These Long Beach Businesses Can Help You Go Green
Sometimes, the best way you can go green is to watch how you spend your green. Here are some Long Beach shops – selling everything from trees to candy, clothes to sustainable toothbrushes – that will help you help the planet.
BYO LONG BEACH
3805 Atlantic Ave.
Bring Your Own has a wide range of environmentally friendly products, ranging from plastic-free fly swatters to pot scrubbers of all natural materials, or even a sustainably grown and biodegradable bamboo toothbrush with soft BPA-free bristles. There’s a lot more for your home and personal care – face wash, laundry detergent, floor cleaners, shaped soap and Fair Trade teas. In an effort to eliminate waste, it offers customers the option of refilling their own containers with all manner of lotions, soaps, cleaners, shower gels, shampoos and tea, most of which come from California suppliers.
RICARDO’S NURSERY
Located on nine acres in North Long Beach, Ricardo’s has the largest variety of dry terrain plants in the city – succulents to cacti to drought-tolerant trees and low-water shrubs. Its California-friendly plants come all over the globe – South Africa, Mexico, New Zealand– as well as the state itself. The staff will take the time to educate a customer not only on offerings but what works best for their particular landscape. And because Ricardo’s is an approved vendor with the city, they can also offer information on rebate programs for using water conscious landscaping.
ETHIKLI
When it opened in 2022, Ethikli likely became Long Beach’s first sustainably-driven supermarket/department store, selling all manner of food – beans, coffee, tea, pasta, candy, grains, etc. – along with bath and body products, cleaning and laundry items, pet supplies, gifts, greeting cards and clothes. Oh yeah, they also sell the reusable grocery and produce bags to put them in. If you’re concerned about trying something new, remember the store opened its door in February of 2022, so everyone is new. To help them out, there’s a step-by-step method on how to gather items written on a chalkboard by the store’s entrance.
BURKE MERCANTILE
Now in its fifth year, Burke is a modern lifestyle shop combining conscious fashion and contemporary design. As an alternative to the destructive consequences of fast fashion – greenhouse gasses, unhealthy working conditions – the store focuses on independent brands and designers who believe that great clothes and products can be made with humans and the environment in mind. Owner Maggie Stoll offers mending workshops to help people make their clothes last longer and gives 5% of net profits each quarter to rotating charities.
