New York, NY — The new SocialCycling program from DMD Green is an attempt to find uses for products and materials that aren't handled by typical recycling systems.
DMD Green, an environmental and green business management consultant, says the program will find new uses for non-recyclable items like vinyl-coated fabrication materials.
The SocialCycling program, announced this month, will take post-consumer products and reclaimed material, collect them at a SocialCycling site, sort and separate materials, and then distribute them to converters and artisans that can use them to make new products.
DMD Green plans to monitor the chain of custody of the materials to ensure they are reused instead of ending up in a landfill, and also will provide certification for companies involved in the program.
Although the program was announced in conjunction with GreenBuild and mainly attracting architecture-related manufacturers looking to give their products second lives, Jason Warnock, managing partner of DMD Green Calgary and the creator of the program, said in an interview on DMD's blog that candidates for SocialCycling "could really be anyone. What we try to do through our material audits is create a business case and connection points between brands and converters, community groups or recyclers that makes sense; environmentally, socially and fiscally."
For example, with the aforementioned vinyl-coated materials, DMD Green has clients that hand over pre-consumer PVC scrap to artisans in Africa that turn them into lining for backpacks.
"What we have done is solve a business problem for a US manufacturer, an African producer and hopefully, even helped some actual people along the way," Warnock said.
The program is similar to TerraCycle's upcycling efforts, which takes post-consumer trash that cannot be recycled and turns it into new products, making a whole range of everyday products from wrappers, snack bags, plastic tubs and bottles.