Generate Income & Hope From Non-Recyclable Garbage

The XS team has been hard at work: adding to our product lines, seeking new distribution channels, and providing scholarships to more children.  

Financially, the first months of 2011 have been a bit of a challenge.  Due to the ongoing repercussions of the financial crisis, our sales were not as high this year as they were last year.  Our distributors have been much more cautious in their ordering, which has impacted our sales.  Thanks to the donations we have received through GlobalGiving, we are weathering the storm.  Thank you all!! 

Even though we have not generated the sales we had hoped for in the early months of this year, we are standing by our commitment to put 5% of all our revenues into a scholarship fund for trash picker children.  That has enabled us to support another child at Peduli Anak.  So we are now providing educational opportunities to 30 children, and completely supporting another 4!!!  That is what it is ultimately about, after all.   

XS has also launched a new website that encapsulates our goals of transforming trash and changing lives.  You can visit our new site at www.xstransformed.org.  While there, visit the Products tab.  From here you can download, catalogues from all three of our product lines and you can watch a video that shows how our products are made.  The new website provides a lot more information about our work, and the ways in which we are trying to positively impact the environment, local communities, and the trash pickers.  We hope you take a look.   

Thanks so much for your continued support. 

During the past several months, XS has been developing new products.  In the past, we always developed one catalogue, but now we have divided our products into three different lines – plastics, billboard, and carseat. The plastics line is our classic line.  All the products are made from the plastic packaging that XS has always purchased directly from trash pickers. It is still a popular line. About two years ago, we started making products from used billboards. The use of that material has evolved and we now have a full line of billboard products. And now, thanks to donations from Mitsubishi, we also have a carseat line. You can see all the products we make in the attached catalogs.

The two full time designers that XS was able to hire, thanks to the help of people like you, were instrumental in the development of all our new products.  With them, we have also been able to respond quickly to customers who are looking for custom designs. We think our new products will do well in the marketplace, and that will help us generate more income to support our scholarship programs.

Last month Retno Hapsari, our Operations Manager traveled to the Indonesian island of Lombok, where she visited three of the trash picker children that we are supporting. They are doing well, and really enjoyed meeting Retno. In addition to the children in Lombok that we are helping, XS is providing scholarships to a number of children in a trash picker community close to our offices. Since we have been having a bit more success with our new products, we are now thinking about additional ways that we can help the children of the community.  We want our success to be their success.

 We are excited about the progress that XS has been making, and we thank all of you for the generous support that is helpint to make our transformation possible!

• Plastics Catalogue (PDF)
  
• Billboard Catalogue (PDF)
  
• CarSeat Catalogue (PDF)