One of my favorite things about Chicago is that I learn new things every day. There are places, people, neighborhoods, shops, and restaurants to discover nearby. I was fortunate enough to tour one of these inspiring locations last week — Chicago's very own Southside Soapbox (the method home factory) and Gotham Greens Urban Greenhouse. After an exciting behind-the-scenes look, we did a walking tour of the Pullman neighborhood. It was a fantastic day, so be sure to click through for more eye candy from my day on the city's southside.
Immediately upon arriving, we were greeted by the very thing that attracted me to method so long ago — their design. I'm a total sucker for good packaging, and nine times out of ten, I am willing to pay more or go out of my way to purchase a product that is aesthetically pleasing. Fact of the matter is, when I first started buying method, I had no idea that it is actually produced here in Chicago.
The Southside Soapbox campus is located in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago. The area itself is 22 acres, but the factory only uses up about three of those. The rest of the land is being restored to it's natural habitat, plus cultivating beehives with local beekeepers. They also partner with The Nature Conservatory to offset their water usage. Inside the factory, they cover all their bases under one roof. The producing and packing products is all done in-house, further reducing their carbon footprint.
Their lobby decor included a rainbow wall made entirely of soap!
Onto the factory! Remember those segments on Sesame Street or other PBS shows that would chronicle how crayons or other items were made? I always loved those! Seeing all of these soap bottles being filled, screen printed, and packaged efficiently was so satisfying. We were able to walk around and see every part of the process. There were a lot of friendly people working the factory — another great part of method is that they commit to employing people from the neighborhood and have created 130 new jobs to Chicago.
I've already been using method cleaning and hand soap products around my home for years! I've just started using their laundry detergent and fragrance boosters and I love them. Which are your favorite scents? I'm a sucker for anything earthy, like Sandalwood, or fresh scents like Bamboo!
After the factory tour, we went upstairs to the amazing 75k square foot urban greenhouse with Gotham Greens! Everyone knows that I love plants, so seeing this amazing process was fascinating to me. They produce more than ten million leafy greens each year for local restaurants, retailers and community groups.
Up next was lunch and the Pullman Cafe and a walking art tour of the Pullman neighborhood! It's really a fun and friendly little neighborhood. All of the alleys were filled with found art and is kept up by the community.
This was my favorite building — The Hotel Florence. It was built in 1881 and is gorgeous! Unfortunately, we were unable to go in. After the walking tour, we had a brewery tour with Argus and a cookout. It was all around a really beautiful day and I went home feeling inspired.
I started wondering to myself — how can I dedicate part of my day to being more green? It took me a while to get into the habit of recycling after moving to the city (where I grew up, there wasn't a recycling program in our small country town). I'd say that Philadelphia definitely helped get me into a regimented recycling routine. But to further think on that subject — what about the rest of my trash?
Most of my trash is recyclable (paper or packaging), or compostable. It's easy to have a compost heap in the country or areas with a yard, but apartment living makes that a little more difficult. I started doing research on compost options for the city and discovered two viable options.
If you are into making projects, one option is a DIY Apartment Compost. I found a great how-to on Apartment Therapy. This seems like a great idea and I'm curious on how well it could be executed in my space! However, given my schedule and time constraints, I wanted to see if there were any city or community services available to achieve the same goal.
WasteNot Compost is a local business that offers weekly or biweekly compost pick up. Reading through their website, I learned a lot about what is actually compostable! There are items that the city of Chicago doesn't let us recycle — like pizza boxes, soiled paper products, natural fibers, and BPI certified bags — that could go into compost and save them from a garbage dump!
Switching to a compost pick up service almost entirely eliminates my trash waste. I'm so excited to challenge myself to see just how little trash I will actually produce. I have a feeling that it will be very, very little — which will reduce my carbon footprint and help the environment!
In what ways are you dedicating yourself to make your life greener?
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This sponsored post is brought to you in partnership with method and the Southside Soapbox. Thanks to the neighborhood of Pullman for taking the time to give us a tour of the area. Thank you for supporting brands that support Mini Penny Blog. ♡
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