Plastic Litter Mined from American Rivers Gets Second Chance as Reusable Plastic Pallets
Nature creates no waste. Unfortunately, people do. Thankfully, there are entrepreneurs out there like Tammy Becker and Chad Pregracke with the vision to turn single-use plastic litter and waste into cost efficient, durable reusable products.?
The married couple have been working together for decades managing the removal of over 13 million pounds of litter from America’s greatest rivers and planting more than 1.9 million trees through their NGO Living Lands & Waters (LL&W).
Living Lands & Waters have had to spend nearly $350,000 to send thousands of tons of plastic waste they have collected from the Anacostia, Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers to landfills since Chad founded the 501C (3) in 1998.??
To complement the work of LL&W, Tammy has led the charge to launch a majority woman’s owned business, Green Current Solutions, in East Moline, IL.??The company will annually put to good use 15-20 million pounds of the HDPE plastic containers Living Lands & Waters rescues from rivers, lakes and streams as well as from corporate recycling programs. Profits from the company will be reinvested to grow the business and fund expansion of LL&W educational and clean-up efforts.?
With the clever Tagline: “Palletgonia”, Tammy, Chad and their new team will start pumping out 48-inch by 40-inch standard GMA reusable plastic pallets, weighing 45 pounds, for sale to fast moving consumer goods companies by the end of June 2023.?
Wood pallets typically last for about 14 months, while plastic pallets can make 400-500 trips over 4-5 years.??According to Circular Supply Chains Inc. “Nearly 2 billion wooden pallets are in circulation in the US with a majority replaced each year. This consumes an estimated 50% of the country’s annual hardwood harvest.?Every year in the US alone 1 million acres of our planet’s trees are destroyed to manufacture and produce the wooden pallets used to operate the distribution industry. To replenish 1 million acres of trees will take approximately 40 years.”
The Mission of Green Current Solutions is to recycle plastic and save trees. Tammy stated, “We believe we have the most sustainable and socially conscious plastic pallet on the market.” Tammy added, “We are doing our part to help with global plastic pollution one pallet at a time.”
For more information on Green Current Solutions and their revolutionary recycled plastic pallets?and Living Lands and Waters:
Associate Director @ George Mason University | Sustainability Focused Problem Solver
1 年Very cool read, thanks for sharing!
作家
1 年Excellent success story!