Jun 15, 2007

Living The Greasy Good Life

Mosier, Ore. – Resource Revival has received attention before (design awards, recycling awards) but special honors from a beer company?

Resource Revival’s Graham Bergh and business partner, Jim Hassert, are currently featured in a national advertising campaign by Fort Collins, Colo.-based New Belgium Brewing Co., maker of Fat Tire Amber Ale and leaders in the sustainable business movement. The campaign, called “Follow Your Folly,” includes print ads in national magazines and short documentary films about Resource Revival and other creatively environment-conscious groups on the website FollowYourFolly.com.

Bryan Simpson, media relations director for New Belgium Brewing, says that including Resource Revival, a small company in Mosier, Ore., that manufactures gifts and home furnishings from recycled bike parts, was a no-brainer for the campaign.

“When we started researching subjects, Resource Revival topped the list right from the start,” he says. “Their company ethic and aesthetic are very much in line with New Belgium’s, and their innovative approach to recycling and re-use sealed the deal.”

The company is the brainchild of dedicated recycler Bergh, who in 1991 sought a way to keep his flat, already over-patched bike inner tube out of the landfill. Three years and several flats later, Resource Revival, Inc., was born, and today Graham is living the dream of the eco-entrepreneur: running a successful company that helps the environment.

Not only is Resource Revival successful in the traditional sense, with sales to companies as diverse as Whole Foods and Disney; the company is also successful in the modern sense of being a “good neighbor.” Located on a 10-acre farmstead in rural Oregon with stunning views of Cascade volcanoes and the Columbia River Gorge, Resource Revival does most of its business by phone, web and email, and donates 1 percent of its annual sales to a range of organizations, from the local elementary school to Amnesty International. The company’s 5 employees benefit from flexible schedules and weekly on-the-clock games of Frisbee golf or bocci ball.

One of these golf games is featured in New Belgium Brewing’s on-line documentary. “It was a great opportunity to collaborate and I think we really got to celebrate that kindred spirit while hanging out, working and goofing off,” says Simpson of the on-location shoot. “When I went to cut the video for the website, we knew Jim Hassert had a band, The Dopeness, and the music worked great for the spot. It was really a nice organic approach to productionusing their music to support the video.”

For Bergh, having fun at work is just as important as doing a good job, minimizing the company’s impact on the Earth and providing high-quality products.

“All of these elements need to be in place,” says Bergh. “The recycling; the environment; the support of the people who spend their time here. If anything were out of balance, Resource Revival just wouldn’t work.”

Resource Revival’s mission is to create innovative products from recycled materials, to provide meaningful, living wage jobs, and to have fun. We envision a sustainable future in which commerce flourishes in a world powered by renewable energy, and in which consumers are conscious of the origin of the products they buy.

More information about Resource Revival at ResourceRevival.com.

More information about New Belgium Brewing Co. at FollowYourFolly.com.