Penny Bonda

Tricycle: The Waste Avenger
August 21, 2008

Waste is a terrible thing to waste. Enter Tricycle—a waste superhero worthy of a (hybrid) Batmobile. Fighting against the evils of landfills since 2004, Tricycle has diverted more than 306,000 pounds of carpet samples from the waste stream, and conserved 51,000 gallons of oil, resulting in an economic savings of more than $42 million. Holy methane!

Here's how carpet specifying works: The designer, while scheming a job, looks through carpet folders, selects 30 samples he'd like to consider, and calls his rep who orders them from the mill. The mill produces the tufted samples, tying up expensive machinery, creating backlogs and using 7.5 gallons of oil. Forty-five pounds of samples are shipped via a costly delivery service to the designer, who receives them three to 10 days later, and promptly rejects all but three. Or, perhaps, he rejects them all and selects others and the sample production-and-delivery process begins anew. The discarded samples most likely end up in a landfill.

Here's how it works with Tricycle: The designer, while scheming a job, looks through carpet folders, selects 30 samples she'd like to consider, and calls her rep who orders them from the mill. The mill produces Tryks—simulations printed on 100-percent recyclable paper using zero oil—and ships a far smaller and less costly package within 24 hours. The designer rejects all but three and orders those patterns in tufted samples to be shown to the client. Or, perhaps, she rejects them all and orders 30 more Tryks, or 60, or 90—all without sending anything to the landfill.

We're not going to save the planet by using Tryks, but we can change an industry. Give it a try.

Posted by Penny Bonda on August 21, 2008 | Comments (2)