By Linnea Brown
Staff writer
JUPITER - It's kind of like a "live strong" bracelet for the environment.
Much like champion cyclist Lance Armstrong's trademark yellow bracelet - where proceeds from sales go to various cancer aid organizations - Jupiter resident William Djubin has created a green license plate that's "green" in every sense of the word.
Designed for the front of cars, the plate is bright green and constructed from 100 percent recycled plastic milk jugs. A portion of every sale also goes toward an environmentally-friendly campaign, foundation or sanctuary of the consumer's choice.
An avid surfer, digital underwater photographer and "free diver," Mr. Djubin, 38, explained that it all started when he and his wife moved to Jupiter from Florida's west coast three years ago.
"Back then, the visibility underwater was 60 to 100 feet, but when the hurricanes came, the coral reefs took a beating," he said. "Then there was all this focus placed on (fixing) the beaches, but no one went and tried to rehabilitate the reefs."
When attempts to raise the issue with other local agencies failed, Mr. Djubin decided to take matters into his own hands and begin fundraising.
He came up with the concept of a "green" license plate in March, and the idea stuck.
"I (envisioned) a husband driving around town and seeing all these green license plates on cars and coming home and asking his wife, 'What the heck is this?'" he said. "And the wife saying, 'You mean you don't know?'"
Christening the plan EarthRehab, he set out to find a company who could make a green license plate and stumbled upon the Minnesota-based recycled plastic lumber company Recycled Plastics.
"They actually build houses with this stuff," Mr. Djubin said. "The guy suggested a plate made from 100 percent recycled plastic milk jugs, and I was (sold)."
That day, he spent $7,200 on 8,000 pounds of recycled plastic, melted down and molded into 8,000 plates.
And now, at a cost of $10 per plate, Mr. Djubin has each plate's fundraising figures broken down to the last penny.
With $2 for production costs, $4 will go directly to the environmental-assistance organization of the consumer's choice and $4 to the growth of EarthRehab, which aims to become a nonprofit foundation in two years.
"(Officials) at both Florida's Department of Corporations and Jupiter's town hall advised me to complete two years of self-proprietorship before seeking nonprofit status," Mr. Djubin said. "That way, we can establish a fund at a bank now, and in two years, we'll actually have money to start the (nonprofit) with."
Though the plates are discreet - free of a slogan, name and markings - that's the whole point, Mr. Djubin explained.
"We wanted the cost to be kept as low as possible, so that as much as possible is actually going toward the foundations," he said. "We also wanted the plates to remain (made of) 100 percent recycled materials."
And person-to-person growth is exactly the kind of grass-roots style movement the company wants to stick to, rather than employing in-your-face marketing tactics, he added.
With the blessing of his wife - an IT project manager for the clerk and comptroller of Palm Beach County - Mr. Djubin, a former wine salesman, is now focusing on EarthRehab full-time.
After receiving the plates in mid-June and launching the Web site www.mygreenlicenseplate.com in mid-August, he spent the summer passing out green plates to employees at EarthRehab-supported foundations, such as Jupiter's Busch Wildlife Sanctuary, The Perry Institute for Marine Science and the Loggerhead Marinelife Center of Juno Beach.
"I even contacted Gov. Charlie Crist, and am waiting to hear if Florida's Department of Environmental Protection can officially put them on their cars," Mr. Djubin said.
He also hopes local schools will be interested in using the green plates as a fundraising tool.
"Why have a car wash when you could have a 'tag it' rally, where we put tags on people's cars at the local foundation (the school is raising money for)?" he asked.
And if nothing else, the concept is original.
"I did find one other 'green' plate (promoting) recycling in an online shop, but it was painted, manufactured from aluminum and its proceeds do not benefit a fund," Mr. Djubin said. "And I'm thinking, 'They missed the beat on this whole thing.'"
With the EarthRehab Web site designed as a portal - including links to all of the supported foundations - consumers are also encouraged to browse the various sites and educate themselves about environmental issues.
"That's part of the reason why the plates can only be purchased online. We really want the consumer to look at the different foundations and choose for themselves where the money is going to go," Mr. Djubin said.
But getting the movement to "catch on" is the hard part.
"We have about 250 plates on cars now, but that's not enough visibility," he said. "We want (everyone) to know who we are and what the green plate means."
Mr. Djubin is currently looking to hire a regional marketing coordinator and local area coordinator to help him spread the word, and hopes to eventually expand the Web site to sell other useful, 100 percent recycled items to benefit the various organizations.
And, while he and his wife both display their green plates on the fronts of their Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles, it doesn't matter what you drive, Mr. Djubin added.
"You may be the No. 1 recycler of concrete and drive a Hummer. There are different ways of being green," he said. "If you're concerned about the environment and want to let thousands of people know, all you have to do is put a plate on your car."
For more information, go to www.mygreenlicenseplate.com.
Brown@hometownnewsol.com.