Earth Day Celebration At Our Local Ecology Center!

Over the years, our investment in the environment has brought us close with others who share the same commitment. One of those organizations is the San Juan Capistrano Ecology Center, located one town away from our headquarters. The Ecology Center, housed in an old craftsman property, sits on the only organic farm in Orange County and is the hub of discussion and action about sustainability, organics, and environmental responsibility in the region. From teaching field trip groups of kids about how to recycle and grow their own veggies, to hosting a summer speaker series that draws progressive thinkers from around the world, the Ecology Center is truly building a local platform and knowledgebase for positive change in our world.

This year’s Earth Day Festival at the Ecology Center drew over 500 locals, who came to buy organic starter plants, learn how to sprout grains and seeds, tie die some clothes with natural inks, indulge in an all organic lunch and listen to some amazing bluegrass... And ultimately to participate in the fun simple things in life that make one’s footprint a little less harsh. We contributed açaí bowls and set up an açaí seed workshop where kids and adults could learn about the whole process of harvesting açaí, try our açaí sorbet and then use the seeds from the berries to make unique jewelry. It was truly a gorgeous spring day – where the young and old and everyone in between came to celebrate the earth by learning how to better take care of her.

To learn more about the Ecology Center and the programs they have, please click here to visit them online.

Keep it Purple,
Kaia Lai - West Events Manager / SAMBAZON

Happy Earth Day! - Written by Ryan Black, CEO of Sambazon

While Earth Day is one of our favorite weeks and favorite days to celebrate, here at Sambazon, we treat everyday like Earth Day. While this sentiment may sound a little bit cheesy, it’s true. We do our best to contribute to the health of our environment and community on a daily basis. We keep our office as green as possible – we use reusable utensils, recycled paper and recycled shipping supplies. We are constantly striving to reduce the carbon footprint of our business by using the newest and greenest solutions to our marketing and shipping practices – for more information on these initiatives – check out the blogs written earlier this week by Sambazon team members, Jody, Cameron and Keith.

At Sambazon, sustainable business practice is an even larger part of what we do in our office and within our community here in Southern California. The mission of our business is to maintain our triple bottom line success as we grow. Our focus is on the environmental, social and economic impact of our business. By working closely with the world’s foremost conservation organizations (like The Nature Conservancy) and other key non-governmental organizations, Sambazon has pioneered the first of its kind Fair Trade, sustainable and certified Organic supply chain of açaí. As a result, Sambazon has positively impacted over 1,100 local family farmers and over 1.7 million acres of land in the Brasilian Amazon.

Over the past week, Sambazon has participated in Earth Day events all over the country – from LA to NYC – we have been out in full force supporting the various efforts of different communities celebrating Earth Day, including our own. Our annual Samba Earth Day is an afternoon dedicated to our employees, the individuals that believe in our mission and make Sambazon the incredibly dynamic and progressive company it is today. This year included an organic feast from one of our favorite local restaurants, guest speakers from the Ecology Center and ASEC along with staff speakers who shared the projects they are currently involved with - projects aimed at greening our practices. And as a new company initiative to eliminate unnecessary waste, we gave all employees purple Kleen Kanteens to use with our water cooler instead of the biodegradable cups we’ve had in the past.

We are constantly striving to improve our business practices and make them as “green” as they can possibly be. I encourage you to do the same in your business and personal life. Ride your bike instead of drive when you can. Bring reusable shopping bags to the farmers market. Print emails only when necessary and on recycled paper. Practice meat free Mondays. Every little thing really does add up and make a difference. Be kind to yourself and your environment.

Celebrate Earth Day everyday,
Ryan Black (CEO)

Sambazon's Environmentally Friendly and Sustainable Packaging

Sambazon is, and has always been focused around sustainability and environmental stewardship through the sustainable harvest of organic açaí in the Brazilian Amazon. This year we have embarked on a thorough review of all packaging we use in order to improve and lessen our environmental footprint, while remaining mindful to still deliver the quality products you expect from Sambazon.

We are looking at materials as well as examining the environmental methods employed by our suppliers and production partners, such as their use of alternative or renewable energy sources, and the methods of transportation they employ and the distances required to produce and bring the materials to us.

Here’s an overview of what we are doing with our current materials:

• Bottles: Our bottles contain part post industrial recycle content (PIR), unused plastic from production that is then reground and reused in the production of our bottles. While that’s a great step, we’re examining new and better substrates that use higher levels of recycled material while maintaining optimal quality and freshness for our products.



• Labels: The major environmental concern with standard labels is the volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) used in the printing and adhesive process. Our new Açaí Freeze Dried Powder labels use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper with 30% post consumer recycled (PCR) material, vegetable based inks, and water based adhesives.



• Boxes: The public never really sees or handles the corrugated boxes that transport our juices, yet they are among the most recycled and recyclable in the industry. Now made from 86% PCR, our boxes are also printed with soy based inks and use water based adhesives.


• Pallet Shipping Materials: We are currently testing the use of 100% recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE, what #2 plastic is made from) instead of cardboard cornerboards for stability on our shipped pallets. Not only are these 100% recycled and recyclable, but they are also completely reusable.

As we strive to become truly ‘green’, due diligence is our main concern. There are many so-called environmentally friendly options that can be either misleading or in some cases more harmful. While we still have a long way to go, we promise to do our homework and only make changes that will truly make a positive impact. We have and will continue to change, upgrade and innovate, all with an eye to lowering our carbon footprint, increasing our environmental awareness and improving our sustainability standards.

-Keith Lord (Director of Sourcing)

Sambazon's Event Team Goes Green!

If you live in SoCal, Florida, or NYC chances are you’ve seen the Sambazon Road Warriors hitting the streets and spreading the Sambazon love. Here at Sambazon we are all about sustainability – from the recycled water bottles we use to print our marketing banners to the bio diesel that fuels our fleet, we keep it purple out in the streets. We encourage our eventers to only buy recycled paper towels, eco-friendly cleanser and reusable tools. If we use ingredients beyond our açaí (like granola and bananas for our bowls), we buy organic and as local as possible. We even use compostable corn starch cups and spoons when we are out at events making acai bowls for jiu jitsu fighters, yoga classes, and local beach cleanups. If you have ever seen a Sambazon demo in your local grocery store or tried a sample of our delicious juices at marathon, music festival, or triathlon – that sample cup you drank from is 100% compostable.

So next time you see Kaia, Pamela, Toby or me out at an event spreading the açaí love from coast to coast, be sure to say what's up and ask about how we continue to keep it “green”.

Get with the Purple Berry,
Cameron Faist (Sambazon Event Manager)

Sambazon's Green Printing Initiatives

Here at Sambazon, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and protecting our natural resources, not only in the production of açaí, but also with our marketing efforts. We value the ecological impact and quality, over mass-producing “junk” at a lower price, which unfortunately is still a common trend today. As the Print Trafficker here at Sambazon, I work hard to find vendors who can help keep us on track with the latest and greenest printing options.

Through the help of our friends at Monster Media, New Leaf Paper, AOSA, Meridian Graphics and Lifework (to name a few of our awesome partners), we continue to further our efforts with sustainable printing and eco-alternatives. More recently, we produced some great looking banners with the help of AOSA made from 100% recycled PET – recycled water bottles. It's technology such as this that allows us to step outside of the box and hopefully lead a new wave of companies looking to go green.

Some of the other ways that these companies allow us to promote green printing is through the use of post-consumer recycled papers, chlorine-free papers, water-based and soy-based inks, along with the many eco certifications they hold. Furthermore, our friends at Monster Media and Lifework have taken it a step further by using solar power to generate clean effective energy for their place of business. This not only saves a few bucks, but more importantly eliminates toxins that pollute the air with chemicals such as nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide.

Some of the more rigorous certifications our vendors hold are from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Green-E Renewable Energy and Ancient Forest Friendly Initiatives. These certifications, collectively, help promote the use of renewable energy, responsible use of forest resources and the use of paper that has a high percentage of post-consumer waste and no virgin fiber from old-growth, ancient or endangered forests.

While we continue to seek out more and more eco-alternatives, it saddens me to say that the options are still fairly limited, yet increasingly getting better over time. And while no individual or company is perfect, we can certainly strive to head in the right direction and change the “quick and cheap” culture that haunts the print world today.

Every company should strive to make these changes as well. By doing a some quick research, individuals and corporations can find environmentally friendly printers all over the United States. The more that environmentally friendly printing processes are demanded, the more available they will be to everybody. I encourage you to talk to the marketing team at your company (and/or email your favorite brands) to find out what they are doing to move towards using recycled and/or more environmentally friendly materials in their printed collateral - we can all make a difference by asking for positive change. This will not only help reduce the carbon footprint of your business, but give back to the environment that gives so much to us.

Keep it green & purple,
Jody Weisberg
Print Trafficker/ SAMBAZON