Green Your Zip Code

Sometimes someone comes up with an idea and you hit yourself on the head and say “Wow” I wish I thought of that…so simple and pure genius. Well that is what I think about a new program call ZipGoesGreen.com. Not only is it great but it is GREEN.

So what is it you ask? ZipGoesGreen.com is a unique program that helps your town raise funds for their environmental initiatives. Basically, the company will put your town’s zip code on reuseable water bottles and grocery bags and/or magnets. The product says your town’s zip code and the words “goes green” after it. So say you live in Maplewood, NJ (the hometown of the man behind the program), the bag or water bottle would say “07040 goes green.”

I first spotted a water bottle at meeting at my son’s school and quickly looked up the website on my phone under the table. As a member of my town’s “Sustainable Task Force” working to green our town, I quickly wanted to find out what a local zip code was doing on a water bottle.

What I learned was 25% percent of the sales of a town’s products goes directly to the organization tied to the program. It is a fast and easy way to raise awareness and needed funds for any local environmental program. The money raised could just go to pay to rent a table at the town’s street fair where you can sell the product. Resident’s using these products will feel like they have taken a step to help a local initiative and be a part of a community that is working to be more sustainable.

ZipGoesGreen products can help local communities minimize waste, assists in funding green and other town initiatives and serves as an ongoing, street-level ad campaign for the greening of the town. Brilliant!

“Like so many critically important social and political movements, much of the energy and conviction related to environmental issues is being harnessed and organized at the local level. ZipGoesGreen is a unique initiative where towns and local organizations partner with us to collaborate on raising funds to support their green efforts. Our mission is to deliver the simplest and most creatively compelling way to help raise funds to support you and your neighbors’ local green initiatives – the initiatives that are shaping America’s response to the environmental issues that we face,” said Mike Aaron, President of ZipGoesGreen.

If you have any role in your local environmental initiatives or know someone who does, pass this along. To sign up for ZipGoesGreen.com or learn more about the program, go to the website, email customerservice@zipgoesgreen.com or call 973-821-4213.

I am working on getting it for my zip.

Also, if you know of any other ingenious green ideas like this, please pass them my way.

To read more of my rants and raves, check out my blog Green Luvin’.