From Greenopolis - RecycleMatch Turns Trash Into Treasure

Landfills are a symptom of businesses trashing resources. Enter RecycleMatch, an innovative green start-up out of Houston that takes one company’s waste and turns it into another’s treasure. Through its online portal for keeping waste out of landfills, RecycleMatch matches companies that need materials and resources with companies who are actually paying to throw these very resources away. RecycleMatch's compelling concept caught my attention when I heard them give their elevator pitch at Opportunity Green last month. The founders, Chad Farrell and Brooke Betts Farrell, had 60 seconds to describe their company to a room full of 600 green-minded professionals as a finalist in the OG 25 competition for Most Innovative Green Startup.

Check out what they do:

Exhibit A: Glass Windows Become Countertops



When an energy company in downtown Houston underwent a retrofit of their high-rise headquarters, 180,000 lbs of exterior window glass were deemed unrecyclable and were destined for the landfill --- until RecycleMatch stepped in and sold the materials to another company who turned the glass into countertops. They also sent a smaller volume of interior glass to a local artist to use in paintings and furniture.

Exhibit B: Vegetable Waste to Biofuels

RecycleMatch is taking vegetable waste from the food manufacturing process and matching it with companies who can use it as biofuel feedstock.



Exhibit C: Where the rubber meets the...purse?

RecycleMatch is matching rubber strips from the automotive industry with a designer to make bags and other items. 



RecycleMatch was inspired by stories of companies finding innovative, sustainable solutions for their waste that actually improved the bottom line, such as IBM developing a silicon wafer reclaim program that turned computer waste into raw materials for the solar energy industry. “We started RecycleMatch because we saw an opportunity to help businesses reduce waste and lower environmental impacts," said Chad Farrell, Co-Founder of RecycleMatch. "By connecting companies that have waste with companies that can use those resources, RecycleMatch makes the business ecosystem more efficient.”

There are several companies doing similar work repurposing waste in the supply chain, such as UsedCardboardBoxes.com, EnviroGLAS and Passchal. Smart Glass jewelry is a beautiful collection of pieces handcrafted by artist Kathleen Plate commissioned by Coca-Cola and Aveda to create jewelry from their product bottles (I received a free necklace from them at the EcoStilletto Greenbloggers Convention). Treehugger.com featured a slideshow recently of "12 Amazing Objects Made from Plastic Bags," and the Sustainable Sirens project made costumes from film set waste.

With the EPA estimating that businesses spend approximately $22 billion per year to send their waste to landfills, it's no wonder RecycleMatch has won several honors and been featured in the Houston Chronicle for seizing the opportunity to help businesses and the planet. I look forward to watching this company grow at the expense of landfills everywhere!

See the article at http://greenopolis.com/goblog/amanda-crater/recyclematch-turns-trash-treasure