Inspired By Ernest, A Young Journalist Takes on Recycling
June 16, 2015
Americans create more than 250 million tons of trash each year, according to the EPA’s most recent numbers. As a frame of reference, the average Tyrannosaurus Rex only weighs about 9 tons. So that’s about 25 million T-Rex’s, which would also be a great plot for the sequel to Jurassic World.
California has a 50% recycling rate, but the state is working to get it up to 75% by 2020. Shaleeka Powell, a student at USC’s Graduate Program of Journalism, sought to tell the story of what local businesses are doing to make this a reality.
What was Shaleeka’s inspiration for this story?
“I saw Suzie [Suh]’s segment that featured Ernest’s recyclable snowboard and thought how cool it was,” Powell said, referring to Los Angeles CBS2’s Suzie Suh’s segment on Ernest Packaging Solutions’ Cardboard Chaos. “What Ernest did was a really fun way to bring attention to something that’s such a big problem. The more recycling feels like a chore, the less likely people are going to be to do it.”
Shaleeka reached out to Ernest’s president, Tim Wilson, to learn more about Cardboard Chaos. She then came to the Ernest office where we showed her all of the cool things that we’re doing with sustainability and innovation. After all, the main goal of Cardboard Chaos is to foster and encourage new ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nZ7MdCpm7A
Recycling is a hugely important part of caring for our planet, which is why we at Ernest do everything we can to work with recyclable materials. Additionally, we work hard to strategically minimize the amount of material used in our packaging solutions, as source reduction is another critical way of decreasing waste.
Shaleeka inspires us to keep striving for the most sustainable packaging options and to continue to put innovation at the forefront of all we do. If you’re ready to tell a great story with your packaging, contact us today!
