will.i.am “Just Can’t Get Enough” of the Green Movement

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Nowadays, musical artist will.i.am is always in the spotlight. (Dare I say it he “Just Can’t Get Enough”). Besides performing at the Superbowl halftime show alongside the “Black Eyed Peas” he has also turned himself into quite the actor, where he has appeared in films such as Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and Date Night. However, this entertainment cameleon’s most important contribution to society occurred yesterday when he teamed up with Coca-Cola to launch a green business known as “Ekocycle.”

The new brand will offer high quality products generated from recycled goods. In starting the company, will.i.am is focusing on generating buzz and popularity within the mainstream around sustainable, yet visually-stimulating products. In a recent interview the artist stated that the current market for recycled products are not “cool” and stressed, “You have to bring some art and fashion sensibility into this technology that turns a bottle into something cool.” The company will offer an assortment of goods including Dr. Dre’s “Beats” headphones and a clothing line, all made from recycled goods.

Ekocycle’s other founding partner, Coca-Cola, has been a pioneer in recycling efforts through its “Give It Back” and “Recyclebank” programs. (For more info check out the link below). In order to promote the sustainability movement, the company has vowed to donate a portion of its licensing products (a minimum of $1 million) to charities involved in recycle and community engagement. Such a partnership is a win-win for the green movement as the high-quality and aesthetics of the Ekocycle brand will draw consumers in and engage them in the movement. In addition, having will.i.am as not only a spokesman but founding partner will engage the youth in a movement which requires energy and influence. Despite not being a favorite artist of mine, the key in will.i.am’s  involvement is that he can draw in an audience that is poised to make a difference in the world. His popularity among the youth will inspire others to commit to the green movement via the Ekocycle brand. A celebrity advocate such as will.i.am is a necessary cog in achieving global sustainability, and will help draw the movement closer to a day where we can all live green, and be green.

http://www.livepositively.com/en_us/recycling/#/recycling

 

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Ekocycle Delivers Recycling Message Through Dramatic Visualization

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We constantly hear about the benefits of recycling, and now Ekocycle has taken the delivery of this message to the next level by going on a mission to provide a remarkably informative and entertaining visualization of the possible results of this effort.  Ekocycle is a collaboration between the Coca-Cola Company and Will.i.am, which educates consumers, particularly young people, on the benefits of recycling and encourages “recycling behavior” and sustainability among consumers”.  We here at LGBG first wrote about this project back in August (http://livegreenbegreen.com/?s=Ekocycle), and after seeing the work done by this group, we would like to talk about it again.  First of all, we salute Ekocycle’s mission to use awareness of the issues with plastics as a tool to effect social change.

The goal of the Ekocycle project is a simple and direct one– “zero waste“, an innovative way of

.  Plastic bottles can be recycled to make so many other items, with the possibilities limited only by the lack of imagination.  What makes this effort really special is the visual and auditory appeal to the senses in the form of commercials set to music, which begins with an empty soda bottle being morphed into numerous popular items that we use everyday, some of which, are in very high demand.  This approach to recycling is very refreshing because in the past we have been bombarded with the negative effects, or punishment, for not recycling.  We read about plastic pollution, and we witness increased bottle taxes and added costs for plastic bags, along with local ordinances banning the use of plastic bags totally.  Also, we see large landfills packed with plastic materials that will take forever to break down.  Now Ekocycle has introduced commercials, which shows in dramatic fashion products we can make from recycled plastic bottles, thereby protecting the environment and still having fun.   These commercials are set to the characteristic beat of the music of Will.i.am, and the recycled products includes furniture, phone cases and accessories, and even the ever-popular Levi jeans.

Since we first announced Ekocycle last August, this project has gained momentum and is becoming a social movement dedicated to sustainability.  It has attracted the attention and resulted in partnerships with major brands, such as Limited edition Levi’s 501 Waste<less jeans, Beats by Dr. Dre (headphones),  Case-Mate Barely There phone cases (available at Best Buy and at www.bestbuy.com/casemate and New Era caps.

Will.i.am so fittingly states, “All good things must end, but an end can be a new start”.  Ekocycle is the embodiment of the spirit of sustainability.  With its positive message and reinforcement of the need to be environmentally friendly, combined with the encouragement to use technology to address environmental issues, such as plastic pollution and waste, it is mounting a social movement which makes us want to jump on the bandwagon to witness the possibilities.  It’s like magic tricks, which turn objects into new things.  We all love magic, and Ekocycle is eager to deliver a world were we can live green, be green.

Sources for this article:

http://livegreenbegreen.com/?s=Ekocycle

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/media-center/press-releases/recycling-fashion-william-coca-cola-launch-new-brand

Credit: Will.i.am at Ekocycle

Credit: Will.i.am at Ekocycle

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Redefining How We Recycle

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Plastic bottles. They hold our precious liquids, and sometimes catch the occasional firefly. Once these bottles have served their purpose however, many are thrown out or are sent to a recycling plant. A previous school of thought determined that, once these bottles were recycled at such plants, they would seemingly be turned into, you guessed it, more bottles. More recently however, as we’ve detailed here in our blog, recycling has transcended passed the mundane, and has been used as raw materials for tangible goods that particularly the youth would enjoy. i.e. sneakers and Dr. Dre’s “Beats” headphones.

The latest product fitting within this trend is “Eco-Fi,” a polyester fiber developed by U.S. company Wellman Inc. which uses plastic bottles as one of its main materials. According to the website:

 “The Eco-fi process has the capacity to keep almost 3 billion plastic PET soda bottles out of the world’s landfills each year, saving over 1/2 million barrels of oil and eliminating 400,000 tons of harmful air emissions which contribute to acid rain, global warming and smog. The amount of petroleum saved by using post-consumer bottles instead of virgin materials in the manufacturing process annually is enough to supply power to a city the size of Atlanta for an entire year.”

In a sort of Frankenstein-ish way, the plastic bottles are cut up into tiny strands which are then sterilized and later placed into large vats of water. Here, the fibers are heated and developed into a thick and durable fiber.  Subsequently, the fiber is stretched and adapted to fit the style and type of clothing intended. The feat is truly amazing and a huge success for the green movement.

Ultimately, recycling has now gone beyond the mundane of reusing the material for the same purpose. Recycling has become an art form in that, ordinary plastic bottles are being transformed into extraordinary goods, a poor man’s alchemy if you will. 

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