Trying to recycle everything—including hard-to-recycle items like coffee pods and cigarette butts—can come at a high cost... Businesses like TerraCycle act like a go-between, approaching companies making hard-to-recycle products and asking them to pay the cost of recycling. In return consumers can send the products off to a private recycling plant for free, and they feel good about it.

Some recycling programs facilitated by private companies — including the manufacturers of products that aren't easily recyclable — are filling the gap in order to divert some of that waste away from the landfill... "Everything technically has a recycling solution," said Jessica Panetta, marketing manager for the Canadian branch for the New Jersey-based TerraCycle.

If you're feeling guilty about all the coffee pods or squeeze pouches you're tossing in the trash, here's some good news: There are ways to recycle these and many other "unrecyclable" items... TerraCycle is one company aiming to "recycle everything."    

TerraCycle was featured in a 30 minute podcast episode on the Zero Waste Countdown, which can also be downloaded on the Podcast app (AppleCoreMedia), iTunes, Stitcher and Castbox.

John Wanless Junior Public School has revisited an old ally, recycling company TerraCycle, in its pursuit of being eco-friendly. In December, the Bedford Park school restarted its Snack Pouch, Schneider Lunch Mate and Yves Veggie Cuisine recycling program. At the helm is Grade 6 teacher Lisa Higginbottom. Students collect the waste that traditional recycling methods, such as municipal governments, don’t have the budgets to cover. Higginbottom first started the program in 2010 after a student brought in a product that had been the result of Terracyle’s recycling process. After three years of dedication, when she went on maternity leave, the program remained idle.