Pupil supports recycling by selling reusable bags

The middle school pupil wants to eliminate wasting of plastic and paper bags.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

A lot of people are worried about the effects of global warming. Hunter Gross, a middle school pupil from Dix Hills, N.Y., decided to do something about it.

With his parents’ help, the boy started Project Kool Inc., a company that designs and sells reusable canvas lunch bags as part of Hunter’s campaign to eliminate plastic and paper lunch bags from elementary schools nationwide. He is the chief executive and his dad, Jeff, and mom, Stacy, are co-presidents.

The $5 bags come with recyclable markers for doodling. The company emphasizes that the markers are made in Hauppauge, N.Y., and are lead-free. Project Kool also makes canvas snack mats for small children as well as tote bags, both of which also come with markers. All the products are made in India and come in a natural color or tie-dye shades.

So far the 4-month-old company has sold 4,000 bags, primarily through PTA fundraising events, Jeff Gross said. The bags also sell at some New York specialty retail stores.

Hunter, 12, began to obsess about global warming after a science class discussion about it in May, toward the end of the last school year.

“He kept talking about it,” his mom said. “The only way to stop him from talking about it was to sit down and come up with something that helps.”

The family did, and the idea for the company and the bags was born.

Hunter, a pupil at West Hollow Middle School in Melville, N.Y., is a beaming chief executive. “I’m pretty proud of myself,” he said. “I think it’s really going to help fight global warming.”

Denise Tantillo, PTA president of the Chestnut Hill Elementary School in Dix Hills, said the bags were a hit at a meeting Hunter attended. The demand exceeded supply, she said, and Hunter’s dad had to make a U-turn.

“We had to send him home to get more bags,” she said. And she said the PTA has sent fliers about the bags home with pupil.

She said she feels especially proud of Hunter, an alumnus of her school. “A lot kids have great ideas,” she said. “It’s just that it’s very impressive that this was carried out.”

Though being well-known isn’t generally listed as a reason to start a company, Project Kool has had some early brushes with fame.

Global-warming activist Laurie David, ex-wife of writer and actor Larry David, has agreed to post a mention of the company on her Web site, Stacy Gross said.

And after Project Kool sent company information to former Vice President Al Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize this year for calling attention to global warming, he ordered about 20 lunch bags to give out as holiday gifts in his office.