Over a year ago, one of our designers in our firm brought in a Preserve toothbrush made by Recycline, along with a Stonyfield Farm yogurt cup that mentioned Recycline recycling all their plastic yogurt containers. The toothbrush was their first product—the foundation of all the Preserve products—it received placement in specialty stores, then eventually mass merchants and even a cameo role in a movie (Will Farrell brushes his teeth with it repeatedly in “Stranger than Fiction”).

We had been reviewing the products that we had made in the past and wanted to work with a company that reflected our own mission for sustainability. After all, we didn’t endure the looks from the natives when we turned a sewage treatment plant into our company headquarters for nothing (ah, but that’s another blog entry).

So, as the head of design, I did something and … I called them. I talked to someone on the other line, made a proposal to expand their product line and hung up.

Over the course of many phone calls and meetings, Recycline took us up on our offer to supply them with product design and refinement in exchange for a royalty on whatever went to market. A lot of firms our size have worked on royalties for years but this was our first try. And I’m happy to report that after less than a year, several of the products we developed with Recycline are available at Whole Foods including food storage containers, cutting boards and colanders. (For the whole story, check out Metropolis: Cooking with Leftovers)

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The company Recycline started out 9 years ago with a recyclable toothbrush made from recycled materials. (That's a lot of "recycl" words in that sentence!) For the past five years, the company has partnered with Stonyfield Farm to recycle used yogurt cups into products including the toothbrushes, tableware, and razors.

The new Preserve Triple Razor from Recycline has a 100% recycled plastic handle, 65% of which comes from Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. The handle is also completely recyclable as a #5 plastic. If your community doesn't "do that" plastic, send it back in to Recycline. (They also tell us that you can use Recycline replacement blades, but Gilette Sensor and Personna Acti-Flexx blades will work, too.)

In fact, the fact that many communities don't recycle #5 plastic is how most of the Recycline products are born. Stonyfield explains, however, that by using the lighter #5 plastic as opposed to the #2, they are benefiting the environment.

This partnership is a great example of how companies can satisfy consumer needs and also do a service to the environment simply by getting a little creative.

Rebecca says: The Recycline toothbrush was actually featured in the recent flick Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. I love eco-product placement! I also stumbled across a spoof of "close shave" razors. It's pretty funny, but jut a warning, it does feature (fake) blood, if that's not your thing: The Warp 2000.

Resources:

A note from the Stonyfield Farm website

If you are out of ways to reuse your Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups, and if #5 plastic recycling isn’t available in your area, you can send your CLEAN Stonyfield Farm cups to us, and we’ll be sure they’ll get recycled. Send them to: Stonyfield Farm, 10 Burton Drive, Londonderry, NH 03053

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