Green 2.0

Think the green movement was just a fad? From tire recycling to biodegradable packing peanuts, these entrepreneurs have turned sustainability into sustainable businesses.

FLIPSWAP FOUNDERS Sohrob Farudi, Cyrus Farudi, Rahmeen Farudi, Andrew Berman and Edo Cohen (from left to right) collect used cell phones and resell them.

While the recession might make some businesses wonder if they can afford to implement green and sustainable initiatives, others are making an entire business out of them. Several Inc 500|5000 companies owe their growth to keeping stuff -- theirs or yours -- out of landfills, while some find or use renewable energy sources to power business and offer sustainability. It’s a sign of sustainability’s increasing migration to the mainstream that these companies are but a tiny sample of those on this year's list that could be considered "green."

"Companies that aren’t doing anything or are cutting back due to the downturn are going to be that much more behind," says Ted Ning, director of LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), a social community for the segment of the population focused on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living, and social justice. "What we are facing is limited resources. If people are using virgin materials constantly, and not implementing anything in terms of reusing or repurposing, the cost of those virgin materials is going to increase due to scarcity. Consequently, the end product will be more expensive." Ning calls this "ecoflation," -- a scenario that forecasts a drop in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of 19 percent to 47 percent by 2018 for fast-moving consumer-goods companies that do not develop strategies to offset the risks posed by environmental concerns, according to the World Resources Institute.

But a number of companies on this year's Inc. 500|5000 list aren't waiting for the scenario to play out. Indeed, they are at the heart of the green business movement. Here's a look at some of most innovative:

Liberty Tire Recycling, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, No. 1508

Liberty Tire Recycling has kept 100 million rubber tires from landfills -- or the equivalent of 25 percent of the country's annual scrapped tires, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association. Crumb rubber is turned into artificial turf, playground surfacing, doormats, and mulch. Another big market is tire-derived fuel, which is clean-burning, with a higher BTU than coal, and is used to run power and other industrial plants. The company's major customer, Marshall, Texas-based TieTek, which produces composite railroad ties, is slated to switch all of Chicago's railroad crossties, the planks of wood on either side of the rails, from wooden to Liberty's recycled rubber.

Eco-Products, Boulder, Colorado, No. 270

You won't find Eco-Products' cups, cutlery, and food containers in landfill -- or if you do, they won't be there for long. The products are certified compostable, which means that 90 percent of the material will disintegrate within 120 days and will leave no toxic residue, as defined by the Biodegradable Products Institute. The company sells to Google, Busch Gardens, and Disney and just launched its first retail line, Green Stripe, in 126 Kruger's stores, according to CEO Steve Savage. Solar panels at Eco-Products' headquarters provide 80 percent of the building's power needs.

Flipswap, Torrance, California, No. 81

Flipswap, founded in 2004 by brothers Sohrob, Cyrus and Rahmeen Farudi along with Edo Cohen and Andrew Berman, has collected over 1 million cell phones. The cell phones mostly come through retailers that collect old phones when a customer gets an upgrade, and through an online free-shipping rebate program for consumers. Still, that's a far cry from the 150 million phones that turn over every year in the United States alone, and the 900 million sitting in drawers or improperly disposed of. If Flipwap could get at those, Sohrob says, it could attract larger customers that want big numbers of the same phone model. For now, it resells 98 percent of the phones it collects, mostly to retailers in China, South America, and South Africa -- places where a used but still fancy iPhone is a status symbol, even if it doesn't have a working data plan. For every phone Flipswap can't resell, it plants a tree through American Forest's Global ReLeaf program.

TexasCarpetRecycling.com, Grapevine, Texas, No. 2240