Shopping the Non-Toxic Side of Philadelphia

January 20, 2009 at 9:55 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (0)

The mantra "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" has never been more apt than when it comes to Philadelphia's Big Green Earth Store, an eco-boutique out to save the world one ounce of natural laundry detergent at a time.

Set between other independent shops on Market Street in Philly's Old City, Big Green Earth aims to draw in the curious passersby and convert them to the religion of eco-friendly cleaning supplies and household goods. Entering the store, one passes by life-size figures of Spiderman and Batman (perhaps an example of reuse from an comics shop) and is immediately confronted with recycling bins. Don't know where to take those old cell phones and chargers? Big Green Earth has a bin for them and for a few other curious things too.

Beyond the candy dishes made of recycled glass, toothbrushes from old yogurt cups and the solar-charged backpacks, we were particularly taken with their giant vat of household cleaners. Apparently, Big Green Earth wants you to bring your empty bottles of laundry detergent, hand soap, and all-purpose cleaner and refill them with their non-toxic version at something like 10 cents per ounce.

Sounds great, except for the fact that we're not about to haul a vat of hand soap with us back to New York. This won't be a problem much longer, however, as according to their website, Big Green Earth is planning to open more stores by the end of this year in cities like Chicago, Boston, Washington DC and New York. Your move, Portland.

Related Stories:
· The Big Green Earth Store [Official Site]
· Sorry, Portland: Philly Going Super Green [Jaunted]
· Green Travel coverage [Jaunted]

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