Posts Tagged ‘Compost’


Science Night, Ohh What a Night!

Saturday, March 24th, 2012

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Last night, Anchor Bay Middle School hosted a green Science Night, and were invited to show our rain barrel and compost tumbler. When I arrived ( a little late ) the hallways where filled with kids from 6th, 7th, and 8th – quickly setup and started to engage in conversations with students and parents.

My colleague, Annette was also there to help explain the many benefits of rain water harvesting. Many had questions and we handed out flyers for our upcoming free event “Rain Barrels on the Riverfront” hosted by the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy and The Sierra Club. ( Download the flyer )

After about two hours the crowds slowed and we began to pack up, before I left they started the raffle. We donated a Rain Barrel to be raffled off, here is a pic. (I’m not sure who won it still though)

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Overall, we had a wonderful evening and I would like to on behalf of Maxi formally thank Anchor Bay Middle School North for organizing the event and including us. Our friend from GreeningDetroit.com were there too… Checkout there website for more info and video from event here.

I also heard that yesterday Anchor Bay MS North received their official MI Green School Certification, congratulations!

If your school is having a green event like this please contact me at joshua@maxicontainer.com


Nothing but a Barrel

Thursday, October 6th, 2011

A few years ago, when we set out to get involved in making Rain Barrels and selling other Home and Garden products at Metro-Detroit Green Fairs, we never thought it would turn out so incredibly well. The community involvement with green fairs, charities, school and churches has helped shape our business, continuing over a hundred years of Rubin family involvement in the drum and barrel industry. Now, at Maxi, as the summer comes to a close, so does a chapter of our lives. The Green season is over, there no more events until next Spring/Summer. We all set our sights on the numerous things we have neglected due to the hustle and bustle of the season. We won’t be hibernating this winter, but a part of us will. The Green part.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the events we were involved in (a list is provided at the end of this post). However, certain moments, or days, stand out when looking back from the corner of the autumn and winter seasons. I want to share my favorite “highlights” from this summer with all of you.

Two tents down! Currently, both of our tents need repair. One, we have no idea what happened to, and the other a storm almost swept away! At the St. Clair Shores Green Fair in the Park it was a beautiful day until warnings of a oncoming storm started to spread across the fair (since the Dream Cruise was happening on Woodward Ave. simultaneously, we just checked their twitter feed) Even though the vendors and patrons were advised to leave a little early in hopes of missing the brunt of the storm, we were among the last out of there, and our tent nearly didn’t make it out at all. I went to grab the truck for our final load of Rain Barrels, and when I arrived to our location I find my father (Richard) holding onto a tent that was in shambles. He looked like he was holding onto it for dear life, in high winds and heavy rain. This was a very intense end to a great event.

HOT, HOT, HOT! All of you remember that heat wave in June? Well we can’t forget it. We had three events planned almost simultaneously for that weekend of heat. Friday I spent in Armada while the rest of the Maxi staff was at the Ferndale Live Green Fair. I guess this is one time I lucked out, since at the Lavender Festival in Armada we had a location in the shade and the fair was on grass, not pavement. The staff at the Live Green Fair said it was sweltering hot as the intense sun reflected up from the ground. Also, the way the booths were set up didn’t allow a lot of airflow. On Sunday, I made my way to Ferndale, my father and I did the best we could, but I was definitely suffering during tear down, and was afraid I was going to pass out. My Dad had to stick me in the car with the AC on to get me to stop acting loopy. I am pretty sure I was a second away from heat stroke.

We enjoyed all of the events this year, these two weekends were exceptionally interesting, check out the list below for all of our events this year, and watch out for even more next year! Hope to see you next summer at some of our Green Events!

I tried to remember them all and hopefully, got them all of them here. Click on each to learn more. This list doesn’t include all of the Rain Barrel workshops we have done, just a few of them.

If you know of an event in Metro-Detroit (really anywhere in Michigan) that you would like us to bring our sustainable living setup including Rain Barrels, Composting, and Container Gardening, please let us know. Drop me an email at joshua@maxicontianer.com with the details.

Enjoy this slideshow of photos from our “Green Fairs” Collection of photoset’s on Flickr!

[slickr-flickr tag=”GreenFairs” type=”slideshow” captions=”on” delay=”3″]


Green Fair Re-cap… Live Green, Lavender Festival and Green Breeze…

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Kermit the Frog!

This summer has been a busy one for us here at Maxi Container, Inc. Our Rain Barrels, which started as a tiny side-project for us, have turned into an entire Home & Garden product line. This line now includes Rain Barrels, Compost Tumblers, Compost Tea Kits and our newest product…(drum roll please) container gardening! We are currently testing out various container gardening designs for our pails and barrels. Expect to see them soon on our website. You may have already seen some of our container gardening items at one of the many Green Events we have been at this year.  If you haven’t already please check out our Flickr “Container Gardening” photo set here.

At Maxi, our passion does not end with our workday. We have a love for being involved in our community. To that end, we work with schools, churches and other non-profits such as the Sierra Club Great Lakes Program to help spread the word about water conservation, composting and reuse.

From rain barrels to rain gardens, from composting basics to compost tea, we are involved in every step of our products design and manufacture. (Technically speaking, its re-manufacture, since our Home & Garden products are made from used food grade containers). Nothing goes unnoticed and if anyone has a question or complaint (no matter how small), we make sure to take care of it. That’s what you get when you choose MAXI.

Now, with that all being said, as one of my favorite frogs once said, “It ain’t easy being GREEN.” Our Home & Garden line has turned into a full-time job. Our Twitter is full of eco-friendly tweeters and gardeners. Sometimes we participate in green fairs and community events two to three weekends in a row. When you add in the time it takes to get ready for these events, you can see how hard we are working to promote our core concepts of sustainability, reuse and conservation. Why do we do it? Just take a look at this past month of July…

We arranged to be involved in three different events one weekend and had another event the next weekend. Within nine days, we had four events. If you asked me last year at this time if we would be at that many events, I would of simply answered “not possible”. Now my attitude is different and the sky is the limit.

The first event was the Ferndale Live Green Fair. While in its second year, it is still in its infancy. Last year the Live Green Fair was part of the Funky Ferndale Art Fair and it had only eight or so vendors. However, it was a great success. This year it became a standalone with over 80 GREEN vendors. The event was beautiful, with fun for all ages. The only downside was the heat. This past July turned out to be one of the hottest on record for metro Detroit, and the Live Green Fair happened to be smack dab in the middle of one of our biggest heat waves. I applaud any of the people who made it out to the Ferndale Live Green Fair. We thank you for braving the high temperatures! This green fair is by far the truest green event (the creators are extremely green guys!) and it has a lot of potential. Let’s just hope that next year there is better weather!

Our second event was the Lavender Festival in Armada, MI, hosted at Blake’s Cider Mill. Though not a “Green” fair per say, the event had many green vendors, organics for your garden, artwork made from reused materials and of course, lots and lots of lavender! There was also an education tent that had a workshop every hour. I taught a workshop on Friday that was very successful and had a great time interacting with interested gardeners. We had a great time here and hope to come back again! Thank you to Jennifer Vasich, who created the event and who asked us to be a part of it for the first time.

Our third event of the weekend was part of Farmington’s Founders Festival. We had a very successful workshop with the Salem United Church of Christ in Downtown Farmington. Read the full article here.

The next weekend, we took part in Birmingham’s Green Breeze on the streets of Old Woodward. Richard Rubin (my father) and I set out to see what all of the local Birmingham residents were up to. The turnout for this event hasn’t been as great as we would like, but the people we meet at it seem to be committed to the same values as we are at Maxi.  I had some great conversations, met some really exciting and cool new people, and sold a few rain barrels. We also saw many familiar faces. Overall, it was a good weekend and a relaxing final show for our busy two weeks.

Why have I gone into such great detail to illustrate what we did this summer? Some of you may ask why do these Industrial Packaging guys give up their hard-earned weekends? We do it because here at Maxi we believe in our community and in empowering people through education about reuse and sustainability. Stop and think about it. If more businesses operated like Maxi, wouldn’t the world be a better place? The bottom-line is not always about making a dollar. Sometimes it’s just simply about making an impact.

Hope to see you at one of our upcoming green events… check our Facebook or Follow us on Twitter for up to date news on where we will be!


GreeningDetroit.com and Maxi Team Up for Green School Awards

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Michigan Green School Badge

This past May 25th Joshua Rubin from Maxi Container met up with GreeningDetroit.com at the Green School Awards in Pontiac, MI. Maxi has been a member of their online community for about a year now and have met many people through there green network. We often see each other at green events throughout the spring/summer season. That is how this collaboration came about, at the Plymouth Green Street Fair we decided to work together and donate a compost tumbler to the Michigan Green Schools at there upcoming award ceremony.

Maxi believes that education is key if you want to make a positive change for the future. (see our articles about recycling in the classroom and Michigan’s Green Schools.) This was our chance to get directly involved and meet representatives from different Michigan Green Schools. We delivered a fully assembled Compost Tumbler with custom spray painting of GreeningDetroit.com and Maxi’s Logos (plus a flat black finish on the wood frame to boot). The donation of the composter was announced during the ceremony and schools were asked to sign up for it if interested. It would be raffled of a lucky school and then handed around to others. Hopefully the schools will need more composters soon! Maxi loves to be involved with our local schools, helping students to learn about the many benefits of composting.

Check out the Facebook photo album here.


Steenland Elementary… Special Persons Day Green Fair…

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

Joshua interacts with the kids.

I recently participated in Steenland Elementary (Roseville) Special Person’s Day, where students bring their closest family or friend of their choosing to celebrate their Green School. The green fair included a scavenger hunt for the kids all while showcasing what they have been learning this year about being green.

The kids were ecstatic to be in school but not in class, they were there just to have fun. I was there to teach them, and connect with their parents discussing the benefits of rain barrels and composting. Kids love to play in the dirt so explaining compost is easy, but trying to get kids interested in water conservation is difficult, especially since I was operating the table by myself, I did not have time to setup the water cycle for our rain barrel display. It was not too much of a problem, after all kids have great imaginations.

It was a quick meeting, lasting about two hours. The school was filled with non-stop smiles and laughter and of course, the occasional cry. Overall, it was a enjoyable experience and it seemed as though all of the kids and their special person’s had fun. Steenland Elementary ended up buying a rain barrel for the kids to use in their garden at the school. Thank you Steenland for inviting me to join your special persons green fair, it was a blast!

Here are some photos from the event [ Photos by Michael Burd ]


Spring Is Almost Here…Maxi’s Home & Garden Section…

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

Rain Barrel & Compost Tumbler

We are passionate about helping people improve their home and garden. In the winter you can stay warm with one of our Drum Stove Kits and in the spring and summer you can use our Rain Barrels and Compost Tumblers to save money and help your garden grow. There are many reasons why using Rain Barrels and making your own compost is better for your plants, but did you know that it is also better for the planet? That’s right, if you utilize our Home and Garden Products you can reduce your carbon footprint by turning yard and kitchen waste into nutrient rich soil. Top it all off with “soft” rain water that otherwise would just be urban runoff. To help reduce the need for sewer expansion and reduce your water bill, Rain Barrels are a smart choice this season.

If you are interested in Rain Barrels or want to try to start composting this spring contact Bob at 313-891-3880 or send him an email.

More useful information about our Rain Barrels and Compost Tumblers please visit our Home and Garden section on our website.

This was originally an article in the March 2011 eNewsletter.


Why Waste Yard Waste? – Proposed Bill is Bad for Michigan

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

DIY Compost Tumbler Kit

The Michigan House Committee on Energy & Technology is looking into two bills in committee on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 9am.  HB 4265 and HB 4266 seek to return yard waste to landfills for minor energy production purposes. Both bills are sponsored by Rep. Kenneth Horn, sponsor and Rep. Paul Opsommer, co-sponsor. These Bills are a  bad idea on many levels.

Michigan banned Yard Waste going to landfills in 1995. As a home owner, the impact of this ban was negligible. Instead of putting my yard waste out with my trash, I had to put it in low cost compostable paper bags availble at most hardware stores, supermarkets and big box stores in my area.  In my town of Farmington Hills, MI the yard waste is collected by  The Recycling Authority, and  is taken to a large-scale compost site where it decomposes and becomes a rich, black humus. According to The Recycling Authority, each year RRRASOC residents generate 80,000 tons of waste. At least 30% of that waste can be composted.

Another good use for yard waste is composting at home. Composting at home reduces our dependence on trucks to haul yard waste to large-scale compost sites. It also provides us with our own source of rich humus to reuse in our gardens. Composting at home reduces the use of expensive petrochemically based fertilizers which find their way into our sewers, lakes and streams. It is less costly to produce than buying fertilizers, mulch or hummus at the local garden center. Also, composting at home is inexpensive and easy and creates a sense of connectedness with our natural world.

Here at Maxi Container we are so excited about the benefits of composting at home that we created our DIY Compost Tumbler Kit.  We re-purposed a food grade plastic drum and provide all the parts and information necessary to begin composting at home.

The Michigan Recycling Coalition (of which Maxi is a proud member) is actively opposing these bills.  If you live in the great State of Michigan, please call or write your representative and let them know how strongly you oppose these Bills. If you can, attend the next hearing on these Bills on March 1st at 9am, 519 House Office Building, Lansing, MI. Yard Waste can be a valued resource for the home owner.  You should not be charged to give it away for free and bury it in a landfill.


Ohio Makes Composting Easier f…

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Ohio Makes Composting Easier for Schools http://t.co/kr6JQ0S via @AddThis


Ohio Makes Composting Easier for Schools

Monday, February 14th, 2011

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) has drafted a new Administrative Code chapter (3745-560) now making it easier to compost. The new regulations include an exclusion from the need to obtain an annual solid waste license. Before, compost facilities have to establish financial assurance but no more, with these changes you can basically DIY and make you own compost facility. Registration and operational requirements would still apply.

You can download the official News Release from the OEPA by clicking here.

Works Cited: Waste and Recycling News, Jan. 24 2011 – Amanda Smith Teutsch


DIY Composter kit…available soon. Prototype photo shoot.

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010





These are the photo’s of our Do It Yourself Compost Tumbler kit. Going into mass production soon!! Call 1-800-727-MAXI(6294) with any inquiries.