Yesterday I attended the annual APWA International Public Works Congress & Exposition & WASTECON2010 in Boston. As usual I met great people and learned about new products, ideas, and information. This year, one of the highlights for me was meeting Jo-Anne Perkins and listening to her story. After losing her mother to breast cancer, Jo-Anne became determined to do something to help in the fight against breast cancer. Last year, she realized garbage cans could help her in this quest by using them to do something more than just hold garbage. Her idea was to change the color of the receptacle to pink and place the breast cancer awareness logo on the outside. Each week, garbage cans sitting at the curb would remind people of the fight against breast cancer. Information cast into the lid would remind women pushing the cart to the curb to check themselves regularly and schedule regular breast exams.
Jo-Anne worked with Cascade Cart Solutions to create the carts and with waste haulers to start offering them to residents. The pink carts now come in 35-gallon, 64-gallon, and 96-gallon sizes and can be ordered through several different options depending on their availability:
- Private Haulers & Cities/Municipalities
- Distributors
- Retail
- Online at the Pink Cart Website
The company donates $5 to the American Cancer Society for each cart purchased. So far the carts have been a big hit – one customer ordered several to be used during a Breast Cancer event in New York. But Jo-Anne has not stopped with just selling the carts. The Pink Cart Website not only offers information about the carts, but also hosts the Trash Talk Blog where people can share stories of their experience with breast cancer. And people are encouraged to upload photos of their pink carts at the The Pink Cart Flickr Group, like the Pink Cart on Facebook, and follow the Pink Cart on Twitter.
