Enviromints: A World Of Good Through Sweet Indulgence

Carefully removing a gold foil wrapper, the woman outside Starbucks chomped the head off a rhinoceros, melting it down with a latte chaser.

``Mmmmm. Good chocolate,'' she said, downing the dime-size remainder of the rhino's rump.

Her 25-cent chocolate-mint indulgence made her smile. It also might have helped save an endangered hairy-nosed wombat somewhere - and she didn't even know it.

That's the beauty of EnvirOmints, the flat, inch-square chocolates popping up at some 4,000 outlets in Seattle and across the U.S., say local product creators Lumiel Dodd and Patrick Clark-Delehanty.

The 25-cent candies already are tempting consumers near cash registers at Starbucks, Larry's, Olson's and Haggen's stores. They soon will arrive at QFC and 7-Eleven outlets, and national retailers say they're interested.

The chocolates are made in Ohio, and their slogan is ``The sweet taste of life.'' Each candy square is topped by a delicate carving of one of six endangered wildlife species. Included in every mint package is one of 48 endangered species collectors cards. The packaging itself is worth saving - send in 20 wrappers and $8 and you'll get an endangered species T-shirt, as well as an ``action kit'' listing names of environmental organizations seeking volunteers or cash.

By plunking down a quarter, the buyer also makes an indirect donation to environmental organizations. The company has pledged to donate half of its profits to environmental causes.

EnvirOmints has yet to make its first donation, Clark-Delehanty said. But surprising early profits have erased half the duo's initial debt, and as soon as the mint company enters the black - probably this fall - it will begin donating dollars to groups with a track record for environmental action, he said.

Sales have exceeded expectations. Since EnvirOmints and their bright jungle-colored display box made their debut just two months ago, some 700,000 squares have been gobbled up by customers who fall prey to either the sweet chocolate taste or the save-the-wildlife sales pitch.

``Most people say they want to do something to help the environment, but they don't have a vehicle for doing it,'' Clark-Delehanty said. ``This allows them to make a statement, no matter how small.''

The tiny trading cards also are a hook - especially for kids, they say. The company plans to introduce a booklet with slots for all the collectible cards. It's scheduled for marketing just before Christmas.

Neither partner has qualms about saving wildlife by pushing sugar on kids.

``People are going to buy candy anyway,'' Clark-Delehanty said, noting that the average American ingests 19.7 pounds of the stuff - give or take a Snicker's bar or two - every year. ``Why not provide them with a candy that's an educational tool?''

Clark-Delehanty, an old hand in the ``impulse'' candy business, and Dodd, a frustrated veteran solicitor for environmental groups such as Greenpeace, formed their corporation a year ago. The two longtime friends admit they're pushing a risky product into an environmental world turned upside-down.

Among environmental activists, ``it used to be an abhorrent thing to say you were a capitalist, or that you were going to be aggressive in the marketplace,'' Dodd said. ``That doesn't exist anymore.''

They proclaim to be among a new breed of retailers: capitalists with a conscience.

``It's sort of reverse industrialism,'' Dodd said of EnvirOmints. ``We've got to make a commitment to share a certain amount of profits to make sure the Earth stays whole.''

He is not bothered by the fact his mints appeared on shelves at the same time loggers in Southwest Washington announced a boycott of Burger King outlets to protest the chain's use of salad dressings produced by Paul Newman, an acknowledged environmental activist. Dodd and Clark-Delehanty see such reactions as short-lived zits on a planet that finally has taken to washing its face.

No, there won't be a northern spotted owl EnvirOmint collectors card. Not because the pair fears a boycott, but because the bird is listed only as threatened, not endangered. Unfortunately, Dodd said, the federal list of endangered species is so extensive that ``we could issue a new set of cards every three months.''

Dodd and Clark-Delehanty picked mints as their environmental vehicle because of the catchy EnvirOmint name - and because the candies can be produced cheaply. Their aim, they said, is to put save-the-Earth activism within the grasp of kids on dollar-a-week allowances.

``Consumers are interested in this. They're definitely going to start looking at companies that do something other than just take your money and run.''

As sales continue to climb, Dodd and Clark-Delehanty spend their days mimicking the fans of their product: They sit in their Lake Union office and collect wrappers. Yes, the foil is recyclable, but probably not through conventional recycling outlets. All wrappers exchanged for T-shirts will avoid landfills, Dodd vows.

He's contacted a recycler who will take the wrappers - in quantities of 10,000 or more.

Plans call for EnvirOmints to expand to a larger national market in time for Christmas. Look for their creators to be waiting with guarded optimism - and one humongous wrapper receptacle.

Dodd said he's ready.

``We already have a big box.''