Here are the latest 10 green businesses – tipped by Springwise on Eco and Sustainability category – to give you some ideas on how green businesses can be both better the earth and lucrative:
1. WeWood wooden watches
WeWood makes wooden watches and plants a tree for every watch sold.
WeWood watches are free from toxic and artificial materials; the materials are sourced from industrial waste.
2. DropShot Cleaners dilutable cleaning products
Canada-based DropShot Cleaners allows consumers to be more eco-friendly in their cleaning chores. A drop from a DropShot’s packet containing cleaning solutions into a tap water-filled water bottle is enough to bring you a bottle of household cleaner that is as strong as other non-eco-friendly cleaners.
3. Eco Solatec solar-powered pest control
South Korean’s Eco Solatec is a solar-powered pest control solution using a BLB lamp to attract mosquitoes and other common pests and trap them in a net.
The so-called Solar Trap can be operational for 8 hours a day with only 5 hours of self-charging in the day – so no pollution emitted. Another power-saving feature: When it’s raining or temperatures drop to below 12 degree Celcius, the Solar Trap automatically turn itself off – and on when it’s stop raining or the temperatures are rising.
4. Ionator ionizes tap water clean
US-based Activeion sells a device called Ionator that use electrolysis and electroporation to clean tap water – no chemical whatsoever. Just using tap water, the hand-held device can bring you clean water easy.
5. Make your own table at Naked Table
Fancy making your own table? Naked Table event in Vermont lets 15 guests to build a table ground up with some help from the professionals.
6. Travel-route comparisons with CO2 emissions in mind
RouteRANK and Zoombu are just two of some others that help the travel business greener.
RouteRank will help you finding the best route from your origin to your destination by comparing rail, road, and air travels. Just type in your starting point, destination and travel dates, and you will soon be presented with results that are ranked according to total travel cost, CO2 emissions or travel types. You can, of course, book your tickets when you have decided the route you will take.
Zoombu does the similar things RouteRank does, with a focus on UK as a starting point to any destinations in Europe.
7. Ebay Box reusable shipping boxes
eBay Box is a highly durable cardboard box for the purpose of repeated uses. You can also write a memo on the box to the recipient and the recipient can do so if he/she will pass the box to another recipient – the history can also be shared on an online community.
When the boxes are worn out, they are 100 percent recyclable.
8. Young Urban Farmers home-growing vegetables
Toronto-based Young Urban Farmers is a new business startup allowing customers enjoy home-grown vegetables without actually doing any gardening in the process. Customers only need to specify what they are going to grow and which services required (that includes soil mix, seeds, composters, etc.)
The basic service will give you a gardening instruction with a mid-summer checkup from the company; the full service will get your garden to be maintained twice a week.
9. Energy in Common finances green energy to those in need
New York-based Energy in Common is a Kiva-style non-profit organisation with a twist – it is managing the distribution of microloans to realise a new source of energy on those in developing nations. Typical energy sources requested is solar lanterns and clean-burning stoves. You can lend from USD 25 to USD 500.
10. D-Build deconstruction marketplace service
Another New York-based green business, D-Build, offers deconstruction marketplace that track the stories of the deconstructed buildings while reclaiming materials to be sold in it.
Users can add their personal stories and records regarding the buildings’ history and reclaimed materials. This service offers an interesting deconstruction and recycling concept.
There you go – 10 thriving eco-friendly businesses to give you some ideas on what to do to go green for budding entrepreneurs – or shall I say, ecopreneurs or greenpreneurs. Any comments and additions will be very much appreciated – please share yours by commenting on this article.
Ivan Widjaya
Green business ideas