a way in the trap to get the food, but can’t get back out. Traps are $4 each.
Shipping charges are $2.50 for orders up to $25. Contact Earth Tools, 9754 Johanna Place, Shadow Hills, Calif., 91040; (800) 321-9449 in California and Arizona, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; other states, (818) 353-5883.
* Simple Green was developed 20 years ago as an automotive cleaning product and has since evolved into an environmentally safe household cleaner as well. One ounce of concentrate, mixed with water, makes a pint of all-purpose cleaner, a gallon of window cleaner, or a half-gallon of car wash. It’s biodegradable, nontoxic and nonabrasive.
Simple Green comes in a 16-ounce spray bottle (suggested retail is $3.19) or a 67.6-ounce refill bottle ($7.39). It is available in grocery, drug, automotive stores and home centers nationwide. If you can’t find it in your area, contact Sunshine Makers Inc., 15922 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Harbor, Calif., 92649; (800) 228-0709.
