What: Oral-care products
made from recycled plastics
Who: Eric Hudson of Recycline
Inc.
Where: Somerville, Massachusetts
When: Started in 1996
eric hudson always knew he wanted to start an environmentally
friendly business. So when he first noticed an apparent rise in
consumer interest in recycling-yet few compelling products made
from recycled materials-he decided to do something about it.
After raising $300,000 in equity capital, he established an
expert dental panel to help him design a toothbrush made entirely
from recycled materials. His Preserve brand of oral-care products
launched a year later in 1997. Today, the line includes an adult
toothbrush, a kid's toothbrush and a tongue cleaner.
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"[My motivation] is becoming a an innovative and
ground-breaking consumer products company that delivers [items] to
consumers that they use not only [for practical purposes], but also
to preserve our resources on earth," says Hudson, 40.
The environmentally sound products, which are sold in Trader
Joe's, Whole Foods, and Wild Oats stores nationwide, sell for
$2.79 to $3.95. Sales are poised to reach $1 million by the end of
this year, now that Recycline is in the process of introducing the
Preserve line in general grocery and drugstores.
Recycline has partnered with numerous corporations and uses
those companies' pre- and post-consumer waste, as well as any
post-industrial scraps generated on production lines, to make the
Preserve products. It's an effort Hudson hopes to expand in the
future: "We are starting a services division where we help
companies develop waste-reduction systems and source recycled
materials."
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