Conscious Choice: True Blu Pioneers

September 1998

True Blu Pioneers

by James Faber

In a small house on the South side of the Chicago Loop, nestled among the factories squatting there, is a modest design studio that is changing the way we look at recycling and recycled materials.

Blu Planet, Inc. is a six-year-old design firm co-founded by John Caruso and business partner Josephine Saavedra. Its focus is the development of upscale housewares products and furniture made only from post-consumer recycled materials — those materials that have been thrown away. In other words, the partners get their raw materials from the trash, pick it up at recycling centers, or excavate it from landfills. "When we started this in‘92, we literally had people laughing at us, but I was never in this for the money," says Caruso. Now, he says, "All of a sudden we’re dictating one of the new trends according to Metropolitan Home."

Caruso gained his awareness of the environment at an early age, through the‘70s "Don’t Litter" campaigns and the energy crisis caused by the oil embargo. "I think I’ve always had an uncomfortable restlessness to do the right thing," he says. "I was the guy who would go to all the little fishing holes and pick up all the garbage."

After graduating in 1987 from the Center for Creative Studies College of Art and Design in Detroit, Caruso worked as a product designer where he found himself becoming increasingly frustrated. He remembers walking through an alley and seeing a TV he’d worked on tossed in a garbage dumpster. The consequence of his work hit him in the gut. He remembers thinking, "Here I feel this way about the environment and I’m doing a lot to put this crap out there." Right then, he says, "I decided to work and study to figure out what could be done within the limitations of designing things only with post-consumer recycled materials."

Blu Planet basically works as a design firm, coming up with ideas and applications for recycled materials. But they also work with manufacturers, supporting their plans for materials. According to Caruso, it’s not a matter of what can the material do, but instead what does the client want it to do. The material can be engineered to fit the client’s needs. "It’s really exciting," he says. "You can make something custom for the client that no one else can make."

Since the introduction of its first product — clipboards made from 100 percent recycled plastic laundry detergent bottles — Blu Planet has developed other products, including office supplies and kitchen organization goods. They’re most excited, though, about the furniture they’ve designed. One of their present goals is to become their own client as well as the manufacturer of recycled furniture and other products..

This goal of becoming an assembly manufacturer with its own product line is unfolding a lot faster than anticipated, according to Caruso. "Mostly, people don’t know how to sell [our product], or don’t want to sell them, so we’re going to," he says.

Caruso points out that the consumer usually does not have any say regarding which products make it to the shelves. To combat this, Blu Planet has developed a web site to empower consumers to make their own decisions. Though the partners still consider the web site a work in progress, their clipboards already are flying off the shelves nationwide through The Container Store.

Blu Planet is making steady progress in a market that is still hesitant about using recycled materials. But Caruso and Saavedra still don’t seem to be motivated by profit. "If you can change the perception of a person’s understanding of what plastic really is, and how it can be used over and over," says Caruso, "then it’s not garbage, but a mountain of possibility."

To that end, Caruso and Saavedra have also started the Blu Planet Foundation, a non-profit group involved in promoting education and awareness working with kids at the Chicago Park District, and the DuPage County Recycling Board. The children are able to see the direct results of recycling through products donated by Blu Planet. "How do you explain to a child that you make farm stall dividers or parking stops from recycled materials?" he asks. Then he answers: "With something they can see, touch and recognize. [Then] they can see a real value in recycling, thus truly completing the loop."

Caruso does not take all the credit, and is quick to acknowledge the others who have also worked to make a positive impact in recycling, including his partner Saavedra. "There are a lot of people who are pioneers but don’t perhaps get the visibility that we do," he says. Still, when it comes to making sacrifices to improve our environment, most people use the standard excuse that they can’t change the world. John Caruso and Josephine Saavedra don’t make excuses. They’re too busy changing the world.

Caruso deeply believes the power to create change lies within each individual. "Everybody makes a difference," he says. "It’s not a matter of whether you can or can’t, but whether you are going to sit back and do nothing at all, or take an active role."

Resources
Blu Planet’s web site is no longer operating.

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