Posts Tagged ‘Workshop’


Project Grow Rain Barrel Workshop – Ann Arbor

Wednesday, March 7th, 2012

Project Grow Community Gardens

Last month, on April 25th, Project Grow and Maxi Container partnered for a very successful Rain Barrel workshop. Project Grow is a nonprofit community garden in Ann Arbor. Joshua (Me) and Lucas (PG) planned the workshop during February. We had such a tremendous response that we needed a bigger room! I arrived to meet Lucas and  a couple of happy to help volunteers. After unloading the barrels, people started to show up. I was amazed at the demographic, we had family’s with little ones and senior citizens, plus tons of young adults eager to build a rain barrel and Go Green! (Oops, I guess Go Blue! is more appropriate in A2.)

After the check-in and setup I demonstrated how to build a barrel and did  a little lecture and opened the floor for questions. I really was amazed at how prepared the attendees were, full of good and important questions and eager to build. Quickly wrapped up the introduction session and broke out into small groups to build.

The building process went smoothly, as the entire workshop did and most importantly…

41 Rain Barrels found new homes.

If you don’t know about our Maxi Rain Barrel, they are previously used food grade barrels that otherwise don’t have much use… either slated to be land filled or turned into regrind (recycled) which used up fossil fuels. Turning these “pickle” barrels into Rain Barrels truly reduces your carbon footprint while extended the plastic barrels life cycle, help preserving our Great Lakes at the same time. Truly there is no better way (and simple) way to go green then installing a rain barrel.

Please check out all of the photos from the workshop below in a slideshow, or you can view them here on our Flickr.

[slickr-flickr search=sets set=72157629103265414 type=slideshow attribution=©RebeccaSunde]

Interested in taking part in one of our Ann Arbor Rain Barrel Workshops with Project Grow?
Sign up to get updates on upcoming workshops!

 

 

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Who said being green is easy – Walkin’ the Walk

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Here at Maxi Container we have many sayings, some are left over from our founder, Max Rubin. Not all are polite or politically correct, but are distillations of business wisdom passed from generation to generation of the Rubin family. The saying that we use the most is our slogan and core value MAXI means the MOST in SERVICE and QUALITY. We use this as a shorthand for our commitment to customer service before and after each sale. Another one of our core values is being committed to reuse and recycling. Many of the containers we sell are reconditioned. They have been previously used for the transport of various industrial products, collected, cleaned in an environmentally sustainable manner, and then re-certified for reuse. For the past few years we have been up-cycling (re-purposing) food-grade containers as rain barrels and compost tumblers.  We have attended numerous green fairs, worked closely with schools and community-based organizations such as the Sierra Club, to promote the use of rain barrels, composting, reuse and recycling.

This leads us to another one of our sayings and core values. Today it simply is not enough to “talk-the-talk” about green products, or your commitment to reuse and recycling. You have to literally “walk-the-walk” to prove to your commitment to the public. Here at Maxi, we pride ourselves on actually following through and “walkin’ the walk”.  Our products are often reused or reconditioned, we recycle our office paper and run our trucks on bio-diesel.  This past weekend we took our commitment to being green one step farther, farther then we ever have in the past.  Maxi was involved in three community events this past weekend, simultaneously!  Most of this came about due to the hard work of our Creative Director, Joshua Rubin.  This past weekend we were exhibitors at both the Lavender Festival in Armada, MI and the Live Green Fair in Ferndale, MI. We also worked with the Salem United Church of Christ in Farmington, MI to hold a rain barrel workshop were people could learn how to build their own rain barrel. Joshua was the principal speaker and trainer at both Armada and Farmington. He then worked with me in Ferndale on Sunday, in 90+ degree heat.

The result was a wonderful weekend where over 120 rain barrels found new homes.  I am very proud of my son Joshua Rubin for his commitment to our core beliefs of reducing our impact on the environment by “Walkin the Walk” and being GREEN.


Salem United Church of Christ… Farmington Founders Festival Rain Barrel Workshop…

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

On Saturday, July 16 around 10AM, there was activity starting to take place in the parking lot outside of Salem United Church of Christ in Farmington, MI. The church is located in beautiful, historic downtown Farmington and has been around for over 100 years. Susan Nickels, on behalf of Salem, contacted Maxi Container, and we worked together to prepare a Rain Barrel Workshop to coincide with Farmington’s Founders Festival. Susan organized the activity with the help of her daughter Danielle. We originally started out with a tentative order for 50 barrels. The response was so great that on the day of the workshop, we were expecting over 80 people.

Once people started to gather in the parking lot, it was time to start assembling the rain barrels, to talk with them about water conservation, and how to use their new rain barrels. I came prepared with an assistant, Charlie Ryan, who is a Farmington Hills native. Charlie helped lead the workshop with me. In no time at all, we had a full-blown assembly line in progress.  As we were working, more and more people showed up. Many people saw the activity in the church’s parking lot and asked if there were any rain barrels left.

Though we brought ten extra rain barrels, it was not enough. The response was so overwhelming, even the two barrels Maxi donated to the church were sold. Susan and Danielle were ecstatic at the outpouring of attendees for this first time event. Maxi would like to formally thank everyone at the Salem United Church. We would especially like to say thank you to Susan and Danielle Nickels, for making this event happen. From fruition to finish, it went wonderfully and we hope to work with them again.

Don’t worry, we replaced the two donated rain barrels as a thank you for the church hosting the event. We hope to work together in the future on more GREEN events with them.

Enjoy these photos from the event!

If you are interested in having Maxi work with your non-profit or organization to help educate people about Rain Barrels and water conservation, please contact Richard via email: rick@maxicontainer.com

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Sierra Club Rain Barrel Workshop – Detroit, MI (Brightmoor) 4/9/11

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Rain Barrel Workshop - Sign Up
Last weekend the Sierra Club Great Lakes Program hosted a Rain Barrel workshop on Detroit’s west-side in the Brightmoor neighborhood. The workshop was organized by the Sierra Club’s own Melissa Damaschke to teach fifty Detroiters, who had signed up for the event, all about water conservation’s benefits, and of course how to make a rain barrel. After all of the participants arrived, Melissa explained the workshop and then separated everyone into groups. An experienced Rain Barrel “Guru” led each group in the making of the Barrels. After all the drilling, caulking, and installing was done, the group discussed their plans to save rain water and for use in their gardens. It was an educational experience and fun afternoon project.

I had my video camera on me and have created a video showcasing the workshop, hope you enjoy!

For More Info on the Sierra Club Great Lakes Program please visit these links:

The Michigan Citizen wrote an article about the event, download it here.