Brock's green graduate

Every student spends the majority of their high school and post-secondary career answering the ever tiresome question, 'what am I going to do with my life'?
It has never been so difficult for students to give a realistic answer to this question. Never has the prospect of finishing ones academic career been so bittersweet.
Trevor Hess, a recent Brock University graduate, with a major in Sports Management, completed his degree and was ready to make the transition into the workforce when the recession hit full force. Hess graduated in 2008 and has spent the last year coping with the less than promising state of the world economy. However, Hess' desire to make a name for himself and to not let the slumping economy hold him back has driven him to success.
Hess, an entrepreneur at heart, has been showing promise and potential since he was a young teen.
"Even when I was young, I was shovelling driveways, cutting lawns and doing paper routes for money; it was in my blood," recalls Hess.
There was no doubt that this ambitious young child was one day destined to make his mark on the world.
With the decline in plastic water bottle sales being seen in both the European and American markets, Hess saw his opportunity to innovate a new type of reusable bottle that could replace existing competition.
With this is mind he approached SkyTrax, a company run by his uncle, and that has been in his family for the past 25 years.
SkyTrax is a company that has been known for their contribution to preserving the environment and creating awareness about the damage that is being done to it.
As a member of 1% For the Planet - a commitment made by businesses since 2002 - SkyTrax has also made the commitment to donate one per cent of sales to non-profit organizations and campaigns focused on the preservation of the environment.
Hess' new bottle design is quite different than anything else seen on the market right now. His design uses stainless steel rather than aluminum - a decision made after multiple companies reported this year that their reusable aluminum bottles were found to contain BPA, a synthetic chemical compound suspected of being dangerous to the human body.
Not only is this bottle safer, it also has an innovative new design that provides versatility between both the sport top and loop top that makes this bottle durable, and able to handle the needs of everyday life; thus presenting a style of bottle, that is not currently available on the market.
Since plastic bottles have a low biodegradability, taking up to 1,000 years, Hess knows the importance of eco-friendly living.
"Only about 20 per cent of plastic bottles are recycled in the United States," said Hess.
This leaves the other 80 per cent of plastic bottles that are not recycled to take up much needed space in landfill sites.
As the importance of green eco-friendly ways of life grow in our communities, innovations such as Hess's stainless steel SkyTrax bottle will become ever more important. That is why schools such as the University of Winnipeg and Memorial University have made their campuses plastic water bottle free. The City of London has also followed suit, along with 70 other towns nationwide that have banned the sale of plastic water bottles in municipally operated buildings.
Hess' SkyTrax bottle is available online right now, and is beginning to be shipped out to major retailers. Hess himself has been in the process of contacting Brock University, in his attempt to get the stainless steel bottle into the Brock Campus Bookstore. He feels the innovative new bottle will power its sales but also urges people to think of the ecological affects of bottled water as well as the dollar value.
"When you think about it, you are paying more these days for a bottle of water than you are for a litre of gas," he said. "It just seems crazy when you can get the same thing from tap that has been tested for your safety and it is free."
For more information visit their website skytrax.ca