Serving people, planet and profit: An 'integrated bottom-line' approach to looking at business for entrepreneurs, activists, and decision makers
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RecycleBank, founded by Ron Gonen is setting the standard for doing good while profiting at green business. In fact their catchy slogan on the navy blue recycle containers aptly states, "preserving our environment one home at a time." In this case, the statement is certainly true. The idea is so simple and yet so solid that Gonen said that his first meeting with a potential customer was not a hard sell.
One might assume that RecycleBank is just another recycling program but the catch and heart of the company is consumer rewards. This is how it works: RecycleBank provides homes with large recycling receptacles not unlike your standard garbage can on wheels. Each container is equipped with a radio frequency identification chip that can be read by the trucks picking them up. Information can be communicated from these chips about how much each house has recycled. This information is used by RecycleBank to convert these statistics into reward points for the homeowner. These points can then be redeemed at hundreds of stores, including Whole Foods and Starbucks to name a couple. Customers can even track their reward points and environmental footprint through the website at www.recyclebank.com
Gonen, aformer consultant wanted to prove that being socially responsible could be a profitable endeavor. And so it is that Gonen launched his company in 2004 on the belief that giving people the motivation to recycle along with the proper tools would change their wasteful behavior. It turns out he was right on that notion. His customers' recycling has saved more than 227,000 trees and 15 million gallons of oil and has diverted more than 19,500 tons of material from the waste stream and redeemed more than 3 million reward points. The company is preparing to expand across the nation this year thanks to the bright idea and success of this smart and eco-friendly company.
(This is a guest post by Bobby Grace) Computers are becoming cheaper and easier to manufacture by the minute. Intel's...[read more]
This is a guest post was written by Bobby Grace, a student in Professor Simran Sethi’s Media and the Environment...[read more]
Green certification programs such as the Green Council’s EPEAT are an effective means of getting past organizational greenwash…Even more importantly, they’re making an increasing, positive impact on electronics recycling volumes and practices. Individual consumers need to help shoulder the burden, however, and OEMs can do more to make it easier to recycle and reuse products and parts.[read more]
Last week I participated in a ritual that's becoming increasingly common these days: replacing a (mostly) functional cell phone....[read more]
Those of you with big wqallets and a strong desire to go green with furnishings in your home or office...[read more]
One problem consumer’s face when wanting to use biofuels is building an in-house processor for creating biodiesel to further...[read more]
Waste management. Two words that have in the past been little more then a euphemism for trash pickup, one...[read more]
The 1980’s witnessed the inception of wood-pellet stoves but the benefits and efficiency of this innovative product, has not...[read more]
HP’s been a big proponent of a range of more environmentally sustainable business practices for quite some time now. Welcome news is that it is finding ways of doing a lot more in the way of recycling, and in rapidly industrializing China. An initial 31 HP equipment drop-off centers have been established in Chinese cities and more are coming, making it easier for individual consumers and SMBs to do their part in closing the product lifecycle loop.[read more]
The amount of electronic waste and scrap people toss into the waste stream is growing much faster than nascent efforts to deal with what is a complex and global problem. The UN StEP program is a step in the right direction, but closing the product lifecycle loop to include recovery, reuse and recycling is going to require a major change in consumers' mindset and behavior.[read more]
Green goes under ground, six feet under and currently being spear-headed in Oregon by and environmentally-friendly funeral products dealer...[read more]
Surprisingly, the two largest components in a landfill are food and paper, both biodegradable substances. In fact, statistics clearly...[read more]
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a recent convert to eco-friendly products, you’ll love the 21st centuries' answer to...[read more]
Waste: By the numbers In 1990 the average American was sending 3.1 pounds of trash to landfills each day....[read more]
Energy and resource intensive, emitting a range of greenhouse gases and leaving behind mountains and fields of e-waste, we've come to depend and indeed thrive on the myriad devices, computing and communications power digital information technology has brought us. Now leading IT providers are getting serious about their resource use and the environmental effects of their worldwide operations.[read more]
Treasure Island, the man-made lump made up of 20 million cubic yards of sea floor soil sandwiched between 287,000...[read more]
Two men left England last Friday on their way to Timbuktu in a truck powered by chocolate. For the sake of...[read more]
Buying used clothing is a great way to go green and get an interesting wardrobe at the same time. But...[read more]
Now this is the essence of waste into food, or food into fuel, or something: According to Shortnews.com, a Norwegian...[read more]
If money can't motivate the average person then I'm at a bit of a loss, but let it be at...[read more]
Not only is China's richest person a woman, but she made her fortune by recycling paper. The Financial Times has...[read more]
Regardless of whether a customer buys a new Dell, the Dell company will recycle their old computer free of charge....[read more]
The city of Oakland recently passed a resolution to become a "zero waste" city by the year 2020. It's a...[read more]
The Manchester, UK police department has turned to an interesting source to cut their heating bill: Their large stable of...[read more]
Electonic waste is a growing problem all over the globe, but computer recycling is quickly gaining ground to deal with...[read more]
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