Junkk.com, the brainchild of former creative director and advertising agency owner Peter Martin, has its sights on "shaking up attitudes and practices surrounding waste materials and packaging by offering people suggestions for reusing packaging that they might otherwise throw out via a unique, searchable database of ideas". The company's pitch adds: "It's a new approach to promoting environmental good practice which is fun, saves people time and money and offers incentives and promotions via partnerships facilitated with businesses and other organisations."
Martin adds: "We're not looking to beat people into reuse and recycling Junkk.com's message is that many items they might otherwise discard – from yoghurt pots to clamshell packs – can either be put to a valuable second use, recycled, or swapped with another Junkk.com user or indeed bought by them."
Martin hopes manufacturers, retailers and small businesses will upload basic material specifications, dimensions etc of their products and packaging, alongside information on whether they can be recycled, and suggestions on how they might be reused. He says: "Not only can participating businesses boost their public perception, but the site could also offer them a valuable revenue stream. We have already talked to several enthusiastic retailers, but now need a big one to get firmly behind us to really get the ball rolling."
Martin hopes soon also to include full details on local authorities' recycling services nationwide, while the "ideas database" will be complemented by the JunkkXchange "matchmaking" service – where users can offer or look for unwanted items with a potential second use.
His "next step" will be to undertake a comprehensive local media publicity campaign.
