Cascade Cart Solutions drives demand, awareness with Pink Cart

By Joe Boomgaard | MiBiz
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GRAND RAPIDS — One surety with the waste hauling business is that it’s always picking up, and that means a steady stream of orders for Cascade Cart Solutions, a division of Cascade Engineering.

The company sells its injection-molded plastic solid waste and recycling carts to waste haulers and municipalities for industrial and residential uses across North America. However, a new product, the Pink Cart, has the company testing the waters — somewhat unintentionally — in the consumer market.

It all started with an idea from Jo-Anne Perkins, general manager of the Cascade Cart Solutions business unit. Last fall was the anniversary of her mother’s death at age 51 to breast cancer. Before that, her grandmother also died at 51 from breast cancer.

“My whole life has been this march to 52,” Perkins told MiBiz. “I felt this pressing responsibility to make it to 52 and break this vicious cycle. Last fall, I made it and it was monumental. Genetics are tough to beat, but it made me start to think. What could I do differently and how can I have an impact?”

Her idea was for Cascade to make a pink-colored solid waste cart and donate a portion of the cost of each cart, $5 to start, to the American Cancer Society specifically for breast cancer awareness.

In designing the cart, the company was able to work with a supplier to print a label containing breast cancer awareness information on a thin plastic sheet which was then molded right into the cart’s lid.

“We had the opportunity and the responsibility to use the cart to raise awareness about good breast health,” Perkins said. “We needed to do that for the customers. A lot of women are pushing the cart to the curb these days, and this reminds them every week (about breast health).”

Cascade Cart Solutions’ robust team of direct sales people took the product to the market after launching the product at a major national trade show in Atlanta. Response has been much greater and different than the company could have ever expected, Perkins said.

“What’s been happening — and we didn’t see this coming — is that while I may have a story, there are so many people in the solid waste management industry that have stories,” she said.

The owner of American Waste Systems in South Carolina lost his wife to breast cancer a few years ago, and had been looking for a way to pay tribute to her. He visited Cascade’s booth at the trade show several times and wound up buying 500 of the carts, Perkins said. For each Pink Cart in service in the AWS’s two pilot communities, the hauler will contribute 50 cents per month to breast cancer awareness and research organizations. The company also chips in a $19 donation over and above Cascade’s donation at the time of purchase.

“They’re building on our financial generosity. Our big goal last year was $100,000 from the containers, but (with other’s related donations), it could be a half million,” Perkins said. “What we’ve discovered in our journey is that people want to add on. We think the final financial contribution will be much more than (we originally expected). Because they’re so passionate, they’re donating significantly more funds.”

Other haulers have painted trucks pink and added the carts to their choices for curbside trash pickup or recycling, she said.

“What we’re finding is that the carts have created a pull through the market,” Perkins said. “We’re traditionally a B2B. We sell to large haulers and municipalities. But the Pink Cart has taken us into a whole new frontier. Consumers are hearing about this product and creating a pull. Now we’re B2C (business-to-consumer), and that’s new ground for us.”

While the pink cart has certainly been a strong seller since it debuted at the national show, Cascade’s cart business in general has been very strong, she said. The company planned to add another shift and 11 employees in early July to meet the demand. Because of several significant orders, including from the cities of Grand Rapids, Cincinnati and others, and the additional business from the Pink Cart, Perkins said all the company’s production capacity is sold out through October.

Importantly, Perkins said adding the Pink Cart to the lineup wasn’t a hard sell within the organization. When she brought the idea to company Chairman and CEO Fred Keller, he was immediately supportive, so Perkins and the engineers were able to work with a supplier to find the right pink colorant and she got to work completing the agreements with the American Cancer Society.

“While it was my idea, it takes a village,” she said. “We’ve got a great group of people in the container business — everyone from operations to sales and marketing to quality. Everyone rallied around me and supported me. And as it turns out, everybody has a story (about cancer). It’s everywhere.”

That the Pink Cart became a reality from a manager’s suggestion is an example of Cascade’s progressive culture and emphasis on improving communities, said Perkins, a native of Canada.