A Surprising Thing That Is Uniting Businesses
The phrase one man’s trash is another man’s treasure goes far beyond dumpster diving and antiquing. Today businesses are creating mutually beneficial partnerships around the simple idea of recycling and upcycling waste to turn additional profits. This was taken to heart when Patagonia created ReCrafted.
They partnered with the designer Kourtney Morgan and started the project at Suay, a Los Angeles sewing shop owned by Lindsay Rose Medoff. As Morgan stated in the article How We Turn Scraps Into New Gear, “Lindsay and I both had a passion for doing something that mattered.”
Christina Johnson’s business, appropriately named Upcycle, started off when she attempted to reach out to companies to see if she could use their soon-to-be discarded textiles, like used banners. Today she is also partnered with Patagonia and reuses old materials to create new fanny packs.
This type of collaboration is not uncommon. For example, Delta partnered with Looptworks to transform over 350k pounds of retired uniforms. This partnership was multifaceted and beneficial to many parties, the article explains that “partnering with Looptworks in the collection process is Relay Resources and the Bobby Dodd Institute. Local to Portland, Relay Resources has helped with sorting, deconstruction and warehousing donations received from Delta’s western domestic stations. It creates employment opportunities for over 700 refugees, workers with disabilities, ESOL speakers or people in challenging scenarios. In the east, Bobby Dodd also supports Delta’s mission to give back to its community by employing more than 200 people with disabilities and or veterans with disadvantages in Atlanta.”
In finding ways to upcycle and recycle, we not only create treasure from trash, but we also embed a sustainable mindset into our business. In doing so, we create an opportunity for more sustainable practices within our businesses. We also create a new model for what business truly can be. Businesses can greatly benefit from reframing their perspective on typically discarded materials and see what services and opportunities are out there to reuse and recycle.
Who is Kelsey?
Kelsey Rumburg is a creator and a builder dedicated to inspiring social and environmental change through her words and actions. Check out her book, Trash to Treasure, for more information. Follow @trashtotreasuremindset on Instagram and @trashtocashbook on Twitter to stay up to date on all things #trashy!