As prices have come down and memory capacity's gone up, USB flash drives have become a popular swag item for companies of every size. They're a wonderful tool for companies with a commitment to sustainability, enabling them to save tons of trees by distributing information electronically that a few short years ago would have been printed out.

It's impossible to tell by looks alone whether a promotional USB drive is eco-friendly. That's because the components that harm the environment are on the INSIDE of the drive, not the outside. Even bamboo-clad drives like the one above that LOOK environmentally friendly may actually contain harmful chemicals and compounds.

What compounds found in many flash drives are harmful to the planet?
-Lead
-Mercury
-Cadium
-Hexavalent chromium
-Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)
-Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)

These toxins have been identified as the five most common and harmful toxins in electronic components.  They contaminate water supplies when they decompose and could pose a threat to users who handle the drive in unintended ways.

One of the biggest material offenders to the environment in electronics and especially flash drives is solder.  Solder is the liquid metal that binds all circuit boards in every electronic product, and traditional solder is made with lead.  The use of lead-free solders in eco friendly USB flash drives allows the drives to decompose without contaminating ground water with toxic lead.  It also provides immediate health benefits to USB drive factory workers in both prototype and manufacturing operations. Their contact with solder paste no longer represents the same health hazard it did before.

Swag Connection's eco-friendly USB flash drives follow the guidelines of the EU RoHS Directive, which bans the distribution of new electrical and electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants.  The RoHS Directive is not required by the United States, but our preferred USB supplier has taken it upon themselves to enforce this environmentally friendly standard for all of their USB flash drives. This includes not only the drive itself, but also the drive's packaging, neck lanyard, and paper insert.

This is one of the reasons why it's vitally important to source your USB drives from a company you know and trust. In addition to containing the harmful materials above, many 'bargain' promotional flash drives are remanufactured with used parts. While they're less expensive, remanufactured drives have a much higher failure rate - not the sort of thing you want associated with an item bearing YOUR company's logo!

Flash memory chips are traded much like a commodity, with weekly price changes between 2%-10% depending on market conditions. Our eco-friendly USB flash drives are competitively priced and come in over a dozen different styles - here's a link where you can see them all online: http://www.iclickusb.com/

If we can help YOU with custom-imprinted, earth-friendly USB flash drives for YOUR business we'd love to hear from you. We also offer custom design, data uploading and StickyDrive technology to help you make the most of your promotional flash drive investment.

Thanks for reading & keep coming back for new & earth-friendly swag ideas!