Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/577447
T r a s h t o t r e a s u r e O c t o b e r 2 0 15 • I NSIGH T | 27 Shawano company soars with solution to recycling dirty film B Y S E A N P . J O H N S O N P h ot og ra p hs b y S h a ne V a n Bo x t el , I m ag e S t u d i os Henry Ford once said that even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement. ¶ Jim Feeney heartily agrees. ¶ Aer all, Feeney and his team at Wisconsin Film & Bag lived the lesson first-hand. ey built upon a mistake — one they could never replicate — to create ECO Blend, a post-consumer recycled plastic film product that has the same properties as virgin film. ¶ e results of that happy accident? A product that spurred sales growth by more than 25 percent and enabled the company to grow its workforce by more than 50 percent. The process that resulted demonstrates the importance of nimbleness and creativity that smaller companies must employ to thrive in a marketplace crowded with large competitors. ¶ "Smaller companies have to take risks in order to compete," says Feeney, president of Wisconsin Film & Bag. "e amount of capital that Fortune 500 companies have available for research and develop- ment many times stifles the creativity. We have to be creative."