Newly launched recycling website seeks support from business world
A new “green” website is looking for support from businesses eager to reach environmentally minded consumers.
Junkk.com, which will operate as a commercial site rather than not-for-profit, is the brainchild of former advertising agency boss Peter Martin, who as head of a major Singapore-based agency has worked on campaigns for clients such as Microsoft, MTV and Porsche. Advertising sales will be handled by digital media specialists Unanimis, while the company has appointed Gary Brown, former chief operating officer of Starcom MediaVest Group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to advise it on media sales and marketing.
Martin says that the problem with most existing recycling initiatives is that they fail to put the consumer first. “The challenge in meeting recycling targets isn’t technological, operational or financial – it’s cultural. We need to engage with consumers by making recycling a rewarding experience and not just a worthy one.”
The Junkk.com site will feature ideas aimed at promoting re-use of items as much as recycling, with a directory of alternative uses for things that might otherwise be thrown out, complete with photographs, such as cereal boxes converted into magazine holders. There will also be a green “swap-shop” along the lines of eBay and a range of Junkk.com-branded consumer products.
Martin adds that he hopes consumer products companies will begin to incorporate “re-use” possibilities into their packaging, so that less will have to be thrown away. He is also looking for support from local and national authorities that wish to reduce the amount of rubbish going into landfill sites or being burnt.
Under European Union rules, the UK has to increase the amount of waste that is recycled or composted from 14.5 per cent of all waste generated in 2003 to 55 per cent by 2008.
