Eco-fundraising with iHospitality's Sustainable Dishware Concept

A couple of years ago, I provided a list of green fundraising ideas since I was so tired of receiving yet another paper wrapping request.  Given how many people read this article, I know they must feel the same way as me.  As time goes by, I try and update each of my articles to keep you up to date with the trends. Kermit tells me that everyone wants a piece of him so consequently green fundraising has really taken off.  So here are some more fundraising ideas listed below.

But, before I start, don’t get me wrong. I support school fundraising.  Our PTA sponsors tremendous programs because of their fundraising efforts.  However, I believe  it possible to combine saving the Earth by supporting our schools.  Don’t you?

The Original Green Fundraising Ideas

Just to give you some background, in my first article, I highlighted the following:  Ecophones (gives cash for a multitude of items,) TerraCycle, who pays for items that ordinarily go in the trash, and Staples, who now gives Staples money for print cartridges along with Laptop Lunches, and many others.  What I love about this prior article is the amount of comments from people providing additional green fundraising sources. So, be sure to check out this article for great ideas.

What Am I Doing at My Own School?

Presently, I am collecting 14 different trash items such s Lays Potato Chip bags and yogurt cups for the school   The PTA gets paid by TerraCycle  2 cents an item.  Before, you say, “gosh, Anna, that is too much work for trash.”  It adds up.  My school district is small so I can imagine how well you would do in a larger district.  Last year we made $400 on trash combing the TerraCycle collections with milk carton recycling via MilkMuny and print cartridge recycling via Ecophones.

Want to get an inside view of my collections?  Um, you are going to have to check tomorrow for my  Gloria Swanson “All right Mr. De Mille, I’m ready for my close-up,” video.

Some New Green Fundraising Ideas

Listed below are some new green fundraising ideas:

Used Book Fundraiser:

Run a used book fundraiser through Got Books? Book collection fundraising  is only available in  Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont.   However, I was told by a company spokesperson if you can drive your books to a nearby location if you don’t live in one of the above states.   Just contact them to discuss the details.  The company has plans to expand, so keep checking the site for further information.

Used Books, CDs, and DVDs Fundraisers:

Media Exchange 123 offer fundraising opportunity by collecting new and used CDs, DVDs, books, video games, and text books.  Before you get too excited, read  the Company’s conditions.  Basically, they accept gently used products.  Most importantly, you must have the original case, artwork, and instructions if you want the Company to accept your videos, DVDs, and CDs for funds.

Other websites that buy used DVDs. CDs, and games:

• Second Spin.  (You must have a 12 digit UPC from the item.  You can sell in bulk, but to be honest, I think this might be very time consuming.)
• GarotsMedia:  same requirements as MediaExchange 123

Hand Held Electronic Equipment:

Although in my previous green fundraising article, I mentioned Ecophones as a source for phone, iPod, and other assorted electronic equipment fundraising, BuyMyTronics has gotten into the fundraising game as well.  Both take broken electronics.

I wrote about BuyMyTronics a couple of years ago when they were a start-up and I am happy to say they have been so successful that I can’t keep up with their progress.  Lesson learned.  Go for your dreams.

So, stay tune.  I will be sending them a shipment soon to see how their prices compare with Ecophones.

Ice Skates Fundraisers

If you want to make money for your skating club or team, you can sell your figure skating dresses, figure skates and blades at  My Skating Mall. The team receives 90% of the money less any charge associated with PayPal.  See here for more information on how it works.

Sell your Gold or Silver:

Do you have a drawer of unused gold or silver from disco days gone by?  Or perhaps you were a Madonna wannabe in another life?  Well, you can sell your gold, silver,or platinum  for cash as a fundraiser.  Listed below are some companies to get you started on your research:

• Gifts for Gold
• Ecophones (they also take print cartridges, cell phones, and more.)
• GoldHostess

Party Supplies Fundraiser  (Dishes, Glasses, To Go Ware)

A party supply fundraiser seems odd but hear me out.  Think of this fundraiser like a Tupperware party without the plastic!  How many of you have large birthday parties for your kids?  Or large gathering on Memorial Day or July 4th? And what do you use?  Um, Styrofoam plates?  Not too green.

I know.  Who has service for 25 or more?  So, why not a sustainable partyware fundraiser?  iHospitality offers the following sustainable items for your next fundraiser:   compostable palm leaf plates similar to Verterra, which I reviewed, recycled content glassware, on the go bamboo utensils and stainless steel containers.  I love the palm leaf plates because they make such a statement at your table. Edgy and modern with a touch of green.

Eco-Friendly Note Card Fundraising

Twisted Limb Paperworks produces 100% recycled content invitations, holiday cards, stationary and other paper product right in Hoosier land (Indiana.)

I absolutely adore this company’s environmental stance.  According to their website,

“Their paper is 100% recycled using a combination of office paper, junk mail, and grocery bags, embellised with grass from their field and ferns from their woods. No dyes are used; colors are obtained directly from the recycled materials. Water is recycled from the studio’s air conditioner and dehumidifier. 22% of profits is donated annually to environmental and community groups.”

As part of their offerings, they have a fundraising program for schools, teams, and charities where you can sell bookmarks, stationary, and scrap-booking paper pieces.  Your organization receives 40% of the proceeds.  What’s not to love?

So, check out my fundraising ideas in my oldy but a goody original green fundraising article and the new ideas listed above.  If I left anything out, please add them in the comments. I would love both article to be go-to-sources for eco-fundraisers. There can never be too many ideas when it comes to helping our charities and loving the Earth.

Join the Conversation:

• Have you instituted any green fundraising campaigns at your school or charity?
• If so, which campaigns have been the most successful and why?
• Are you using another company that I didn’t mention above for your eco-fundraising?
• How do you think your school or charity would react to this type of fundraising?

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Milk does a Body Good, right? The containers?  Well, that is a different story.  According to the EPA, over 510,000 tons of milk cartons are generated in the US but only .5% of them are recycled.  The rest sadly sit in a landfill.  In my case, my town does not recycle milk or juice cartons.  So, I can’t even do the right thing.

I firmly believe that for every problem is a solution.  Enter Milkmuny,  which saw the potential in all of those lonely milk cartons.  So, the Company starting collecting  milk and juice cartons and up-cycles them into cool wallets.  You might wonder,  how do they get all these cartons?

Show me the Milkmuny.

Schools and not for profit organization can collect the following 1/2 gallon milk and juice cartons, and the Company will pay 25 cents for each carton collected.  Shipping is pre-paid. For a short video of the Company’s mission, see here.

Once you collect them, the milk cartons need to be washed and their tops cut off.  See the below diagram.

Corporate partnerships are welcomed.  The Company will take expired,  misprints, and overrun of milk cartons.

Want to keep the Milkmuny love flowing?

Consider buying one of their cool wallets.  The wallets are  3 by 4″ wallets with four accordion pockets. They cost $10.00 and can be purchased here .

On Earth Day, my school is collecting the above milk and juice cartons.  We know where the Muny is.  Helping the Earth.

For more Eco-fundraising ideas, see here.  Be sure to read the comments since many other companies chimed in.

So, Readers,

• would you consider this fundraiser?
• thoughts about the wallets?

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When I was a kid, I used to love putting Fritos in my peanut butter sandwich. I was so addicted to Fritos that I ate them through college.  My usual college lunch was a tuna sandwich, Fritos, and a diet coke.  Real healthy, right? Heck, I was young so who cared, right?  I must have thrown away hundreds of Frito-Lay packages over my (um) years.  Let’s just say lots of years.

Then as I finished college, my sister and I thought Doritos were amazing. Fritos took a backseat to the new cool kid on the block. After law school, I cleaned up my act and stopped eating chips.  It was either that or I might as well as stapled them to my hips because that is where they were going to land anyways.  You can’t just eat one…

Now I can have my beloved Fritos or Doritos chips anytime without gaining an ounce AND feel good about the environment!  No, Frito-Lay did not invent the calorie-free chip. Thanks to a partnership between TerraCycle and Frito-Lay,  I can sling my chips over my shoulder in the form of an adorable tote bag or use some cool product that will be made up of the bags.  How? TerraCycle will be upcycling all those wrappers to create products! So carry the pounds on your shoulders not your waist, ladies.

Hmm.  You are probably wondering what is upcycling as opposed to recycling?  According to the Frito-Lay’s FAQs about the partnership:

“Upcycling is the process of using waste in its existing form to create new products.  Recycling, by con-trast, breaks the material down (e.g,. a plastic bottle is turned into plastic pellets) so that material can then be reformed into new products.  With upcycling, the waste is simply cleaned and shaped, sewn, or fused into new products, like backpacks, messenger bags, lunch boxes, school supplies, shower curtains, and kites.”

It is not a surprised that Frito-Lay and TerraCycle became partners.  Frito-Lay has made the following environmental commitment:

“Over the past few years, the company’s packaging initiatives have made some significant strides. This includes reducing the amount of plastic in packaging by 10% and over the last five years eliminating 12 million pounds of materials used to make the snack bags. This month, the company announced that in 2010 its SunChips brand will be introducing a fully compostable bag made from plant-based renewable material.  Marking the company’s latest effort, Frito-Lay will be the first snack food company to fund the collection and upcycling of its used packaging,” according to a recent statement by TerraCycle.

(Check out the “Lay’s” Notebook!)

TerraCycle, on the other hand, is one of my favorite companies who is constantly upcycling materials into new products. Remember, they are the worm poop people? In the past, I have written about their venture with OfficeMax to create office supplies made out of recycled materials.  My kids are still using their cardboard notebooks!  Check out all their upcycled products.

I am so excited about my old friend’s new look, that I signed my school up to collect all the Frito-Lay chip wrappers, such as Fritos, Lay’s Potato Chips, Doritos, and Cheetos.  For every wrapper that my school collects, Frito-Lay will donate 2 cents to the school. (For more information about the Frito-Lay Bag Brigade, see here.)  I can’t tell you how many kids eat those brands every day.

(Note, this Bag brigade will be our school’s second fundraiser with TerraCycle.  We now collect yogurt cups.  It seems like every week, the yogurt collection box is full.)

(Cool folder, huh?)

According to the FAQs, this program is scheduled to stop the end of 2009.  This would be a crime since my guess is that thousands of wrappers get thrown out every days at schools. So, Frito-Lay, please consider extending your program and adding more opening for other participants.  (Right now there are only five spots left, and hopefully my school took one of those remaining spots.)  Both Frito-Lay’s and TerraCycle’s goal is quite admirable.

“Our goal is to divert more than 5 million bags from landfills in 2009. We also hope to engage all of Frito–Lay’s 48,000 employees and more than 100,000 consumers in this program to raise awareness of reusing and recycling in local communities across the country,” according to TerraCycle.

To be honest, chips are not the healthiest of food and if you are going to buy them consider buying a large bag in which you can provide a number of servings to your children.  Single serving of any food is wasteful even if we are recycling.  I know that people are still going to buy single serving chips or cookies, so thank goodness for the folks at  Terracycle for creating a useful purpose for all those chip bags and Frito-Lay for the forward thinking to partner with a company like TerraCycle .  In this case, someone’s trash, is someone else’s tote bag!

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It is that time of year when the fundraisers roll out for the schools since Christmas is right around the corner. How many of your schools offer the old wrapping paper fundraiser?

Yawn.  I know another wrapping paper fundraiser.

This year I received my timely Innisbrook holiday fundraiser with a new twist.  A Recycle, Reuse, and Conserve money collection Envelope (see picture above) with a nifty caption of

“Did you know this envelope is made from recycled Paper?  There are a lot of ways you can help keep our world green?”

I read the envelope and started to shake my head, with disbelief. How could a product fundraiser company give me advice to go green when they were asking me to buy more paper products?  With catchy phrases of “Don’t just Recycle-Reuse!” and “Unscramble these words to see what trees do for us,”  I became incensed.

That’s it, my militant green-self exclaimed. I am going to write about this blatant green washing with the “be green” envelope and the not so green products.  I figured the catalog would be full of beautiful wrapping paper, that is made from wood pulp, that ultimately finds its way  to the trash in the same amount of time or less than it took to wrap the gift.  Hopefully, it is being recycled (without the tape…)

Wrapping paper just seems kind of wasteful to me.  (Been there done that with the wrapping paper. See my article on wrapping Holiday Gifts.)

Look at the Catalog Before Screaming Greenwashing

The next day, my inner logical voice said, “you know, you ought to look at the catalog before you fire away one of your posts on the blog.” Well, I am glad that I listened, since otherwise, I would not have seen the many options for recycle content wrapping paper.

So, I went to check out their website as well.    Their green efforts include that their standard paper is printed on premium recycled paper and their inks are 100% water based.  And their catalog is printed on recycled paper as well.  Hmmm …This is a good start.

However, none of the food items in the catalog were remotely green. From Krispy Kreme rich coffee to Helen Grace chocolates, nothing smelled of fair trade, organic, but simply brown.

But to placate us green types,  page 4  listed the “Sensible Solutions,” which includes a lunch tote, recycle tips, a porcelain cup and saucer, and of course, the “I am going green shopping tote.”  Everyone seems to have their own brand of “I am not a plastic bag” tote.

Taking the Green High Road

As I was getting worked up, I stopped and told my inner Green Crusader to park the Prius and take a breather.  Should I look at this fundraiser as a step in the right direction and encourage this company to add in fair trade coffee and chocolate items to their catalog rather than total dismiss it and call it green placating?  (There is a new term for you. You heard it first on Green Talk.)

Should I commend them for adding recycled wrapping paper to their list of products, and make a suggestion about including fabric bags as well?

It is kind of like the Clorox scenario where they make bleach as well as Green Works, the Company’s eco-friendly cleaning products.  Do you decide not to buy Green Works because it is made by Clorox or are you glad they are producing products that are making green more mainstream?

I decided to take the high road and called the Company to discuss my suggestions.

Wrapping Paper is a very easy fundraiser since many people are not going to take the time to use their funny pages, magazines, or their kids’ artwork to be used as gift wrap.  In the end, the school receives up to fifty percent of the monies raised.

Please don’t get me wrong about supporting local school organizations. I just have a problem buying things I don’t need.  In the past, I just gave a cash donation to the PTA instead. In this case, all of the money I gave went directly to the school.

I have encouraged my PTA to put a line item at the bottom of each fundraiser, saying all cash donations are welcome, but that has not happened yet.

In a prior post, I outlined some wonderful Eco-Fundraisers and my readers provided me with other choices as well.  I encourage everyone to read this article, and add to it as well.

Join the Conversation

• What type of fundraiser has been most successful at your school or organization? It does not have to be green, but a green option would be great. Ideas are welcomed too.

• Has your organization had gift wrapping fundraisers and are they successful? Do you like this idea?
• Would you buy the eco-products from a fundraising catalog, and ignore the fact that most of the products are not eco-friendly?
• Would you buy an eco-product from a Company even though they are still producing products that have questionable environmental practices?  (ie Clorox.)

Let me know your thoughts.

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Photo of Lunch Saks by permission of Project Kool

Want to stop global warming? Just ask a kid. More specifically ask Hunter Gross, a 12 year child from Long Island whose desire to save the Earth resulted in the creation of Project Kool’s Lunch Sak. These canvas lunch bags were created to reduce the endless stream of plastic and paper attributed to children’s lunches.

Global warming lessons are as common in the schools now as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are eaten during lunch. In Hunter’s case, this lesson struck a cord, and he knew that he wanted to do something to help stop global warming. This wasn’t just a whim of the day like many children have. He was serious. So, the Gross household brain stormed, and the end result was the creation of the Lunch Sak, an all natural cotton canvas washable lunch bag with a Velcro closure. Extremely kid friendly.

Like the little train that could, a washable lunch bag was not enough for Project Kool. They added various products for little ones to adults. Now everyone could be part of the Kool Gang. The Company sells the following:

Lunch Sak: Made out of 100% cotton canvas that comes in a natural color or three different tie dyed colors ( pink, blue, or multi-color.) The Saks are accompanied by 2 washable fabric markers made out of recycled plastic so that you can decorate your own bag. Not happy with your design. No problem. Wash it and try again. Retail: $10.00

Snack Mat : Made out of 100% cotton canvas that comes in a natural or tie dyed color with a Velcro tab so you can roll it up to store it in any of the Project Kool’s products. The mats replace napkins and plastic mats that are usually used at meal time. They come with 2 washable markers for doodling. Retail: $5.00

All in One Tote: Great for the grocery store, library, gym or just about anything. It comes in the same colors as the Lunch Sak. Retail: $15

Side Duffel Bag: Great for swim suits, towels, or just about anything. It comes in the same tie dyed colors as the Lunch Sak with 2 washable markers. Retail: $15

Zippered Backpack: “A just right” sized backpack that has a zippered pocket for iPods and cell phones. It comes in the same tie dye colors as the Lunch Sak with 2 washable markers. (See picture to the right.) Retail: $15

The Messenger Bag: A small enough bag to carry all those little things that are important to you. It comes in the same tie dyed colors as the Lunch Sak with 2 washable markers. Retails: $15

Why tie dye and natural colored bags that you can color? Project Kool’s products are fun and fashionable, and empower children to be a part of the solution of global warming. Kids love to color. Who wouldn’t love to design their own bags? They are obviously a hit because the Company has sold over 2000 bags in just 4 months since its inception.

However, these products are not just designed for kids. Even the Gross daughters are selling them in college. Spring is coming. Why not usher it in with a tie dyed bag for the grocery store?

Want to be designated as a “Koolskool”? Consider a fundraiser selling the Lunch Saks. It is an effortless fundraiser since you simply pre-order the amount of bags you need. No minimum orders required. In turn, the Company charges the school its wholesale price for the bags. Your school determines the price they want to charge for the bags.

Although these bags are not made of organic cotton, the Company is very young and evolving to adapt to concerns of global warming.

Help make your children feel they are part of the solution of global warming. One less tree to cut down. One less plastic bag that winds up in our waterways. One more victory for Hunter. Now, I think that is pretty Kool.

For more information about Hunter and his dream, see his TV interview!

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 Courtesy of TerraCycle, Inc.

What does fundraising, soda bottles, yogurt cups, drinking pouches, and worm poop have in common?  Give up?  I know that is a tough set of words to figure out the correlation.  Just ask the innovative folks over at TerraCycle, maker of worm poop fertilizer and other assorted eco-friendly gardening products.  They will tell you that it’s their mission to rid the world of waste through creating innovative uses of products that you would ordinarily throw away.  Their worm poop product is bottled in recycled soda bottles.

 How does this involve our young?  What better way to teach this lesson than to create fundraisers involving children to collect items that can be reused?   If our young can be taught at an early age to respect the Earth, then when they grow up as adults this thought process will be second nature to them. This is what the TerraCycle clan is banking on.  They are planting the seeds in our children, and nurturing this “help the Earth” concept.  This is not much different than what their worm poop fertilizer does for plants.

 So back to the yogurt cups, drinking pouches, and fundraising. How are they going to accomplish the goal of starting with our young? They have teamed up with various companies to start collection brigades to reuse these products and offer schools, religious organizations, and charities money to collect certain items for TerraCycle.  To be honest, I can’t keep up with their fundraising efforts to benefit schools and other charities. Check their website often to make sure those crazy kids over at TerraCycle have not added another fundraising program. Right now, listed below are their collection brigades:

Yogurt Cups 

TerraCycle has teamed up with Stonyfield to collect 6 or 32 ounce yogurt containers made by Stonyfield and Dannon Yogurt and turn them into plant pots. In turn, the Company will pay 2 cents per 6 ounce container, and 5 cents per 32 ounce container that is collected. Click here for the specifics of the fundraiser. Anyone can collect these cups and designate which charity, community group, or religious organization you wish the money to be donated to.  This yogurt donation program is only available in the following states: CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT and WV. 

The Company will be selling these recycled pots to retailers, who have in the past sold black plastic pots that cannot be recycled.  Millions of plastic pots are thrown out every year.  (A real pet peeve of mine.) 

Soda Bottles 

Although TerraCycle has put this soda bottle program on hold, I wanted to mention it because they are in desperate need of a corporate sponsor.  This program has grown in leaps and bounds to 4000 locations in just  a year and a half.  Unfortunately, the costs to ship the collection boxes has dramatically increased with this small company being forced to scale back and close the program to new members.

  “The Bottle Brigade is designed to help teach children about the importance of saving the environment and conserving resources. More then half of our locations are primary schools and teaching these young kids to “reduce, reuse and rethink” is a vital mission of our program. However we simply cannot continue to grow this great program without financial support. With a sponsor we can continue to sign up locations. Sponsorship would help us clear out our waiting list of hundreds of locations. It could also help us to develop an entire recycling and reusing curriculum to send to participating schools!” 

For those still able to participate, the Company, as of October 1, will be paying .06 per unlabeled clean soda bottle.  They package their worm poop in these bottles.  If you work at any large corporation, please consider pitching the idea of corporate sponsorship so that TerraCycle can continue this valuable program.  For more information on corporate sponsorship, click here. 

Drinking Pouches

How many of you pack you children’s lunches with drink pouches? Did you realize that millions end up in landfills every year?  Well, TerraCycle and Honest Kids are trying to change this by collecting drink pouches and paying organizations 2 cents per Honest Kids drink pouches or 1 cent for any other type of drink pouch.  So, you are thinking, what is TerraCycle going to do with all those drink pouches?  Turn them into the ultimate eco-fashion bag.  Now your kids can accuse you of wearing your food on your clothes instead of the other way around!  Click here about details of this program. 

Although TerraCycle is a young company with young leadership, its ideas of teaching the young are founded on old traditions.  As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and in turn, this child will help save the Earth.

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Photo by Tannazie by permission under the Creative Commons Share-Alike License 2.0

Although it is still October, the holiday season will be upon us sooner than you think. In anticipation of this season, PTAs, charities, and religious organizations all over the country will be unveiling holiday fundraisers in the form of holiday wrapping paper, cookie dough sales, and mugs and calendars for grandparents.This is only some of the possible fundraisers that schools, religious organizations, and other community groups sponsor throughout the year.

I know as a parent I hate these fundraisers. How much gift wrap do you need? I could not eat another cheese cake or order anymore stationary for my children. How many trees have we cut down in the name of fundraisers? How much sugar have we consumed in order to supplement needed programs at our community organizations?

Don’t get me wrong. Fundraising is necessary to supplement the income of an organization, institute special programs, or provide supplies which are needed. Unfortunately, the amount of hours needed for some fundraisers and the money earned has caused organizations to rethink their fundraising strategies. What if there were new fundraisers that were available that were fun, easy, and had an environmental purpose? With the news constantly bombarding us with global warming issues, people are trying to make a conscious effort to be aware of their impact on the Earth.

Would it be easier to market a “save the Earth” fundraiser rather than a tired old fundraiser that has been done over and over again? It is worth a shot.

Just to give an example, a couple of years ago, my school joined Staples’ Recycling for Education program, which I am in charge of. We collect inkjet print and laser toner cartridges and send them back to Staples for money.

This fundraiser is a no brainier and people drop off their cartridges in a box in the school office. In turn, our school collects $3 for each eligible cartridge and we are doing our part to keep our share of print cartridges out of landfills.

Are there any other fundraisers out there that either are as simple as Staples’ or at least parents could buy something benefiting the Earth, such as a “feel good fundraiser”?

Here is a list of the “no brainier” fundraisers where all people have to do is drop off the requested collectible in a box at the school or any community organization. Many of the organizations pay for shipping as well. I have provided a brief synopsis of these fundraisers and urge you to click on the link to read more about these programs, or visit my site during the week when I will go into more depth about these fundrasiers.

Staples’ Recycling for Education collects HP, Dell, Cannon, Sharp, and Lexmark ink jet cartridges and assorted toner cartridges, and in turn pays $3 per eligible cartridge to your organization. Note, my experience is that you are paid for about half of the cartridges that you send to Staples. Others are deemed ineligible since they may be defective. (Update 9/2008:  Staples has changed their program. They only pay in Staple dollars.  I switched to EcoPhones but I don’t think they pay very much. I am looking into other companies.)

TerraCycle (the worm poop fertilizer company): They collect Dannon and Stonyfield yogurt cups, 20 ounce soda bottles, and drink pouches. Many of these items end up in a landfill because either they cannot be recycled (drink pouches and yogurt cups) or people choose not to recycle them. Payments vary for each item collected.

Right now, the soda bottle brigade is on hold until TerraCycle finds a corporate sponsor due to rising shipping costs. (If you work for a large company, consider pitching to your company why they should sponsor this program.Read the link for more information.) My school is instituting the yogurt collection brigade this month.

Phone Fund:A fundraiser based upon the collection of phones, PDAs, laptops, and digital cameras with payments ranging from $1 to $6 per working piece of electronic equipment. All nonworking equipment is recycled appropriately. Emphasis is on reducing the waste stream of electronic equipment by refurbishing and reselling such items in a secondary market.

Recycling Fundraiser (formerly known as EcoPhones):The Company collects all sorts of working or nonworking electronic waste such as cell phones, ink jet print cartridges, DVD movies and video games, laptop computers, MP3 players, portable GPS devices, digital cameras, digital video cameras, digital picture frames, portable DVD players, and video gaming consoles. They are now collecting gold jewelry as well. In return they pay up to $300 for phones, but on average pay about $10-$25 for certain models, and up to $5 per inkjet cartridges, but on average $1 to $2 per cartridge. Check their updated price listfor payouts for specific electronic equipment.

Listed below are companies that offer fundraisers with an environmental purpose, but require your community members to buy products.

Laptop Lunches: A fundraiser that will transform your child’s lunch from wasteful to tasteful and kinder to the Earth. Your average child’s lunch contains plastic bags, paper bags, aluminum, juice boxes, and plastic utensils which all end up in a landfill. Choose between the Laptop Lunch or Lunch Date systems (for adults or bigger eaters), which contain the necessary accessories to reduce lunchtime waste. In addition, each lunch system comes with a book of helpful hints to create nutritious lunches. A portion of the profits are paid to your school. A minimum of 20 items must be ordered.

ReuseThisBag.com:  A fundraiser with low cost custom imprinted recycled grocery bags made out of recycled polypropylene that will help to reduce the amount of plastic and paper grocery bags that are produced. By simply saying “no thank you, I have a bag” at the check-out line of the grocery store, you will be stopping the depletion of our natural resources in order to make paper and plastic bags . In addition, plastic bags are littering our streets and oceans and a plastic bag takes 450 years to degrade. The suggested price for selling the bags is $4 with a cost of $1.50 to the organization. Show your school spirit or market your organization as well as  your commitment to the Earth. 500 bag minimum order for custom imprinting.

Green Sparks Redemption Book: A new green entertainment book by fundraisinggreen.com due out in December, 2007 at a cost of $30.00. Each participating school keeps between 45-50% of what they sell, depending on the volume sold. In addition, the Company gives a further 10% of its profit to Green Ambassadorsand Earth Resource Foundation, Fundraisinggreen.com has partnered with many online vendors, to help busy families make environmental choices in their every day lives from green living products to pet food to vacations.No pre-orders are required. Simply set up an account and community members can order themselves and the same will be delivered to their home. This is a zero-maintenance fundraiser. Click here for a list of some of the online vendors in the book.

If you live in Orange County, LA, or Long Beach, local green entertainment books will available in November, 2007.

Smencils This funny sounding product is pencils made out of recycled newspapers and scented in ten different smells. Their motto is saving one tree, a pencil at a time. There are two different programs: Pre-scented smencil buckets, which contain fifty pencils and sold by the case. There are 10 buckets in a case. Each pencil should be sold for $1 and your organization can earn a 46 percent profit.

The other program is 20 Semcil mini kits per bucket, in which ten bucket comprise one case. The Semcil mini kit contains scents that you add to the provided pencils. Suggested price for each kit is $2.00, with an organization obtaining a forty-five percent profit. Greater quantities are available with higher profit margins. Many items are not available until November 6. 2007.

Milkmuny:  Fundraising through the collection of certain milk and juice cartons.  See my article about this Company.

So next time the discussion of fundraising is broached at a meeting, suggest the above fundraisers. These fundraisers provide real ife lessons to teach our communities about what is valuable in our lives and at the same time monetarily benefiting our community organizations. Sounds like a win-win strategy for the Earth and our communities.

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