Penny Revolution Inc., based in San Luis Obispo, CA, is a green packaging startup that manufactures patented, reusable coin banks called Toggle Tubes. Made to precise specifications, the self-counting Toggle Tubes capture loose change in standard roll sizes, requiring no tedious hand counting. Users simply fill the tube and snap the ends closed, and the change is counted. This clever packaging is made with a minimum of 30% curbside-recycled milk jugs. Each tube can be used hundreds of times.
 The Toggle Tubes are designed for anyone interested in “eco-friendly penny pinching” explains Penny Revolution CEO, Fred Abler. Abler is excited about his reusable product because it could solve a big problem: “Toggle Tubes are a revolutionary strategy for dealing with the U.S. Mint’s current manufacturing losses.” Attracting coins out of dead storage in household dresser drawers and milk jugs into regular circulation will significantly reduce the number of coins the Mint must produce, a matter of growing importance because it costs the Mint 1.7 cents to make a penny and between 6.0 to 9.7 cents to make a nickel. Pennies and nickels are the majority occupants of coin household coin hoards. They are hoarded not because people value them but because they are a nuisance to assemble and redeem. “Our goal is simply to make better use of an existing resource,” explains Abler. “Why should the U.S. Mint continue the money-losing strategy of making replacement coins, when it would be so much easier just to reuse the billions of coins that already exist?”. The name “Penny Revolution” was chosen in part to underscore the need for just this kind of “common cents” revolution in civic thinking. The average U.S. household now has more than $90 dollars in small change just sitting around. Using 2007 government census data, the total value of this sequestered small change is reliably calculated at $10,004,603,310 dollars U.S. “We like to call this $10,000,000,000 dollars, our ‘Penny Revolution™ Economic Stimulus Plan’ “ Abler said. People don’t think of coins as a resource that needs to be recycled, but Penny Revolution is intent on changing that mindset. The company is currently selling its clever recycled/reusable coin banks to corporate sponsors and government agencies that want to green up their act, and is currently doing co-promotions with a major bank and California State Recycling Agency – CalRecycles.org. The tubes can be imprinted with a sponsor’s recycling message or corporate logo on one side. Toggle Tubes will also be featured on SHFT.com, a collaboration of Stonyfield Farm’s founder Gary Hirschberg and actor and eco-celebrity Adrian Grenier. “We are very pleased to be in such good company”, says Abler, who considers both Grenier and Stonyfield Farms examples of platinum standards for personal and corporate environmental responsibility. Abler sees small companies like his as a major force for continued economic recovery. Small businesses are the best engine for job creation, but equally vital is revolutionary, independent thinking. “Entrepreneurs have a major role to play in helping the government implement promising innovations. “It’s much more cost effective for the government to buy our reusable coin wrappers and distribute them freely than it is to replace small change”, explains Abler. A single Toggle Tube costs a few nickels, but will bring 40 nickels back into active circulation with its first use. Toggle Tubes can be reused hundreds of times, so every additional use is free.
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