Yak About It > Yak Nation > February 11, 2010

February 11, 2010

This is the world’s first ever 100% recycled rubber duck. The duck and all the packaging are 100% recycled. It comes in a beautiful gift box with fun trademarked sayings such as “Green is the new yellow,” and “Reduce Your Carbon Duck-Print” with a graphic of the recycled sign on his chest.

My company, CelebriDucks, created the first ever line of celebrity rubber ducks of the greatest icons of the film, music, history, and athletics. In the Senate congressional hearings a while back a senator held up a yellow rubber duck as the definitive symbol of everything that is wrong with the safety of children’s toys.

I thought wouldn’t it be great if we could figure out how to make a duck that was not only completely safe, but made out of 100% recycled materials. Easier said than done! I then realized why no-one else had done it. Our conventional rotational molds would not work using recycled materials. We had to move to a whole other set of molding possibilities and experiment with different recycled materials. Not only that, but there were real issue with getting it to float right so we had to design and weight him just right. It took us months and months of experimentation, but we finally released the product in November and people love it.

Inventor: Craig Wolfe

Craig Wolfe is a graduate of Hobart College. He was the largest publisher of artwork from television commercials having created the first ever animation art lines for Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Bush, M&M/Mars, Pillsbury, etc. After selling that company, Name That Toon, he create the first ever line of celebrity rubber ducks of the greatest icons of film, music, history, and athletics that were voted one of the top 100 gifts by Entertainment Weekly.

We started off the process recycling the PVC from conventional “rubber” ducks. When we would push into the material, it would leave an indentation which was too bad as no-one would buy a duck that had thumb prints in there! Thus we realized that we could not use our regular rotational molds.

Once we decided on the right material and made our first prototypes, our factory sent us a video of them dropping duck after duck in the water watching them pop perfectly upright….but to our surprise…half of them were not right so for every two we produced, we had to recycle one all over again….but we finally got a lot better at it!

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$11.95

Mr. Green - Rubber Ducky Remix

Sammy says:
Feb 11, 2010 at 2:10 pm

This is the best idea i have ever heard!! This duck is so cute, and everyone needs a rubber duck so get this one, because it is recyclable!!

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Two Portland, Oregon moms have come up with a way to keep track of what’s happening in your busy family, and have also solved the issue of where to put the calendar so everyone will see it. And, because this is Portland, there’s a green angle, too.

The product, A Window of Time, is a blank month-view calendar page
printed on clear cling film. Stick A Window of Time on a window, mirror or refrigerator door, and fill in your events and reminders using an Expo brand dry erase marker. There’s no adhesive involved, so you can reposition or relocate the 14-inch-by-18-inch sheet whenever you like. At the end of the month, “recycle” by wiping off
your completed tasks and reusing the calendar.

It all started with a broken foot last November. I was on couch-rest for a week, which gave me an abundance of time to stare out the window, and somehow this idea came to mind. It must have been some combination of the end of the year, a new calendar year coming and time passing while my foot mended…who knows exactly how the creative process comes to pass in these circumstances. The name A Window of Time was easy, as my first idea was that the calendar would routinely be used on a window. While it works well on a window or mirror, I have chosen to put mine on my refrigerator and I love it there

Inventor: Amelia Wilcox

Amelia Wilcox is a retired psychologist and professor of psychiatry living in Portland, Oregon who doesn’t have an artistic bone in her body. Amelia’s cousin, Colleen Cavin, however, is a member of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, and a gifted calligrapher. After coming up with the idea, Amelia brought Colleen in to create the artwork, and A Window of Time is the result. Neither Colleen nor Amelia is a business woman, so it’s been trial and error since then, but everyone who has purchased the calendar loves it.

Coming up with A Window of Time was truly the silver lining in an otherwise badly broken foot!

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$12.99

A Window of Time

John Wilcox says:
Feb 16, 2010 at 8:22 pm

We have one of these calendars mounted on our Fridge. It is a great product. Easy to update and big enough so it is also very easy to read. Why didn't someone think this up long ago?

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Ben says:
Feb 13, 2010 at 8:02 pm

This is one of the smartest, coolest ideas that have come down the pike in a long time. Talk about something everyone can use (over and over again)! There's something so nice about looking *through* all of the many things you have to do and seeing the … more bright light on the other side (that's if you put it in a window). Anyway, you wipe away the old and put up the new. Great spiritual practice! The people who thought this up are clever indeed.

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cjill says:
Feb 13, 2010 at 3:17 pm

right next to the phone so I can change work information, on old paper calendar I used to have to use white out or sticky notes to make a change. much neater and cleaner looking. even makes it look like I know what I'm doing.

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Amy says:
Feb 12, 2010 at 11:28 pm

Everyone looks at their refrigerator door in the morning--why not put the calendar there? Better yet two--one for this month, one for next. A Window of Time--it's a great organizational tool.

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Paul says:
Feb 11, 2010 at 11:18 pm

I never check our family's calendar on our computer (much to my wife's chagrin). This calendar I will use. My daughter too. What a concept? A calendar that we actually look at!

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