Advertising/Review Policy

Would you like to advertise on My Plastic-free Life?  Please read the following:

My Plastic-free Life is not a general green blog.  While I sometimes veer outside my usual topic area, the main focus is plastic.  Plastic pollution.  Plastic toxicity.  Plastic litter and waste and recycling.  Ways to reduce our dependence on plastic and find plastic-free alternatives.

Advertising Policy Review Policy Packaging Policy Disclosure Policy

Advertising Policy

Maintaining this site and researching and writing the content requires time and financial resources.  In order to keep the site going, My Plastic-Free life accepts advertising and participates in several affiliate programs.

Display Advertising

My Plastic-free Life accepts display ads for products and organizations that are in alignment with the values of this blog and its writer.  Organizations and campaigns can be related to environmental issues, social justice, animal welfare, or other humanitarian causes.

Products and services advertised must either be plastic-free or help us to reduce our plastic consumption in some way.  For example, I would not run an ad for a natural skincare cream if the product is packaged in a plastic jar.  I might, however, advertise a durable plastic item if its use will significantly reduce the consumption and waste of many disposable plastic items.  I will never run an ad for a food product packaged in plastic.

Additionally, I insist on full disclosure of ingredients in any products advertised.  Non-specific ingredients like “fragrance,” “dye,” “preservatives,” etc. are not acceptable.  If we don’t know what’s in the product, we can’t be sure it’s safe.

Your choice of shipping materials is important to me.  Please see below for my packaging policy.

If you feel your product fits these criteria, contact me about placing an ad or participating in any of the affiliate programs listed below.

Affiliate Programs

My Plastic-Free Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for the site to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

My Plastic-Free Life also participates in several additional affiliate programs that provide fees for bloggers when readers click on those special links.  If you already have an account with one of these companies and feel your ad would be appropriate for My Plastic-free Life, please contact me and let me know about it.  If not, you will need to sign up with one of them to get started.

Product Review Policy

In general, I do not accept products for review unless they are unique and important solutions to the plastic problem.  “Unique” means that something similar has never been reviewed on this site.  “Important” means that the product will help eliminate a significant amount of plastic consumption or plastic waste.  In general, I encourage readers to reduce their plastic and carbon footprint by buying less of everything, not by shopping their way to a solution.  If you feel your product fits these criteria, please contact me.

Product Packaging

When shipping products to me, please try not to use any plastic packaging.  This includes styrofoam peanuts, plastic wrap, plastic bubble wrap, plastic tape, Tyvek and other plastic envelopes, plastic bubble envelopes.  There are plenty of plastic-free alternatives.  My favorites are made from recycled paper.  Here are just a few options, but there are plenty more.  If you use a different sustainable packing material, I’d love to hear about it.

Disclosure

BlogWithIntegrity.comI support the Blog With Integrity Pledge, part of which states:

I disclose my material relationships, policies and business practices. My readers will know the difference between editorial, advertorial, and advertising, should I choose to have it. If I do sponsored or paid posts, they are clearly marked.

When posting a review, I fully disclose any free samples I receive from companies within the body of the post.  I do not accept money for writing reviews.  I do participate in some affiliate programs, and I may earn a small fee when readers purchase items via product links in my posts.

My words and opinions are my own.  I do not feel beholden to advertisers, PR reps, merchants, or others who wish to gain from a relationship with this blog.  I select relationships carefully because not only is my personal reputation on the line, but the whole purpose of My Plastic-free Life, which is to help create a better world through learning to live with less plastic.

People have asked me if I live off of the income generated through My Plastic-free Life.  The answer is a resounding no.  The high standards I set for advertising are such that I make only enough to support My Plastic-free Life.  I can travel to blogging conferences, for example, or take field trips to learn about plastic recycling.  In order to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly, I do freelance bookkeeping work.  But thanks for asking!

18 Responses to “Advertising/Review Policy”

  1. Hi Beth, I just started a company in Charleston, SC that supplies wheat straws to local restaurants and they LOVE them! As you know our city banned all plastic and our little wheat straws are blowing up. Unlike the soo called plant based plastic alternatives which require an industrial composting facility (yes PLA is a sham), our straws biodegrade in 7 days! These are the future of single use straws. May I send you a box for a review!

    http://WWW.holycitystrawcompany.com

    Reply

  2. Hi Beth,

    Would a sustainable mattress be off the table as far as a review? We use natural latex from the sap of the Rubber tree, which is biodegradable, hypoallergenic, and just all around much more healthy than a traditional petrochemical mattress, but it’s really difficult to get around not using plastic for containing a compress-rolled mattress (for shipping purposes). Here is the mattress: https://www.plushbeds.com/Botanical-Bliss-Organic-Latex-Mattress.html

    Feedback?

    Thanks!

    Reply

  3. Hello there. Thanks for caring about out Earth :). It seems people and huge companies struggle with understanding the impact of their actions on the environment :( .. my wife thinks I’m extreme because I recycle everything I can and bring my own cup and straw to restaurants .. I presume that money making endeavors cloud the vision of many companies. But the government should also pass more stringent regulations to save our planets and US! Have a great day and God bless you for caring!!

    Reply

  4. I own a successful digital marketing agency and I am also a father of 2 with a family trying to get rid of all plastic in our lives related to food, eating or daily interactions. Would you or anyone be interested in partnering in an eCommerce site devoted to all products that can replace plastic? I think it would would do very well.

    Reply

  5. Hi Beth, I’m Ani and run an organisation – Astu Eco, that manufactures 100% biodegradable tableware and food packaging that are super alternates to disposable plastic. Our products are made of areca palm sheath and you can see more on our website. Our aim is to wipe away the disposable plastic menace from the globe! I know, easier said than done, but every bit of awareness and promotion helps. I look forward to your assistance. Cheers – Ani

    Reply

  6. We’re Princeton Audio and are passionately in favor of using sustainable, renewable materials whenever possible. Our internationally award-winning Site:1 portable audio speaker fights the problem of plastic waste on two fronts. We’re giving your website a shout-out in a new blog post tomorrow, and thought you might like to know about it.

    Here’s how we helping to fight the endless glut of plastic that is strangling our world:

    Our Site:1 portable Bluetooth, high-definition audio speakers are made out of 100% instrument-quality tonewoods – never plastic, MDF, or particle board. Perhaps more importantly, our Site:1 speakers feature our patented Adaptable Audio Systems technology and are designed to be expandable and upgradeable to whatever new standards the future might hold. This ability to effortlessly and wirelessly connected to larger audio systems, and to be upgradable, means that you will never outgrow your Site:1 speaker, it will never become obsolete, and it will therefore never contribute to the ever-swelling landfills. 

    We ran a blog post last week, “Just Say NO to Plastics” and it received a lot of positive feedback, so we are running a follow-up blog post tomorrow/Friday to answer some of the questions raised by the first post. We are giving you a shout-out in the links of that post. It occurred to us that you might also appreciate our products and, if you do, we’d be very happy if you would share that good opinion with your readership. If you would like to learn more, please go to our website at www.princeton-audio.com, or contact me directly via email.

    Reply

  7. Hi Beth,
    My name is Jodi. My company is Dental Lace, Inc. Dental Lace is a refillable dental floss container with refills. The container is glass with a stainless steel lid. It is filled with 100% Mulberry Silk Floss. Each package contains 100 yards. We have ISO and FDA certification. Our packaging is recycled paperboard with soy based inks. Dental Lace is fashionable and refillable. Fashionable because the other stuff is ugly. Refillable because the other stuff creates a huge amount of ugly waste. We are doing our part to eliminate ugly plastic dental floss waste. Check out the web site at http://www.dentallace.com
    Jodi Breau
    Dental Lace, Inc.
    Cape Elizabeth, Maine
    dentallace@gmail.com

    Reply

  8. Hi Beth!

    My name is Phil owner of imglassy.com. A company located in Seattle, Wa. Love your site!

    Im glassy was created as a one stop shop for sustainable glass products to reduce the use of single-use plastics, but really our mission is to educate and give solutions to plastic pollution. To make sustainability cool and trendy. Our model is- treat our world with class and live glass. Being sustainable means your are being considerate towards one another and the environment. The new class.

    Im sure you have already reviewed sustainable water bottles, but my glass water bottle contains zero plastic. Including lid. If that makes a difference. Anyways thanks for your time!

    Reply

  9. Hi Steve. If your program could be followed by people who are avoiding products packaged in plastic, then please feel free to check out the various advertising options. This is a topic that a lot of people are talking about these days, however, it’s not the focus of this blog, so I would not be likely to write a post about it, but I would consider a sidebar ad.

    Reply

  10. Hi Beth,

    Love the no plastic approach! Do you think your readers are dealing with digestive problems? And would like to learn about natural food and supplement changes they can make to manage their problems? That’s what we specialize in and love to help with. Our blog is my name url and this is our book sales page http://scdlifestylebook.com.

    Love to hear back from you to see if we can form a partnership!

    Steve

    Reply

  11. how about shoes?leather or plastic? kill animals or kill animals? used shoes? thanks and thinking about all the smokers and filters thrown into the ocean. P.S love your blog, how about a plastic boycott, a really effective one? maybe coca cola can change their packaging…

    Reply

    • Jeani, I here you. The answers are not simple, are they? The last shoes I bought were secondhand. That’s the best I could do. But there are also shoe companies out there creating shoes from materials like recycled rubber and hemp. Simple Shoes is one example.

      Reply

  12. Hello,

    I’m interested in placing a promotional link on your page: http://myplasticfreelife.com/

    The link would be for a website which offers personalized gifts.I don’t have the biggest budget, but hopefully there is a reasonable price we could arrange. Please let me know if you’re interested, and if not thanks for your time.

    Thanks!
    Jessica Baker

    Reply

    • Hi Jessica. Is the link relevant to this blog? I see that you are leaving your comment on my Advertising/Review policy page, so you know what kinds of advertising I will accept. But you have not told me what kinds of gifts you are selling or in what way they are relevant to Fake Plastic Fish readers.

      Reply