These workers have green collars
Across the country, corporations and consumers alike are becoming environmentally conscientious, and the implications extend beyond climate change reports and into the business world.
By Christina Rexrode, Times Staff Writer
Published October 21, 2007
Forget blue collars and white collars. Think green, instead. Across the country, corporations and consumers alike are becoming environmentally conscientious, and the implications extend beyond climate change reports and into the business world. These three entrepreneurs - let's call them green collars - see revenue potential in environmentalism. They all hope to harness some of it.
Mike Flynn, Safety Harbor, Quicksilver Recycling Services
QUICKSILVER RECYCLING SERVICES has made a business out of keeping electronics out of landfills.
The Tampa company saw potential in carpet as well, mainly because there's plenty of it: Quicksilver says that 17 pounds of carpet per person per year is thrown away.
So in May, it opened a 12,500-square-foot "carpet recovery facility" in Safety Harbor. Workers there use infrared spectrometry to identify the type of fiber in old carpets. Then they bundle the carpets by fiber and ship them to various end users.
For example, the nylon 66 that some carpets are made from can be reused in plastic auto parts, said Quicksilver's Mike Flynn. Polypropylene can be used in plastic parts for septic tanks, and nylon 6 can be broken down to its virgin chemical state and used in new carpets.
Quicksilver's goal, Flynn said, is to ship 40,000 pounds of carpet every other day.
"We look for niches which address the major problem, which is, 'It's going to the landfill and it shouldn't. It should be recycled - how?'" said Flynn, 63. "That's what we do. We address the 'how.'"
Brian Gregson, St. Petersburg, Rainwater Services
After every storm, Brian Gregson watches with dismay as water gushes into the neighborhood sewers. What a waste, he always thinks.
So Gregson and his wife, Erin, latched on to an idea that has already gained followers in drier parts of the country and launched Rainwater Services from their home in St. Petersburg. For $2,000 to $5,000, they build custom rainwater harvesting systems, which channel rain from a home's roof into cisterns in the yard.
The cisterns are attached to sprinklers or hoses. The captured rainwater can be used for irrigation, so potable water from a municipal source or a well isn't wasted on the lawn.
Homeowners who use municipal water on their lawns will save money by switching to rainwater, Gregson points out. His customers are also eligible to apply to Swiftmud for an exemption from yard-watering restrictions.
"I'd like to target more than just the hippie tree hugger population," said Gregson, 30, who is a research biologist. "We feel this can benefit the average homeowner."
Ralph Fisher, Lutz, TaxCreditSolar.com
Ralph Fisher, a lawyer and accountant, didn't need a third occupation. But then the 2006 Florida Energy Act came along, and he heard opportunity knocking.
Among other things, the energy act offers homeowners rebates of up to $500 for installing solar thermal systems. The federal government and some energy companies offer incentives, too. Fisher, 51, who had built a solar hot water system for the house he lived in as an undergraduate at the University of Florida, figured he could do it again. So he launched TaxCreditSolar.com.
A family of four, he estimates, will pay $6,700 for a solar hot water heater before rebates, and then save $100 a month on electricity.
But even a system that pays for itself can be a tough sell if the audience is environmentally apathetic. "Most people don't even think about their hot water until it starts leaking," Fisher said. "They don't even know that it runs on electricity.
"What I want to find is this 1 percent of people who have an interest in this already."