Circular Blu, creator of the blue wrap tote-bag and trailblazer in the field of circular economics, has formed a new partnership with UMass Medical School’s Work Without Limits to create sustainable employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Circular Blu will donate a portion of the proceeds it gains from their tote-bag sales to Work Without Limits, an initiative dedicated to advancing the employment of people with disabilities through training employers, hosting job fairs and a job board, providing benefits support, and more.
“We are honored that Circular Blu chose to support our efforts, which strive to put all abilities to work here in Massachusetts and across the nation,” Work Without Limits Director Kathleen A. Petkauskos said. “This generous financial support will help us achieve our goal of increasing the employment rate of people with disabilities.”
Circular Blu’s mission is to create a more sustainable economy and environment, and they’re doing their part by recycling and repurposing medical blue wrap as tote bags and other products. Doing this has of course had a positive effect on the environment, but that’s not all. Circular Blu is an equal opportunity employer and has made a point of filling the gaps in its large manufacturing process with a diverse range of employees, including those with disabilities. Read more about Circular Blue on the Work Without Limits blog.
“We at Circular Blu know that a circular economy is an inclusive one, so we are working to create local and environmentally sustainable products as well as supporting access to employment for people with disabilities, as those goals are central to our mission,” said Circular Blu CEO Christopher Bodkin.
This partnership comes at a pivotal time for Work Without Limits, which recently joined the National Organization on Disability to create employment opportunities for college students with disabilities. Earlier in 2017, they Work Without Limits teamed up with Partners for Youth with Disabilities to offer online mentoring to Massachusetts community college students with disabilities, and are in the planning to extend this service to four-year college students as well. In addition, the US Business Leadership Network in the fall of 2016 chose Work Without Limits to become its Massachusetts affiliate. The Massachusetts Business Leadership Network and in doing so, Work Without Limits is embarking on establishing a disability supplier diversity initiative in Massachusetts that will create awareness and opportunity for small business owners with disabilities, including disabled veterans.
This is not the first time the two organizations have come together. Four years ago, Circular Blu (then operating as Blu2Green) created tote bags for Work Without Limit’s first annual Raise the Bar Hire! Conference and career fair. Fittingly, the bags were crafted by individuals with disabilities.