Jerry Delaney and his brother, Sam, co-founded Greenlines as a means to solve their frustrations finding the perfect board shorts at the beginning of beach season each year. In the design phase, the pair decided to use yarn made of recycled polyester. Approximately 24 plastic bottles go into every pair of Greenlines shorts. Now five years in the making, the Delaney brothers’ green-minded surf products are found in more than 100 stores and through the brand’s website.

“[Recycled polyester] is the softest, most comfortable material you can find,” Delaney says. “The water just beads right off. When you have lifeguards out there wearing these shorts every day, it’s a real testament to the product. These hold up.”

Cort Atkinson co-founded the Savannah, GA-based Ocean Exchange as a way to find transformative solutions that positively change how industries are operating. The Ocean Exchange believes that oceans are the strongest force on earth as far as driving positive environmental, economic and human health advancements.

“[The Ocean Exchange's goal] is to help organizations everywhere understand that what you do on land impacts what’s going on in the ocean,” Atkinson says. “We showcase solutions that have a positive impact even beyond those just in the ocean.”

Kelly Freeman, Sustainability Director at Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, is a self-proclaimed “recycling/waste reduction geek since birth.†So, she is a natural fit with Goodwill’s goal of helping people find lifelong connections to meaningful work. Freeman is committed to helping the 28-store Goodwill of Central Texas network best serve its 15-county community by squeezing every penny out of every material it receives by finding secondary reuse markets. The concept of reuse at Goodwill Central Texas isn’t just a practice — it’s a companywide obligation.

“Currently, we’re able to divert about 75% of what isn’t sold in [Goodwill of Central Texas'] retail stores, and we employ about 2,000 people,†Freeman says. “We want to make it as convenient as possible for our donors to find us and bring us their gently used goods.â€