"THE RECYCLING BUSINESS: INSPIRING ACHIEVEMENTS FOR ENTREPRENEURS"
 

"Upcycling: Making Cash from Trash"

In North America alone, more than 600 million tons of waste is thrown into landfills every year. Enter the world of Upcycling, the repurposing of a trash-bound material into a product of higher quality. Ecoist co-founders, brothers Jonathan and Yair Marcoschamer, will take you on a journey from the landfill to the bank and inspire you to embrace the business practices of the triple bottom line: people, profit and planet.
 

Founded in 2004 by brothers Jonathan and Yair Marcoschamer, Ecoist pioneered turning trash into cash. Transforming pre-consumer waste into “fabric” used to make unique gifts and fashion accessories. Produced with fair trade manufactures, the company has partnerships with The Coca-Cola Company, Disney, Mars and others to repurpose their factory misprints and overages. Media coverage on CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox, major fashion publications and daily coverage on the Internet have helped the company gain recognition as one of the most innovative eco-brands today.

  
   
 

"The Business of Reuse"

Everyone is familiar with the mantra of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”.  However, one of the three has become much more popular than the others. “Recycle” has become synonymous with terms like “eco-friendly” and “earth-friendly” and even “green”.  This talk looks at the concept of “reuse” and identifies not only reuse activities that are far more earth-friendly than recycling, but that can actually be profitable for any business. Whether you be an individual consumer, employee and/or executive, this educational session will leave you with 5 easy ways to create value from reuse.
 

Marty Metro is the Founder / CEO of UsedCardboardBoxes.com (UCB), a national, venture-funded and earth-friendly company tackling the gratuitous $120 billion worth of cardboard boxes produced around the world each year… most of which are used once, and just thrown away.  UCB works with large manufacturers, distributors, retailers and new box makers to “rescue” quality used boxes, misprints, overruns and/or returns and then resell them back into industry.  Metro holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, with concentrations in Information Systems and Management. Prior to graduate studies, Metro graduated Cum Laude from the University of Maryland.