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Deby Cowdin
From the Blue Bag

The Nominator: Mindy Bohannon, From the Blue Bag

How has the nominee implemented sustainable business practices in his or her business or organization?
As President of From the Blue Bag, Deby Cowdin accomplishes her green initiative and recycling mission in three ways. First, she educates local businesses on the importance and value of recycling and then supplies them with a means to recycle their glass containers by providing them with customized 55-gallon containers. Second, she assists them in setting up viable recycling programs, which includes having FBB actually pick up the glass containers. All of this makes these local businesses more sustainable by saving them the cost of hauling the glass away and by providing an easy means to recycle the glass, which makes FBB and these local businesses collaborative and environmentally friendly. Third, FBB transforms the discarded glass items into food functional serving ware, including candy dishes, bowls, serving trays, and centerpieces. From the Blue Bag starts with wine, champagne, beer, liquor and even olive oil bottles and creates functional art by melting the bottles in a kiln at over 1500 degrees. They then customize the bottles by engraving a personal message onto them, which could include wedding invitations, special events, recognitions, or images. As part of the ongoing and holistic approach to recycling, FBB takes discarded packing materials and uses them to ship products around the country. And then they also have their large shipping boxes returned and reuse them instead of the end user throwing them away. Boxes will get up to 6 uses before they are recycled. Deby is continuously exploring new and different ways to extend and continue her green mission in every facet of the company. FBB is not only talking sustainability, but walking it and engaging other businesses in this sustainability initiative.

What are the triple bottom line benefits (people, planet, prosperity) of the nominee`s work?
In every part of her life, Deby Cowdin is very conscious of and intentional about creating win/win situations for herself, the business, the community and the organizations with which she does business. • People prosper by purchasing a unique green and functional products made locally in Cleveland, Ohio. Businesses prosper by lowering their cost for waste removal, while moving into the sustainability movement. From the Blue Bag is not only doing well for the people and the planet, but her business model and commitment engage more businesses into the green movement. • The planet prospers because FBB prolongs the use of these non-biodegradable products. By preventing thousands (and soon to be tens of thousands and more) of these used liquor, wine, olive oil and other bottles from ever reaching the landfill, Deby and FBB are putting them back into the marketplace for a second and long useful life. Deby and FBB are not merely recyclers, but upcyclers and repurposers of what used to be considered waste. In fact, FBB is actually redefining waste in a way that achieves even greater sustainability and positive impact for the planet. • Deby, her customers, and the city of Cleveland all prosper with full time employment for 3 full-time employees and several part-time employees creating unique and functional gifts sent all around the country (and now internationally), as well as growing exponentially year-over-year. Deby also partners with local businesses to use their products to compliment hers by including them as part of the FBB products and gifts (e.g., gift baskets, jellies and sauces, chocolates – all made in Northeast Ohio). In addition, Deby and FBB are strong supporters of many local charities by donating FBB products for silent auctions, providing marketing items for local charities, and by offering charities a means to raise money by selling FBB products.

How has the nominee inspired you to implement sustainable business practices?
Deby Cowdin is not merely an entrepreneur that happens to repurpose glass waste into useable products and gifts. She lives and breathes green efforts and sustainability every day, both through FBB’s business model and through her own personal efforts. She has inspired myself not only implement recycling efforts (personally and at the office), but to share the message with everyone I meet. It’s not unusual for me (and others) to pick up discarded glass bottles or to pull one out of the garbage, because Deby and FBB have planted a seed of sustainability in hundreds of people in Cleveland and across the country. It’s a shame that shipping empty beer bottles 1000 miles isn’t cost-effective! People say that passion is the essence of entrepreneurship, and for Deby passion is a part of her every day life – about her business, about the community, about sustainability, and about the planet. I also joined the volunteer sustainability group within my company in order to organize and participate in lowering the eco-footprint of our company’s day-to-day operations and give our employees easy access to recycling. Wherever Deby goes she leaves a “green” message and a commitment to sustainability that attracts and engages everyone that she meets.

How can someone else translate the success of the nominee? Is the work of the nominee an example or model that others can follow?
Deby Cowdin is a talented artist that saw possibilities with garbage. Like most entrepreneurs, she saw opportunity where others saw nothing (she literally saw opportunity in the dumpsters). This is a lesson to everyone on not seeing what is “there,” but looking for the creative opportunities to create a thriving and impactful business and make a difference. In this case, Deby and FBB are helping people, the community and the planet simply by using her creativity and her artist sensibility to create a functional product from what was waste. Deby and FBB are also a shining example of the transformational power that a single person with vision can have. We are surrounded by things or situations that need to be changed or fixed for our own good and for our own futures. It takes vision and openness to seeing what doesn’t already exist – to see not what something “is” but to see what it can be with just a little effort and creativity. Deby’s vision and resulting products inspire and guide others to seek out the opportunities to make a difference.

How does the nominee actively participate in the sustainability community? How do they collaborate and share their knowledge with others?
Deby and FBB have partnered with local youth groups, including the Boy Scouts and North Olmsted Cheerleaders, to create unique and sustainable fundraising products. She also is a frequent donor to charity auctions throughout Cleveland as a way of giving back to and supporting the community. As noted above, Deby and FBB constantly communicate with local businesses about the importance of recycling and repurposing, which not only improve the sustainability effort and results, but they help to grow the sustainability community. Deby and FBB are continually showing others (individuals and businesses) that green initiatives are not only important for everyone, but simply and cost-effectively achievable with just a little effort. Also mentioned earlier, Deby regularly collaborates with other entrepreneurs in Cleveland by incorporating regional complementary products into the FBB product line. Deby is always looking for ways in which she can partner with local businesses to grow both FBB and the local businesses, and she never hesitates to ask her magic question: How can we work together? Deby has networked and volunteered time at organizations such as E4S and E CITY Entrepreneurs over the last year, and regularly meets with other local businesses and people working on sustainability initiatives. In short, Deby Cowdin and FBB are making a difference every day in northeast Ohio, and their business products are being sold across the country and now internationally. And the most telling truth is this – every product that FBB sells has a positive impact on the planet because every single product sold is another piece of garbage that didn’t end up in a landfill. Deby Cowdin and FBB are treasures of northeast Ohio, and they’re a shining example of a green business that is making a difference locally and globally.