Perf Go Green Expands Biodegradable Bag Line

The average garbage bag preserves last night's meatloaf—and anything else sealed within its plastic lining—for 100 years. Pitching a more eco-friendly option to consumers, Perf Go Green launched biodegradable plastic bags back in March. Now the company plans to expand its line starting next year.Perf Go Green first introduced kitchen and garage bags at stores such as Walgreens, CVS, Amazon.com and Drugstore.com with a unique selling point of being "Biodegradable by nature. Green by Choice." Perf has 13-gallon tall kitchen bags, 30-gallon lawn and leaf bags, and kitty litter bags currently on shelves. Since its bags are now FDA food-contact compliant, the company will launch food storage and checkout bags beginning in 2009. Go Green will introduce doggie duty bags and other plastic products, too."Never before has a biodegradable product been mass marketed," said Linda Daniels, chief marketing officer for Go Green. "This is about everybody doing it, which makes an amazing difference. The trash bags we've been using all our lives preserves all that garbage we use."To make the bags, Perf begins with recycled goods. Post-consumer and post-industrial plastic are combined with an additive that will break them down into water, carbon dioxide and biomass within two years. No harmful toxins are released in the process, per the company.Perf Go Green does no national marketing, but is looking for community opportunities. The brand will sponsor the Hollywood Goes Green Forum (Dec. 8-9) and the Go Green Expo, which will take place in Los Angeles Jan. 23-25. At that event, Daniels will debut a Go Green Green Room, a dome tricked out with multimedia equipment for an audiovisual experience to show what's going on in the world and how the product can reduce waste."We're going into the community and making a splash so consumers can see what our product is," Daniels said. "We have to look for ways to get our bags out there."Key in Go Green's strategy is to get hotels and hospitals to switch over to a green plastics platform. Daniels pointed to The Grand Hyatt New York and Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network as converts. And since TV advertising isn't in the budget, Daniels will take a walk-on role if Hollywood calls; Brand founder Tony Tracy and his daughter Kendall have appeared on HGTV's Designing Spaces: Think Green series and Lifetime TV's The Balancing Act. The company also works closely with Adrian Grenier (Entourage), who uses the products on his lifestyle makeover show Alter Eco (Discovery Channel's Planet Green). The products' cost is the biggest hurdle Perf Go Green has to overcome in marketing. Daniels said Go Green bags are stronger than competitors', but they do cost a little more. Daniels added the company has a unique positioning. "Obviously, the Glads and Heftys of the world are capable of doing this, but it would take a lot for them to pull all their products and put up all biodegradable products," she said, speculating on whether big brands would follow suit. "So, would they sell both? Are they going to trash the world here and save it there? We'll see."

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Perf Go Green Expands Biodegradable Bag Line

Becky Ebenkamp

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Becky Ebenkamp