Another One Bites the Dust: Neogreene makes Neoprene Obsolete

I recently decided to leave the stone ages and purchase a lap top. It’s a shiny, new Dell and I love it. What I don’t love is the ease with which fingerprints and other assorted nastiness becomes permanently and annoyingly affixed to its shiny black exterior. With all of my other neurosis, there’s no need to add “excessive lap top cleaning” to the list, so I set about finding a quality lap top cover.

Because I don’t often buy new and somewhat unnecessary products, I wanted to make sure the cover or sleeve that I decided upon was sustainable and green in every way. What I found when I examined most of the popular brands for laptop accessories was shocking; almost all of them are made with a material called Neoprene (polychloroprene), a synthetic rubber, which uses 1930s technology to form a material that is almost impervious to other chemicals.

Neoprene requires multiple manufacturing steps, including vulcanization, which makes neoprene wonderful for industrial applications like gaskets where strength and durability are critical. For consumer product application, gluing fabrics to the neoprene requires aggressive solvent adhesives which can form a bond with the neoprene. These adhesives can contain a wide variety of potentially harmful chemicals depending on the supplier; from toluene to formaldehyde, which can be easily noticed by the distinctive “chemical smell” of neoprene, the VOCs.

So much for breathing deeply when in the presence of that ever-illusive “new car smell.” But, as I’ve commented on so many times on this blog, the innovation of the green product industry never ceases to amaze me with its ability to complete refute the need for such materials.

GreenSmart, a California company, recently announced the development of a neoprene replacement material it is calling ‘neogreene’ which has the potential to be incorporated into a broad range of bags and cases. In contrast to traditional neoprene, the wetsuit material, neogreene contains all of the positive physical attributes of neoprene necessary for bags – stretch, cushion and feel – while using 25% less petroleum, 25% less energy to manufacture, and most importantly none of the toxins found in typical neoprene.

GreenSmart, has been making bags and accessories since 1995 under the Shoreline brand. In 2006, the company which has always been socially responsible began its transformation to include 100% green materials in their product line. GreenSmart representatives say that the first products to be made from neogreene will be laptop sleeves and bottle totes which should be available later this summer.

(Sigh) Now I can be toxin-free and fingerprint-free, all at once. (And so can you!)

WIN A GreenSmart Neogreen Laptop Sleeve Before You Can Buy One!!!

The lovely folks at GreenSmart are giving away a brand new, toxin-free, hand washable, neogreen laptop sleeve, in the size of their choosing, to one lucky EcoSpheric Blog reader! Be the envy of all your techie friends and ENTER TODAY!

First Entry (required) – Visit the GreenSmart website and leave a comment telling me which product you’d most like to have.

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Bonus for Two Extra Entries – Post this Giveaway on your blog or website and leave a comment on this blog post with the link to your post.

THE WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN ON SATURDAY, JULY 4 at 12 PM MST. All entries received after this time will not be counted.

Tags: neoprene, pollution, tech accessories, toxins