Innovation

Eric Hudson, the founder, and CEO studied the recycling system and quickly realized that many people were recycling, but the materials were not being put to an alternative use. Very few manufacturers were finding different ways to use recycled material. In 1996, Eric founded Preserve. He worked with dentists, scientists, and engineers to create the recycling process, identify appropriate recycling streams, and make a toothbrush that is entirely made with recycled materials.

Today, Preserve has developed into a company that is environmentally driven. Preserve makes a wide variety of everyday items from either recycled materials or plant-based products. According to John Lively, Preserve's COO, "There’s an engineering tool out there called: Life Cycle Analysis, or LCA. And we have in various steps in our 23 years, conducted Life Cycle Analysis assessments on our products and our material or engaged in a kind of Life Cycle Analysis [white], where we do an assessment. And what those things have shown is when we use recycled content, to make our product, that our product, roughly speaking, uses half the energy and half the water if we have instead used typical virgin plastics to make them.”

According to Eric, Preserve also has a 2030 carbon-neutral goal, which we’re going to achieve. We are already starting hard on it.” Preserve is working on reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere: According to Eric, “The short term and long term implications of that innovation are to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that we incur in manufacturing and delivering our products to market.”

A toothbrush is one of the products that Preserve makes and sells to consumers.

Inspiration

Eric has always been an outdoor person. He always had an appreciation for the natural world, the environment, and the Earth itself. He studied the recycling system and soon realized that many people were recycling, but the materials were not really being used. Very few manufacturers and companies were putting the recycled material into use.

According to John, Preserve has always been “pretty strong on environment friendly and sustainability.” Preserve has also been in business to "have an impact on the environment...but also to have a positive impact on humans and life." According to Eric, the innovation at the start was to "source recycled materials versus virgin materials...we try to make our products as light as possible on the Earth in several other different ways."

Ultimately, Preserve was founded based on helping the Earth, the environment, and all types of life that live on our planet. That same goal has not changed since the company's founding in 1996.

Overall impact

The overall impact of Preserve’s innovation is that less recycled materials go to waste. Also, people can buy useful everyday products that are eco-friendly and based on recycled and/or plant materials. This helps stimulate the recycling environment. Therefore, more recycled material means more possible products that can be made. This, in turn, means that more products can and will be sold to consumers.

The short and long-term effects are generally the same. According to Eric Hudson, “The short term and long term implications of that innovation is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that we incur in manufacturing and delivering our products to market.” Evidence that the impact occurred, according to John Lively, is, “There’s an engineering tool out there called: Life Cycle Analysis, or LCA. And we have in various steps in our 23 years, conducted Life Cycle Analysis assessments on our products and our material or engaged in kind of Life Cycle Analysis [white], where we do an assessment. And what those things have shown is when we use recycled content, to make our product, that our product, roughly speaking, use half the energy and half the water if we have instead used typical virgin plastics to make them.”

Ultimately, the Earth is healthier as there will be less greenhouse gas emissions and there is a conservation of both energy and water. Preserve has proved that recycling works.

Business benefit

This innovation benefits the business as Preserve creates various useful everyday products that range from oral care, hair removal equipment (i.e. razors and other shaving items), kitchen utensils, reusable water bottles, and travel items (i.e toothbrushes). Preserve then sells these items.

Through purchasable products, people can promote the company and its mission. As a result, more people will become educated about the benefits of what recycling can do and persuade others to recycle. The items that Preserve sells can help its brand, in terms of growing larger.

Also, according to Eric Hudson, “...we pay everybody a living wage or greater...We do not abide by [the] minimum wage. We abide by living wage or higher than that for everyone.” Everyone is paid to help them afford a comfortable lifestyle.

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Social and environmental benefit

The innovation benefits the environment by reducing “the greenhouse gas emissions that incur in manufacturing and delivering our products to market” (according to Hudson). It ultimately decreases the number of wasted materials in the environment. The work that Preserve does also stimulates the recycling environment and promotes the idea of recycling. If people see all the things that can be made out of recycled materials, then more people will be willing to recycle. Also, there will be less waste on Earth. Thus, animals and other walks of life will have a more healthy and safe environment. Ultimately, Preserve proved that recycling does work.

Interviews

Eric Hudson, Founder and CEO

John Lively, COO