ReBound Ink.

College students buy many notebooks, but rarely do they use every page. When a course ends, they remove their notes and toss the rest away, creating landfill waste, or the notebook is dropped in a recycling bin where the pages travel long distances for an energy-intensive recycling process.

A low-cost service close to East Carolina University’s campus could bind students’ course notes neatly for study and reference – while collecting those wasted pages and repurposing them in a beautiful, affordable, upcycled journal.

ReBound Ink. serves this market-driven need with an artful and environmental solution. Using comb binding, ReBound Ink. saves students’ notes from the trash bin. By using a thermal binding process, reclaimed pages become attractive journals. This start-up business reduces environmental waste, captures an unserved market and as an added social asset, contributing to the larger community by dedicating a portion of proceeds to a local charity.

Meet the team

The project was created by ECU graduate students Marion Blackburn, Kellianne Davis, Ashley Qualls and Sapna Varkey. All four graduated with a master’s degree in public administration in May 2015.

The ReBound Ink., team of Kellianne Davis, Marion Blackburn, Sapna Varkey and Ashley Qualls competed in the Social Entrepreneurship Competition.

Blackburn has served as a city council representative in Greenville since 2009. Additionally, she works as a project manager, writer and editor.

Davis received her undergraduate degree in 2013 at High Point University in political science with a minor in philosophy. Davis is employed with the city of Rocky Mount as the downtown development coordinator.

Qualls received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in psychology and minoring in women’s studies. She served as co-vice president of Students for Public Administration at ECU.

Varkey earned her bachelor’s degree in 2012 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, double majoring in political science and public policy. Varkey additionally served as the assistant editor for the International Journal of eGovernance and Networks.

The four students were supported by two ECU faculty advisors Todd Fraley and Debbie Hathaway. Fraley is an associate professor in the School of Communication. Hathaway works with the Small Business and Technology Development Center regional branch at ECU and advised the team on business strategy and implementation.

ReBound Ink’s complete business plan is provided online.