The project is a collaboration aimed at developing and promoting green and sustainable projects in the region of the Algarve and hopefully across the country, for both tourists and locals in the area of eco-tourism, eco-investments and eco-lifestyle.

The project started with talks about how great it would be to have a green region, to suddenly everything sprouting like wild fire.

We will be introducing the project at the Feira Nacional de Parques Naturais e Ambiente in Olhão, held from July 24th to 27th. We’re looking to work with businesses actively engaged in developing green, sustainable products and services in the Algarve and Portugal.

We’re also quite conscious of greenwashing and that is not our intention, our goal to encourage businesses to be green and help them connect to where they can get more information and support. In addition, 3EcoBees, will help promote those that are already green, and support investments both from national and international sources to continue developing sustainable projects in Portugal. So if you’re in one of those areas, we would love to hear from you.

In preparation for the fair, we got working on our logo, icon, blog and holding page. We’re all working hard get the project ready, so for now the 3ecobees website is on hold, until our designer and doodler extraordinaire can take time away from other client projects. In the meantime, I took my marketing hat off and put on my web design cap, to fill in.

We have to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the companies that are working with us and sending their information and products, and a special thanks to the 3EcoBees intern, Susanna a.k.a. “HelperBee”, for all her hard work so far. She’s been great and we couldn’t have gotten organized in time without her help – thanks Susanna!

Today (October 15th) is the first annual “Blog Action Day”- where 15,000 bloggers from around the world will post on an important topic – the environment on their respective blogs.

For my part, I’m going to share with you 5 painless ways to be a more environmental friendly company and cut unnecessary costs at the same time.

1 Switch to Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Those spiral-looking bulbs might look funny but they work: releasing less CO2 into the air and keeps more green in your pocket.

2 Print less
Before printing a document, ask yourself whether you really need it printed or you can get by reading it online. Less paper consumption means less waste and less cash wasted.

3 Recycle
Does everyone in your office recycle? Do they know how to recycle properly? Sure by now everyone knows the blue box is for paper, the yellow box for plastics, the green one for glass. But there are times when we’re in a hurry and forget to pay extra attention – maybe you’ll want a friendly reminder posted near your recycle area: “never rush recycling…it’s serious business…have a nice day”.

4 Organize a team cleanup
Who said you have to sit behind a desk all day – get your team together and organize a once-a-month clean-up event in your community.

Could also be good publicity for your business. Get some company t-shirts and off you go — a good turn could provide good returns.

5 Turn off monitors and printers
If everyone shuts off their monitors and computers, before calling it a night, you would save a lot of energy and reduce your electricity bill … but it’s easy to forget sometimes – that’s why it might be a good idea to appoint someone. Energy Saving Officer – it would be their responsibility to make sure, monitors, computers and printers are shut off.

6 Employee mugs
{bonus} The bottom line is this – less waste, better for the environment, better for your bottom line. Get all your employees their own personal mugs or have them bring their own from home – this way, less plastic cups are used.

Would love to hear how your company wastes less and does good for the environment.