Safety Goes Mainstream in Ad Specialties
It finally appears that the trend towards environmentally friendly promotional products has taken firm hold in the promotional products industry. With the release of so many promo products from brands like Sweda and Norwood that are without a doubt eco-friendly the last remaining hurdles involved lead and BPA.
The threat from BPA is still debated but consumers had already decided they did not want products with BPA and sales of BPA containing items fell through the floor in 2008. As a result many suppliers began producing goods for release in 2009 that were "BPA Free" and these goods are now readily available. The question of whether BPA is safe or not is no longer relevant as BPA free alternatives such as the Excursion BPA Free Sport Bottle are easily to find and affordable. Most of these bottles are made from a type of rigid plastic but several are now arriving that have been developed by a division of Eastman. These materials are virtually indestructible. The Paradise Sport Bottle is one of the bottles made from the newer materials and was combined with a neat contoured handle to make it easy to carry. PromoManagers has released dozens of BPA Free Sport Bottles and most are available at discounted shipping. Custom Stainless Steel Drinkware is almost always BPA free as well but you do have to watch the interior liners. Luckily almost all the products currently in the channel are free of the chemical.
Next up will be guarantees that items are without lead. This started to happen last year but most distributors quickly pulled any such verbiage as it is impossible at this stage to be absolutely sure and providing a false sense of security can be harmful. The best advice we can give is treat all products with care and keep any shiny metal type trinkets away from young kids mouths. If kids do play with them make sure their hands are thoroughly cleaned afterwards.
Tomorrow we will be discussing the dangers in printing ink used in many products and what can be done to mnimize the risk. Check out our earlier article on Green Promos in Time for Earth Day.