Delivery Vans Double as Recyclable Collectors

If people around Ft. Lauderdale see Flowers from the Rainflorist's delivery vans and think "trash," that's fine with owner Sherry Tannozzini. As long as the trash that comes to mind is the kind that can be recycled. Tannozzini is using her three delivery vehicles to pick up old vases and containers, ink cartridges, old cell phones and, in January, Christmas trees.

The recycled electronics go to local nonprofits. One trades the printer cartridges in for points that can be used to buy toys for kids in need; the other trades the phones in for new ones to be distributed to a women's shelter.

Tannozzini had started to take in old vases as part of her green effort when her contact at a local charity mentioned the need for ink cartridges. Quickly calculating how many offices her drivers visit daily, she offered to be the charity's ink-stained courier and started calling her corporate clients and asking for their supply runoff.

Recyclers get a $10 gift card towards a future purchase or a small green plant to take home to help the environment, Tannozzini says.

She'll soon add signs to the van to let folks know they also double as a drop-off site.

Try this:
• Vase collection is an easy way to green your container efforts and increase foot traffic. Make sure customers know you'll take their trash by putting the information in your shop and on your Web site, on-hold message and delivery vehicles.
• Don't have the space for all those baskets and containers? Give them to schools or nonprofits. If you do give them a new life, advertise their reincarnation the way Whole Foods does on its "I used to be a plastic bottle" grocery bags. Put a sticker or tie a recycled piece of paper around the neck or basket to share the past life of your containers: "I was rescued from under a kitchen sink" or  "I used to hold fake flowers in a gas station bathroom" are just some fun ways you can resurrect your trash and reinforce your green goals.

--Amanda Long
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