Germany-based consumer goods firm Henkel has collaborated with international recycling firm TerraCycle to launch a free recycling program in Canada. The partnership will involve in the creation of a free recycling program across the country for Henkel’s Sunlight and Purex brand plastic detergent pouches.   TerraCycle points will be provided for the Canadian consumers purchasing Sunlight or Purex pouches.   Consumers can redeem the points for charity gifts or converted to cash, which can be donated to the non-profit, school or charitable organization.   Henkel Canada general manager Mario Altan said: “Henkel has been focusing on sustainability in packaging for several decades and is now pleased to partner with TerraCycle to enable this creative approach to help ensure that Sunlight and Purex product packaging can be recycled after the product has been consumed.   “This partnership is part of our commitment that, by 2025, 100 percent of Henkel’s packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable.”   Henkel said that consumers can send their empty Sunlight and Purex plastic detergent pouches for free recycling through the program.   The collected pouches will be cleaned and melted into hard plastic, which can be remolded to make new recycled products.

In addition, Henkel noted that Sunlight & Purex Recycling Program can be implemented by any interested individual, school, office or community organization in Canada.   TerraCycle CEO and founder Tom Szaky said: “Henkel is giving their customers the unique opportunity to divert waste from landfills by offering them a way to responsibly recycle their plastic detergent pouches.”   Since 2016, Henkel has been collaborating with TerraCycle for the implementation of sustainable initiatives.   Henkel’s Adhesive Technologies business unit collaborated with TerraCycle in the US to help recycle their used adhesives packaging instead of sending them to a landfill or incinerator.   Henkel and TerraCycle teams worked together for the development of a process, which deactivates the adhesive and makes it easy to remove from the plastic packaging.   Later, the material will be melted and turned into pellets to produce new products ranging from garbage cans to park benches and outdoor furniture.  

No dia 5 de março iniciou-se mais uma edição do ‘’Brigada de Instrumentos de Escrita’’, um concurso de reciclagem organizado pela TerraCycle, em parceria, neste ano, com a Faber-Castell, sendo apoiado também pela Prefeitura Municipal de Capão da Canoa.

From manufacturing smartphone cases to other products, Otterbox protective solutions maker Otter Products (Fort Collins, CO) now sees a fresh opportunity in a different market: ready-meals transport packaging for ecommerce. Unlike corrugated boxes that dominate the ready-meal delivery landscape, the company’s new Liviri Fresh case is aligned in the direction of the sustainably-minded reusable, refillable system ala Loop (see Game-changing waste-free shopping platform introduced by TerraCycle at Davos, published January 2019). Unlike Loop, Liviri Fresh is an open-platform approach that will customize and provide the reusable packaging to any ecommerce-delivered ready-meal company in the market. There’s also a serious health concern to the introduction. In a Rutgers-Tennessee State University study in 2017, researchers who ordered 169 meal kits found that nearly 47% of 684 items ordered arrived with surface temperatures above 40 degrees, rendering them unsafe to consume. The solution to that food safety problem is the 19.3 inch-long x 15.8-inch wide by 10.7-inch tall (with lid) Liviri Box that provides a total internal volume of 1,700 cubic inches or 29.4 quarts; the box weighs 12.5 lb. Liviri Fresh is engineered to maintain a 3-day shelf life without using ice. The boxes are nestable and stackable—40 empty units fit in the same space as 24 units full units. It is designed to maintain temperature for three days without ice or other coolant, though using dry ice provides nearly twice the delivery shelf life to increase the e-delivery options. Kyle Fanning, Sr Product Line Manager, Otter Products, provides answers to PlasticsToday’s questions. What is it made of and how is it molded and assembled? Fanning: Liviri Fresh is made from an extensively-tested and proven grade of polypropylene that has surpassed all required standards for shipping containers. This polymer is recyclable, crack-proof, food grade and chemical resistant. Liviri Fresh boxes are injection molded and assembled in Michigan, utilizing a best-in-class automotive and industrial manufacturer for precision and quality. What key factors went into design and development? Fanning: We focused on achieving superior thermal performance—it keeps items in safe temperature range over 80% longer than the top-performing single-use insulation of 1.5-inch-thick recycled denim; durability to achieve up to 75 round trips through the small parcel network; a delightful user experience for both shipper and consumer; and a design-for-recyclability approach at end of life. How was this size/volume determined? Fanning: We dialed in the volume over the last year after detailed discussions with many potential customers. We settled on a size that works well as a medium-to-large box for most perishables shippers. It will comfortably fit the most common meal kit configuration of three meals for two people. What is the nature of the “aerospace-grade insulation”? Fanning: Vacuum insulated panels provide superior thermal performance over single-use insulation. What is the cost of each and how many trips to reach ROI? Fanning: Pricing is variable based on each customer’s unique needs. We’ll offer both purchase and lease options. What was biggest challenge to development? Fanning: Creating a product that was both optimized for the customers’ operations during pack out while still hassle-free for consumers. This version is a second-generation design—we poured all of our learnings from our pilot test first-generation design into our current version. How complex was this to make compared to other Otterbox products? Fanning: It’s a similar process to our ruggedized consumer coolers, so we have the expertise, but making it rugged enough for the small parcel network took significant design work and testing. How is it returned? Where and how is it cleaned? Fanning: The consumer places the included return label on the outside of the box and either sets it out for an auto-scheduled pickup or they can drop off at a shipping location. We have worked out a full cleaning protocol and we can either clean the units at one of our receiving facilities, or we’ll provide the customer with a turnkey approach (protocol and equipment) to do it themselves in their fulfillment centers. What are the branding opportunities in terms of box decoration? Fanning: Customers will have two custom branding decals prominently displayed on the box—one on the front and one on the lid. Has a Life Cycle Assessment been done vs. standard meal-kit delivery packaging? Fanning: We engaged a leading sustainability consultancy, thinkstep, to conduct a comparative LCA. They have submitted their draft LCA to an independent panel for the critical review process. The study will be complete and available in early April. What’s the commercial status? Is any brand or retailer using or testing? Fanning: We conducted a three-month pilot test during the summer of 2018 with two major brands who used our product to ship to their customers. We’re now in discussions with many target customers.  

Trash is a human invention. It is a concept that is foreign to the natural world, and a fairly modern one. Today’s complex materials and mass production have given way to products and packaging designed for single-use. These developments have made our lives more convenient and products more affordable, but most of the resulting waste isn’t accepted by public recycling systems and ends up as garbage.

Bringing awareness to this is key to helping us change the way we think about the world’s limited resources. Seeing garbage as something other than a useless problem is the first step to a less wasteful and more prosperous world. Keyword: seeing.

At TerraCycle, we are on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste and do this in a number of ways. Many of you may be familiar with our national recycling programs, our work integrating beach litter into bottles, or the new Loop initiative to move consumables into durable packages. But one of the more visual, easily understood representations of what we do is upcycle “trash” into useful objects, including art.

 

 

If you visit our offices around the world, you’ll see what I mean. Desks and tables made out of old doors, a Statue of Liberty made of toothpaste tubes, and phone booths repurposed into mini conference rooms. Our largest, the aptly named “Bottle Room,” exists in the middle of our global headquarters and is defined by four walls constructed of clear two-liter plastic bottles, items often thrown away.

 

 

We have an entire team of Design Junkies dedicated to finding solutions for needs around the office and creating new, visually stimulating artworks and products for brand partners. We also work directly with local and international artists to provide material they can use to create art

For example, TerraCycle’s Artist in Residence EdE Sinkovics, turns trash into statements about waste by creating assemblages out of discarded materials, such as cigarette butts into portraits of presidents (Lincoln, The Sustainable Republican, 2018), retired canvas mail bags and old tires into sculptures (Rhino Stamp, 2014; Elephant, 2014), and wine corks into human figures (Madam Cork, 2014).

 

 

His latest work, The Dirt of Venus, reimagines Botticelli’s famous Renaissance painting, The Birth of Venus. A conversation starter, Venus bears vibrant resemblance to its inspiration while entirely made of trash — ocean plastic, to be exact. These artworks face the viewer with uncomfortable truths. Even the most difficult-to-recycle materials can in fact be made into something useful, even beautiful. And, there’s a lot of plastic pollution out there!

These art pieces currently hang in the special art exhibit Scrapped: A Collection of Upcycled Artwork, our first show in partnership with Downtown Trenton Association at Broad Street Bank Gallery open through April 13. The collection, which includes on-site installations and mixed media pieces of varying styles, also includes on-site installations from acclaimed aerosol artist and friend of TerraCycle Leon Rainbow and Brendon Lopez (Streets Keep Callin, 2019), reclaimed textiles artist Heemin Moonin in collaboration with Dororthy McNee (Green Palace, 2019), and TerraCycle employees.

 

 

Scrapped is in line with our mission to change perspectives and connect people through shared experiences. All the featured art utilizes discarded and otherwise “scrapped” materials. Designed to encourage viewers to question their day-to-day lifestyle and their impact on the planet, the upcycled art show transforms garbage into artistic visions that connect the dots between us and the things we throw away.

This exhibit will be back next year, but we intend to continue changing perspectives with our work upcycling and recycling unconventional materials and striving to offer the public a connection to sustainability that empowers and inspires them.

 

 

Creativity and community hold the key to solving the world’s greatest problems, including pollution and waste, and art is a language that brings people together. This Earth Month and beyond, find the educational information, media, music and art that moves you, and share it to change the story about trash.

TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of complex waste streams, has joined forces with Residents Forward, a grassroots community organization dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of Port Washington, to collect and recycle cigarette butts throughout the city’s Main Street area. An event to formally announce the initiative will take place on Saturday, April 13, at 9 A.M. in the parking lot of Port Washington’s LIRR station at 60-62 Main St. “The town is always looking for new initiatives to protect our bay and safeguard our drinking water.” Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said. “With the help of our volunteers, TerraCycle’s cigarette recycling program can help keep our streets clean while preserving the habitats of local wildlife.” The cigarette recycling pilot is the newest initiative of the “Give a Litter Bit” and “Clean Green Main Street” campaigns and engages both the Town of North Hempstead and the Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District in the waste collection process. Residents Forward funded the purchase of the cigarette butt receptacles, while the Town of North Hempstead officials have agreed to hang them throughout Port Washington and the BID will be working with Spectrum Designs to empty the receptacles. The collected cigarette butts will then be shipped to TerraCycle for recycling where they will be separated by composition, melted into hard plastic and remolded for use in new products like shipping pallets. “We hope the Litter Bit cigarette recycling pilot spreads awareness that cigarette butts are litter too,” said Betsy Liegey, executive vice president of Residents Forward. “By working together, we can make it easier to keep our downtown clean and protect our bay.” Implementation of the pilot initiative will see six cigarette collection receptacles mounted near the railroad station along the town’s highly trafficked Main Street. In addition to the use of these receptacles, the “Give a Litter Bit” campaign asks community members and groups to take steps to reduce litter, including securing garbage bags during curbside pick-up, volunteering for litter-removal efforts, recycling through the town’s program and  organizations like TerraCycle, and spreading the word on social media. “Cigarette butts strewn on our sidewalks detract from the inviting shopping and strolling experience our local businesses count on,” said Mariann Dalimonte, executive director of the Greater Port Washington BID. “We are proud to sponsor the emptying of these receptacles along with other programs to keep our streets clean, including our Keep Port Clean team that operates April through October.” TerraCycle has collected hundreds of millions of cigarette butts globally. Additionally, through its various recycling programs, it has engaged over 200 million people across 21 countries to collect and recycle more than eight billion pieces of waste that were otherwise non-recyclable.  

Episode 13 features Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle, the company that’s about to launch Loop. Loop is a zero-waste delivery system for food and other household items and starts in New York next month.

Through the innovative partnership consumers are invited to recycle their razors in three ways: •Gillette Razor Recycling Program – Participants wishing to recycle their razors from home are invited to sign up on the program page on the terracycle website. When ready to ship their waste they can simply download a self-funded TerraCycle tracking label, package the razors in a secure, puncture proof package and send it to TerraCycle for recycling. •Gillette Razor Local Recycling Solutions – Businesses, gyms, colleges, cities and community organizations are invited to become public drop-off points for the Gillette Razor Recycling Program. Participants interested in becoming a drop-off point are invited to sign up on the program page https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/gillette-local-recycling. After acceptance to the program, they will be sent an exclusive razor recycling bin developed by TerraCycle and Gillette. Once full, they can simply seal and return the bin to TerraCycle via UPS and a new one will be sent back to them. The address listed in the account will be posted on the publicly available map of local recycling solutions on the Gillette Razor Recycling Program page. •Gillette On Demand Razor Recycling Program – Consumers that participate in the Gillette On Demand subscription service are also invited to recycle their razors through the Gillette Razor Recycling Program. Sign up is on the program page at https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/gillette-on-demand, when they are ready to ship their waste they can simply download a self-funded TerraCycle tracking label, repackage the used razors in the On Demand delivery box and send it to TerraCycle for recycling. Organizations that participate in the Gillette Razor Local Recycling Solutions as a public drop-off location earn money for the waste that they recycle through TerraCycle’s Sponsored Waste Recycling Program. For every shipment weighing at least fifteen pounds, collectors earn points that can be used for charity gifts or converted to cash and donated to charities of their choice. The collected packaging will be recycled into a variety of new consumer products such as park benches, bike racks, pet food bowls and recycling bins.

Students take time to rid the university of cigarette butts. The Center for Student Involvement (CSI) hosted its second annual Cigarette Butt Cleanup on March 27 at the university. Students and other attendees participated by picking up cigarette butts around the plaza and across various locations on campus including the Engineering, Computer Science and Technology Building.   After signing up at the CSI booth, attendees were provided paper bags and began searching for cigarette butts.   Tables filled with snacks and goodies were available for participants, which included: eco-friendly bamboo toothbrushes, reusable straws, notepads and reusable ziplock bags. Participants were also given a free acai bowl after volunteering.   According to the Lola, Salgado, the event organizer, the cigarette butts collected will then be shipped to TerraCycle, a recycling company where the cigarette butts will be separated into organic and inorganic materials and recycled into park benches or glasses.   The idea for the clean-up event began when CSI took students on trips with local nonprofits who helped pick up trash. Unfortunately, because of class schedule restrictions, attendance was low.   From there, CSI decided to create their own cigarette butt cleanup on campus. Since Cal State LA’s initiative to become a smoke-free campus back in fall 2017, there has been less littering around campus, but there are still places around the university grounds that have this issue.   “Before, there were a lot of cigarette butts in front of the Student Union, like where you can sit down. But now, since the campus is smoke-free, it’s like they’re still there. Across the street is where I find a lot more now”, said Salgado in reference to the crosswalk that leads to the Television, Film and Media Center.   During the first clean up, 5,676 cigarette butts were collected with the help of 40 volunteers. For its second clean up, Salgado hopes to find less litter since the campus has been smoke free for the last two years. By organizing this event, Salgado hopes that she has helped create awareness about littering on campus.   “When you walk around campus or anywhere, you don’t really notice the little things, but once you take some time out of your day to pick up trash and you’re like ‘oh my god there’s so many’, you’ll notice them for a long time.”  

It's official: The world has a trash problem. Landfills are filling up, recycling is becoming more expensive and less attractive to municipalities, and a lot of trash is finding its way into our parks, rivers, oceans—even our drinking water.

 

When trash is dumped in the landfill, it emits methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and when trash is incinerated it emits carbon and toxins that cause health problems. Many regions are running out of space to store their trash, so they're shipping it to far-off locations around the country and around the world.

 

That method of trash disposal has worked relatively well for the regions dumping their trash, but it's caused problems for the people who live where the trash is received. Yes, whichever way you slice it, that ever-mounting pile of trash will keep causing problems if we don't take charge of the situation.

 

For decades, municipal ordinances and business practices have made it difficult for ordinary consumers to easily and effectively reduce the amount of waste they generate. Convenience products and tempting time-savers have flooded the market and it's understandable why they've become popular fixtures in the average American home. 

 

Unfortunately for the health of humans, animals, and plants, those convenience items come at an environmental cost. But the tides are turning: More than ever, consumers are eager to simplify their lives and explore sustainable living practices that brings health, balance, and cost-savings to their lives, while at the same time minimizing waste. And there are a number of companies making it easier than ever to live a sustainable life.

 

Scroll through to learn how several companies are helping ordinary people make healthy choices for their home, their family, and their planet.

By Caitlin Castelaz

  Time was, the zero waste movement was led solely by a fringe group of do-gooders who eschewed highly packaged big brands in favor of more sustainable (yet hard to find) alternatives. Today, as bulk foods sections arrive in mainstream grocery stores and demand for waste-free farmers markets increases, the shopping landscape has changed dramatically—and big brands have taken note. In response to the cultural shift, large brands like Unilever, Clorox, Procter and Gamble, and others have banded together to create Loop, a grocery delivery service that emulates the milkman delivery model of old: mainstream products like Pantene shampoo, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, Degree deodorant, Hidden Valley ranch, and Tide laundry detergent delivered to your door in reusable, returnable containers. When you're ready for a new delivery, make your order, leave your empty containers outside your door, and await the arrival of the UPS delivery driver who will bring familiar favorites in an unfamiliar, yet delightfully innovative, new way. Visit LoopStore.com to sign up to be notified when the service launches later this year.     For those who are ready to declutter their cosmetics shelf and create less plastic waste, there's bottle-free shampoo. With a small footprint and no packaging, Lush shampoo bars offer variety and cost savings, as well as space-saving and environmental benefits. Available in several flavors like rose, lavender, citrus, and honey-toffee, each bar-soap-sized puck equals two to three bottles of liquid shampoo—up to 80 washes—and sells for as little as $10.95 per bar. Available at LushUSA.com; from $10.95.       As the market for recycled plastic shrinks, some municipality recycling programs are no longer accepting plastic. If your region still accepts plastic products, chances are it won't process­—and has never processed—plastic toothpaste tubes. Toothpaste tubes are often made out of multiple types of plastic, and coated with remnants of toothpaste, making them difficult to recycle. To eliminate these awkward plastic items from the waste stream, some zero waste advocates make their own dental cleaning solution from baking soda and coconut oil. If the thought of slathering baking soda on your chompers sounds extreme, there's another low-waste alternative: Bite. This up-and-coming brand creates small toothpaste bits—about the size of a tablet of gum—packaged in glass jars. Crunch down on the toothpaste to release the cleaning lather, and brush as normal. Sign up for a subscription, and Bite will deliver another batch to your door, packaged in a compostable bag, whenever you need it. Available at BiteToothpasteBits.com; from $12.       Another bit of plastic that municipal recycling programs won't accept? Plastic cling wrap. If you want to keep this trash out of the landfill, you can ditch food wraps altogether and opt for reusable food storage containers. However, if you aren't ready to say goodbye to the convenience of wrapping leftover produce, marinating meats, or tomorrow's lunch, there's a sustainable solution in Bee's Wrap. This company offers reusable food wraps made of cotton cloth coated in beeswax to create a pliable, bendable, wrappable material that can cover sandwiches, snacks, leftovers, bread, and more. After use, the wrap can be wiped clean, then used again and again. When it finally loses its sticking power, it can be kept out of the landfill and sent to the compost heap. Available at BeesWrap.com; from $6.                                                 They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, and for TerraCycle that expression couldn't be more true. This company recycles all manner of waste types that municipal recycling programs won't accept. Water filters, batteries, pens and markers, broken action figures, cereal bags, cassette tapes, worn plastic lawn furniture, pet bowls, electronic waste, shoes, stuffed animals, flip flops, insulin needles, and much more—all of it can be salvaged, sterilized, and recycled by TerraCycle, funded by like-minded companies. Visit TerraCycle.com to learn about their full range of recycling programs.  

Flip and Tumble

      Give Flip and Tumble's produce bags a chance and you won't go back to using the plastic produce bags available in grocery stores. While plastic bags are prone to ripping, cause food to spoil when transferred to the fridge, and clog your kitchen junk drawer—sturdy, washable and breathable Flip and Tumble bags endure for years and countless uses. Not only do they make life just a little easier, but they're gentle on the environment by eliminating plastic from the waste stream. Available on Amazon; $12 for a set of five bags.       When you think about it, selling soap in packaging doesn't make a ton of sense. After all, if there's any product that doesn't need the sterile protection offered by packaging, it's an item designed to deliver germ-busting cleaning power. Bring a couple bars of Good soap home from the store and rinse before washing your hands to remove any dust that gathered in transit. These bars, available in several scents, last longer than a standard-size bottle of liquid soap and deliver the same cleaning ability. Available at Whole Foods.  

Seventh Generation

      Yes, we're going there! If the entire purpose of a product is to become trash, why should it be made of new materials? Seventh Generation believes that anything that's destined for the trash should be made of recycled materials, thereby reducing waste. That's why all of their paper products like bath tissue, facial tissue, and paper towels are made of 100% recycled paper. Consumers who strive for a plastic-free life will love the varieties of bath tissue that are wrapped in paper packaging instead of the traditional plastic. Visit SeventhGeneration.com to find retailers near you.       Want to dip your toe into the zero waste lifestyle? Look no further than Whole Foods. Say what you want about this health food giant, but the Amazon-owned brand is taking initiative to make healthy eating more affordable and accessible. For waste-free options, head straight to the bulk section to load up on grains, pasta, legumes, dried fruits and nuts, candy, and more. Many stores offer bulk peanut butter, freshly ground coffee, bulk olives and salad bar, on-tap kombucha and freshly squeezed juice. Offerings differ by location. Bring your own bag or jar to capture these fresh ingredients, and be sure to use the on-site scales to record the weight of your container before you fill it. Write this weight (known as the tare) on the jar to let cashiers know how much weight to deduct from your bulk purchase. Visit WholeFoods.com to find a location near you.    

Dr. Bronner's

      America's favorite Castile soap has long been a staple in the hygiene section at health food stores, many of which sell the soap in bulk. Buy a plastic bottle of the stuff once, then return to the store to refill your bottle—or bring your own jar from the start. Visit drbronner.com for store locations.       Ziplock bags generate a lot of plastic waste in homes across the country. Whether you use them to pack lunches, store freezer meals, or marinate dinners, chances are you use them once, then toss them in the bin (most municipalities won't recycle the bags). If you're stuck on these sealable bags, there are several reusable options on the market—including those produced by Full Circle. Available in several sizes, these leak-proof, BPA-free reusable plastic bags can be labeled with a dry erase marker, then wiped clean, and placed in a dishwasher for easy cleaning. Available on Amazon; $13.49 for a set of four bags.       With the rise in minimalist mindsets and environmentally conscious lifestyles, there's been a growth in zero-waste and lower waste grocery stores and outdoor markets. Do some exploring in your hometown to see what options are available to you. To help you on your journey, Zero Waste Home, a free web-based app, provides a directory of grocery stores, markets, and pet stores with bulk foods and zero-waste hygiene products. So go ahead and log on—and happy exploring! Available at Zero Waste Home; free.

Hinged Bottle co-inventor Sebastian Velmont provides an update and report of his first—and highly successful—packaging event ever.   Just 20 minutes into my first packaging tradeshow event ever at WestPack on February 5, 2019, I was blown away by the Evolution of a Package display, a poster of Heinz ketchup packaging over the years that posed the question: what’s next? I hope that my packaging invention might be that next step. By way of explanation, I’m Sebastian Velmont and, along with my brother Rashon, patented a new packaging concept, the Hinged Bottle.   More about that shortly, first you should know that according to research done by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation “despite comprising 13% of the native-born population, African Americans represent just half a percent of U.S.-born innovators.” Innovators are defined as those who own intellectual property, such as patents for their innovative concepts and ideas. Our historical minority innovators include George Washington Carver, who popularized peanut butter and invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes including for plastics; and Sarah E. Goode, the first African-American woman to be granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, for her invention of a folding cabinet bed. However, within this half a percent of innovations, scant few relate to packaging, the environment, or sustainability, yet African American communities usually are impacted more by the environment than any other community in the U.S, according to a report conducted by Green 2.0. My brother and I are that rare breed of African American Innovators who have received a Utility Patent for an innovation—one we wrote and executed and that was approved without legal assistance. Our invention of a Hinged Bottle that solves a universal problem for consumers when they try to get the "last drop" of lotion or ketchup at the bottom of a bottle.   “Dispensing Container with Interior Access” Patent Number US10,179,675B2 was issued January 15, 2019, along with International Rights to File within 150+ Countries. The feature on this innovation appeared in Packaging Digest in January (see Inventive hinged bottle reduces product waste). Our next plan of attack was finding a way to develop the best prototype to present to consumer product manufacturers for licensing consideration. The one and only place in the packaging industry we considered attending to start our first-hand search for the best resources was WestPack’s Expo in Anaheim, CA, which was held practically in our neighborhood, in February. Masterclass event At the show I met some wonderful connections, learned a lot about where the general industry is and where it is headed. Overall, I received a full educational experience of the Packaging Industry and it was a great, fascinating, eye opening experience. My brother agreed 100%. “WestPack was more than a resource for finding a prototype developer for our innovation, it was an insight into where the packaging industry was headed within every sector of the business,” says Rashon Velmont. “It was a Masterclass for us within the packaging and sustainability space where we received great insight on what industry leaders felt about our innovation and what markets it will best serve. We also met Lisa McTigue Pierce Executive Editor of Packaging Digest, who paid us a great compliment by saying that our innovation was brilliant. “Attending WestPack reassured us of the value of our innovation,” Rashon continues. “Several leading engineers there saw great value in our innovation not only within standard consumer packaging, but also how our concept would serve the new premium consumer packaging industry on the rise. Brands like Pantene, Unilever, The Body Shop and other brands are embracing this new reusable packaging program launched by TerraCycle, Loop.   I watched Lisa's recent video interview with TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky (see Loop and big brands boldly reinvent waste-free packaging, published January 2019), and I believe I found where our innovation will serve a valuable purpose: for premium, refillable packaging that the Loop program encourages manufacturers to design for the Loop platform. Szaky mentioned that the three requirements for Loop packaging is reusable, durable and cleanable. The packaging will consist of innovative types such as stainless-steel shampoo bottles that can be used more than 100 times. The functionality of our patent innovation would allow this bottle to be opened in a way that consumers can access every “last drop” hassle free. The combination of Packaging Digest and WestPack have proven monumental in this development. Information we found at Packaging Digest not only shaped how we were able to develop our innovation before we received the patent, WestPack has become a great resource on how we can license our innovation. Soon we can present it to consumers who seek such a solution to an everyday problem—the timing is perfect for this.   Where do we One Percenters of Sustainability stand now? We have also partnered with Cal Poly Pomona’s Engineering Department in a way that aligns with our mission to close the gap in innovation for women and minorities by encouraging more entrepreneurship in innovation among those groups. This effort was organized by Mariappan “Jawa” Jawaharlal, Ph.D., Professor of Mechanical Engineering, who also co-founded the Femineers (Female Engineers), which the White House recognized for its empowerment of young women to become engineers. We also are honored to work with Stephen Lin, a Cal Poly Pomona engineering student, who will be recreating our Hinged Bottle innovation digitally using a 3D CAD design to properly display and identify the utility patent’s proprietary features. [Ed. Note: both researchers appear along with the Velmont brothers in the above graphic in order of mention.] We’re also seeking consumer product manufacturers that see the value in licensing our "frustration free" innovation to reduce product waste. Lastly for now, we’re excited to see what’s next for us as One Percenters of Sustainability.