Doing Well By Doing Good – Design Helps

In Design by Phil Price

Many companies are trying to prove they can do well as businesses while at the same time doing good for mankind. While I have my doubts about some of their motivations, I do like Pepsi’s Dream Machine program. The Dream Machine recycling initiative was created in partnership with Waste Management. The goal is to increase the U.S. beverage container recycling rate from 34 percent to 50 percent by 2018.

According to Keep America Beautiful, only 12 percent of public spaces are equipped with recycling receptacles. That’s where the Dream Machine comes in. Traditional recycling bins are usually ugly beasts akin to trash cans. Pepsi’s Dream Machines are designed to look more like vending machines and offer an extra incentive for people to use them. The more people recycle in them, the more money PepsiCo will provide to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV).

The idea allows consumers to do the right thing by recycling and help Vets at the same time. Not bad.