Picks for the Planet

One of the many green initiatives that our green marketing company partakes in is called Picks for the Planet. Since one of the products we offer is hotel key card advertising, it is was imperative that we come up with a green way to reuse this environmentally problematic plastic. This is when we first saw the Pick Punch.

The Pick Punch can punch out guitar picks from old plastic cards, and works great on old hotel key cards. We make sure that a large portion of the hotels we work with collect cards with broken or used mag-stripes, as well as working with manufacturers on misprints.

We have collected tens of thousands of useless plastic cards that would have made their way to either the dump or the energy inefficient recycling plant. Either way would cause a larger carbon footprint than finding a new way to reuse the product.

As a fellow 1% for the Planet Member, we found Guitars in the Classroom would be a perfect organization to partner with. Guitars in the Classroom trains, equips and empowers classroom teachers to transform learning every subject into a creative, musical process that engages students and promotes learning.

They welcome participation from school specialists, counselors, staff and dedicated community volunteers, too. Founded in 1998, participants in GITC free programs learn to play guitar and ukulele, sing and write songs for learning, and to lead singing, songwriting and hands-on music making with students of all ages as an integral part of lessons. Guitars in the Classroom has trained over 9,000 educational song leaders so far and their regionally based programs serve well over half a million students each week.

Each hotel keycard can make 5 guitar picks. Aside from the thousands already donated, in just the last month we have collected over 10,000 old keycard from hotels we work with and manufacturers of the cards. This means we have over 50,000 guitar picks to donate from this month alone!

Since both Guitars in the Classroom and The Greenfield Group are members of 1% for the Planet, we are making sure that the word spreads about this great organization. 1% for the Planet now claims over 1477 members worldwide giving $15 million annually to over 2000 environmental groups worldwide.

Over the summer Robin Greenfield, founder of The Greenfield Group, will be filming a documentary biking across the nation promoting sustainability. While on this trip, Robin will be handing out roughly 10,000 guitar picks with 1% for the planet’s information. He will spread the message of sustainability and let others know about the great work these companies.

Picks for the Planet is just one of the examples of how we keep The Greenfield Group a carbon negative company. We aim for the earth, and our community, to be better off after using our services.