“Greennii” Verifies Green Product Labels For You

This week, we’re spotlighting “Greennii,” an EcoGreenOffice partner based in California’s San Francisco Bay Area.  Greennii is an online company with a research database that “covers soap to solar.”   

Like a “foodie,” or people who love food and drink, a “greennii” is a person who loves green products and wants to live a more sustainable lifestyle, says Chris Irvine, founder and managing director of Greennii.  

The goal of the company is to make “greenniis” feel confident about their choices.  The average person doesn’t have time to research whether companies — many driven by advertising — are “greenwashing,” or advertising themselves as green and sustainable in order to drive up sales.    

 With an online presence, the business is home to an "extensive library of Greennii-vetted products, companies and resources."  Products or companies listed in the library have passed a sustainability test.  

“The whole goal is to do the research for you, so you don’t have to spend hours upon days to find the low-flow showerhead,” Irvine says. 

All companies and products are vetted by the same high standards — including sustainable, local, organic and socially responsible standards.   

 The online company holds itself to it’s own eco conscious standards.  Greennii employees compost, recycle at the office and in their homes, ride bikes to work and meetings and hang their clothes to dry possible whenever possible … among many other things.  They even carry their own personal towels to restaurants to avoid using the paper towels at restaurants they frequent.  The restaurants they frequent support local, organic farms and use recycled and compostable containers for takeout.

Greennii realizes that attaining perfection in all areas isn’t easy to achieve.  So, the company’s first and foremost qualifier is “truth.”  For example, if a company says that it’s sustainable, then Greennii researches how the company fulfills that statement from start to finish.  To be listed on Greennii’s site, you don't have to be perfect, just honest. 

EcoGreenOffice makes Greennii’s cut.  The green office supply company offers conventional products, as well as green products — and is honest about which products are green and which are conventional.   EcoGreenOffice realizes that businesses can’t instantly become green, so the company offers one green product at a time, helping companies to develop a long-term game plan and eventually choose from a full list of sustainable office supplies.  Ultimately, EcoGreenOffice believes in a “triple bottom line”— or helping the "people, the planet and your profit margin."  

What’s next for Greennii?  Just over two years old, the business already has 800 plus products archived in the library, with another 700 to come in January 2012.  Greennii will also have more videos on the site, so their clients can have an interactive way to learn what they can do to lead a sustainable lifestyle.

“The idea is “green TV.”  It’s something they can tie back into their lives, will show them where to find these products and something they can easily share with friends and family,” says Irvine. 

EcoGreenOffice is a proud partner of Greennii, a "hub for Green Vetting of products and companies."