By ILANA DEBARE, San Francisco Chronicle

Last winter, the Clorox Co. gambled that its famous name would translate well from the world of bleach into the world of environmentally friendly cleaning products. So far, that bet is looking like a winner.

Smashing Katie is a startup born from a breakup.An online store geared to women who have recently gone through a divorce or breakup, Smashing Katie sells items ranging from a wedding ring coffin to the Ex, a kitchen knife block shaped like a person.

There may not be peanuts and pretzels anymore on airplanes, but someday there may be algae oil.Solazyme -- a South San Francisco, Calif. startup focused on producing oil from algae -- said this week that it had produced the world's first algal-derived jet fuel.

SAN FRANCISCO -- What is PVC? Polyvinyl chloride is one of the most common forms of plastic. About 15 billion pounds is produced in the United States each year, about 70 percent of which ends up in building products such as plastic pipes, electrical insulation and vinyl flooring. Some PVC products get a pliable or soft consistency through the addition of chemicals such as phthalates.

It's part of nearly every back-to-school shopping list: the colorful, durable three-ring vinyl binder.But it may not be on those lists in the future. TheGreenOffice.com has become the first retailer in its industry to stop selling products made from polyvinyl chloride, including those familiar vinyl binders.

It's 2008: The housing market is a mess, new home construction is half the level of four years ago and remodeling sales are down. It's a pretty crummy time to be in the building supply industry.But not for EcoTimber.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ... about $12 billion worth of ice cream.

Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. is launching a green insurance option for homeowners that will allow people with conventional homes to rebuild to the latest environmental standards after a loss.The Novato, Calif.-based company, a division of the Allianz Group, will start offering green-home coverage to Californians on Aug. 1 as part of one of its regular policy packages.

SAN FRANCISCO -- It's hard to imagine itty-bitty wine corks making much of a contribution to the world's mass of trash. But Roger Archey is heading a new effort to recycle wine corks -- and he's already collected more than 300,000 of them.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mike Hannigan and Sean Marx started their Oakland office supply company, Give Something Back, with an unusual mission -- donating all profits to charity.