method

welcome to art school

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:10:00 -1100

every other friday at noon, our employees gather in our lobby for method art school. stephanie and deena from our creative team lead the lessons. they teach everything from drawing negative space, shading and volume, contour line drawing, gesture drawing, and still life drawing. each week is a new lesson, and many of us are not natural artists. i can vouch with some of my personal drawings.

some people might wonder why we would use company time to teach the finance or sales teams how to draw. design is central to our products and company philosophy. we think everyone at method can be a source of design inspiration and incorporate design into their job.

doing creative work requires problem solving and decision making. art school is a way of getting people within method who might not be in the “creative” field, like engineers, chemists, IT technicians and accountants to think like a designer and apply that design thinking to their area of expertise.

we think we can all benefit from a little design thinking!

steel for real streaks?

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:00:00 -1100

todd our resident “soap operator” aka consumer response guru told me recently that we get many steel for real streak concerns. fortunately for us todd has a design within reach stainless steel desk so he has ample practice cleaning it and he knows of some simple things you can do to prevent or treat the streaking.

here are todd's tips:

1. use the spray really sparingly (a little goes a very long way)

2.    make sure to spray the steel for real spray directly on a micro fiber cloth, paper towel or cleaning towel. don't spray it on the surface first.

3.   if you’re seeing streaking, what you have is a build-up of product in a particular area. to remove streaks just apply a damp cloth with warm water or use our stainless steel micro fiber cloth and buff it out.

4.    our glass cleaner also works to remove the streaks.

5.   remember to always clean with the grain of the stainless steel this helps prevent streaks.

so tell us. do you have any tips for streaky surfaces?

fish fish i got my wish

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:19:00 -1100

oh, ahh, it’s back! our beautiful 96-ounce hand wash refill in sweet water and sea minerals is available again, this time at Bed Bath & Beyond. go check it out, and if you are feeling a bit crafty after you finish the bottle, we have an idea for what you can do with it.

we are all about creative reuse here at method. some of our favorite upcycling projects involve our own method bottles and containers.
take a look at the double-decker fish tank rudi (one of our packaging engineers) rigged up! complete with its own filter, duel levels the swim between and a fishy waterfall. so far, macgyver (the fish) is still alive and thriving.

tell us. are you crafty? what would do with our 96 oz. bottle?

happy global handwashing day!

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -1100

here at method, when we think of our favorite holidays, a quick list comes to mind: thanksgiving, independence day, christmas, passover, martin luther king day, dia de los muertos and, of course, global handwashing day.

while global handwashing day might not have hallmark card status (yet), it is important nonetheless. global handwashing day 2009 takes place on october 15 and is the centerpiece of a week of activities that will mobilize millions of people in more than 70 countries across five continents to wash their hands with soap. sounds simple right?

a coalition of public and private organizations have come together to highlight global handwashing day because the simple act of handwashing with soap and water can save millions of children’s lives. contaminated hands are a common way that illnesses are spread – including pneumonia and diarrhea, which are the leading causes of death in children worldwide. about 3.5 million children in developing nations lose their lives to these preventable illnesses each year.

handwashing with soap is a low-cost and highly effective way to keeping children (and us grown-ups) healthy. in fact, handwashing with soap, when done before eating and after using the toilet or changing a small child’s diaper, can reduce illnesses like diarrheal disease by up to an estimated 40 percent.
so, what can you do? make sure you wash your hands before and after meals, riding public transportation, working with children, going to the bathroom, preparing food, sneezing or coughing…you get the drill: keep those hands clean!

and if you’d like to learn more about Global Handwashing Day and a UNICEF/WHO report highlighting handwashing as an effective way to prevent diarrheal disease for children in developing countries, visit the following sites:

http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/About.asp
http://www.path.org/news/pr091014-unicef-diarrhea.php

is your state phosphate free?

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (rachel) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:03:00 -1100

(photo copyright villoks via flickr.com)

in august 2008, we introduced the world’s most brilliant phosphate-free dishwasher detergent, Smarty Dish.

at that time, only 2 counties in Washington state had formal bans on phosphates, but since then, the number of states banning phosphates has continued to climb. it’s now up to 15 states: Illinois, Indiana, Maryland,Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state. let’s not forget our lovely neighbor to the north; Canada has announced a ban on phosphates taking effect in 2010 (specifically, all laundry and dishwasher detergents will contain no more than 0.5 per cent phosphates by weight). this trend is bound to continue across the U.S, could your state be next?

and what is so bad about phosphates, you ask?

when sent into the waterways (via our household waste water, for example), phosphates cause an overgrowth of algae, resulting in slimy and smelly lakes and rivers. other than the eyesore and stink, these algae deplete the water of the oxygen that fish and other creatures depend on, creating ‘dead zones’ in rivers and lakes. all in all, phosphates are not something you want in your water system! to read more about phosphates, check out this treehugger article.

not to pat ourselves on the back or anything, but method Smarty Dish continues to test as the best of the phosphate-free brands. first Consumer Reports, and now the Philadelphia Inquirer.

at method, we’re about helping you do right by the environment without having to make sacrifices. Smarty Dish is a powerful dishwasher detergent that WORKS – without harmful stuff like phosphates and bleach.

so tell us: do you live in a phosphate-free state? what do you think of the ban? is it an inconvenience, or are you starting to see more phosphate-free detergents available?

**deal: receive free shipping with the purchase of method pink graepfruit smarty dish (pouch only) on methodhome.com. enter the promo code “cleanH2O” (make sure to capitolize the H and O) at checkout. valid through 10/21 midnight pst.**

method eco-maniacs play farmer at Slide Ranch

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:49:00 -1100

our eco-maniacs* team was at it again a few weeks ago with a volunteer trip to Slide Ranch to help clear some land and learn about sustainable farming. Slide Ranch offers visitors hands-on learning about the impact our choices have on food, health, and the environment, through activities and independent exploration of the farm and coastal wild lands. not only is the ranch educational, but it is beautiful!!!

we started out the day milking goats.

moved on to exploring the organic garden…

enjoyed lunch.

then it was on to hard labor,, clearing a non-native hemlock from an area that slide ranch personnel are hoping to develop into a visitors’ center.

even our CEO drew fraser got in on the action.

*method gives each method employee 3 days per year to spend volunteering in our community. we can use them either for company volunteer events or for personal volunteer projects.. last year, we did a big clean of Compass Family Center as well as a craft day with Root Division.

Slide Ranch was our second project this year, the first being a non-native species removal with Save The Bay.

green products come from green companies

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (drummond) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:11:00 -1100

(pictured above: our biodiesel truck)

from the start of method's existence as a company we've been focused on how to do good through our business. from both social and environmental perspectives, we've tried to ensure that we leave things better than we found them - hopefully radically better. when making our products, we've focused the design process on the greenest chemistries, materials and formats around and constantly push to raise the bar. and this has been successful - we are fully confident of the health of the materials from which we make our products and stand behind our record of innovation in designing products.

now we are taking the next big step – using this same design mindset to redefine the processes that are used to actually manufacture the products. the trick is, we don’t own any of these facilities. this means intense collaboration with all our supply chain partners, helping them develop green manufacturing as their bread and butter so that our processes improve in terms of the materials, water and energy they use. we are making the leap from product design to process design.

we are gearing up to start into this in earnest in the coming months, and will share our tales of blue collar sustainability as we make the transition from designing green soap to designing green processes to make the soap.

what other companies do you admire for their ability to design a process for operating green in addition to making a green product?

new product line – comment to win pro chef!

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:24:00 -1100

whether you’re a serious cook or you think cooking involves a phone and a take-out menu our newest pro chef line will be sure to please you. kitchens tend to be the central gathering place in the home and pro chef is just the right line to get your kitchen ready to greet guests or make a sandwich.

the pro chef line is now available exclusively at Bed Bath and Beyond stores.

the line includes a stainless steel cleaner that is a whopping 28 oz. of superpowered formula to avoid leaving any streaks behind. so not only can you purchase less often you can also finally wipe those nasty fingerprints off the fridge.

also included is a 28 oz. spray bottle of granite cleaner, specially designed for granite, marble and other natural stone countertops and surfaces. natural stone is classic and durable, but it needs special care to be sure you don’t strip the sealer and allow water to get in the stone.

lastly, we have a special multi-surface cleaner to get rid of grease and food splatters while leaving behind a yummy citrus cilantro scent. it smells so good people will think you’ve been chopping fresh herbs and lemon wedges with a touch of lime.

comment below about your love of a clean, green, kitchen and we will randomly choose a winner to receive our new pro chef line! contest ends 10.2.09 at noon pst.

teacher’s pet….i wanna be teacher’s pet

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:10:00 -1100

back to school for students means picking out your first day’s outfit, getting your trapper- keeper in order and finding out which of your friends are in your class. but for teachers it means the grueling task of organizing, decorating and cleaning the classroom to prep for a year of learning.

lucky for us we have a great arsenal of “teachers against dirty” who choose to clean their classroom with method products. here is a profile of this year’s “teacher against dirty” susan n., her words are in italics.

where do you teach?

i teach in st. charles, missouri at barnwell middle school, 6th grade science.

why do you use method to clean your classroom?

i like to use method products in my classroom because i know the surfaces will be clean,the aroma is pleasant and i do not worry about the ingredients - i would not use a bleach-based product or anything with harsh chemicals (you never know who is sensitive). and i don't worry about harmful contaminants polluting my kids' immediate environment.

what method products do you use?

i use method all purpose spray on my student desks at least once a week (i teach science so some days are messier than others). i also use method dishwashing soap to soak dishes in the sink in my classroom.

what is the dirtiest thing that has happened in your classroom?

unfortunately one time the sewer backed up in one of the classroom sinks! yuck. thanks to duct tape and plastic wrap we made it through the day.

thanks susan! at method we are big fans of what you do and are glad that our products are helping make your job a little easier.

thanks for doing a back to school piece! i hope this encourages more teachers to bring "people against dirty" into the classroom.

take a seat, save a state park

user.nospam@nospam.example.com (annab) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:34:00 -1100

it’s that special day of the year again…park(ing) day! in case you don’t remember, we created a park(ing) space last year that doubled as a mini golf course. we are at it again this year, taking over the exact same spot in san francisco (on front + sacramento), just a few blocks from our office.

this year’s theme is save california state parks. due to california budget cuts, 100 state parks are in danger of closing. in the theme of the japanese wishing tree, we are asking people to choose a state park that is important to them and fill out a “leaf” that is a letter to their state senators asking for those parks to stay open. we will then mail these leaves to the senators, encouraging them to keep the parks open.

huge thanks to the folks at re-bar, the art and design collective, who started this movement. if you’re in san francisco, be sure to stop by!