Recycling has been one of the biggest movements in response to pollution, and dealing with the huge amounts of waste produced by today’s society. Of the biggest problems with recycling is that there are a lot of plastics, and other products that aren’t recyclable yet. A lot of progress has happened recently in recycling abilities, but there are many products and luxuries that we use today that come in packaging that isn’t easily recycled. This is where the company Terracycle comes in. Terracycle is a company that collects hard to recycle wastes and either recycles the materials, or upcylces them for new purposes.

After learning about his elementary school's project this year with Terracycle, Penn State Freshman, Augustus Perangelo decided to join many of Terracycle Inc.'s brigade. TerraCycle's purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. They do this by creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. Anyone can sign up for these programs, called the Brigades, and start sending them waste. TerraCycle then converts the collected waste into a wide variety of products and materials. With more than 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.

We all want to be greener. The three R's have become ingrained in our minds since we were little kids. I know I try to recycle and reuse what I can, when I can, but I fall short. Sometimes, I stare at a used up item and just wonder what I can make out of it before I give up and it goes out into the recycling bin! TerraCycle has taken the guess work out of turning trash into treasure with their unique site! So how do they do it? TerraCycle takes items that are traditionally non-recyclable, think your kids juice pouches, toothbrushes, even chip bags, and turns them into products we can use in our everyday lives. You can send them your used up packages through their website or purchase upcycled items from stores like Target and Whole Foods. I was sent a few items to review and each one is a perfect gift for someone on your holiday list, or, perhaps yourself!

Tara Lynn-Perez, math teacher at The Henderson International School, is focused on a lot of things. Multiplication tables, long division, fractions – the usual stuff. But what you might not know is Tara’s other passion: to “eliminate the idea of waste.” She’s an avid proponent of a website/program called TerraCycle, an international recycling system for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste, and she’s gotten the kids at her school hooked on the idea!   Here’s how it works… Local programs, called Brigades, send TerraCycle their waste. TerraCycle then converts the collected waste into a wide variety of products and materials. The Brigades, then, receive points based on the number of items (waste) that they send in (2 points per item). The organization has more than 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries, and TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.

TerraCycle is a great new way to recycle! You can send in your ‘trash’ things like chip and cookies wrappers, juice pouches and more to be turned into things like binders, pouches, and more.

TerraCycle’s purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. We do this by creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. Anyone can sign up for these programs, called the Brigades, and start sending us waste.

TerraCycle then converts the collected waste into a wide variety of products and materials. With more than 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.

Our goal is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today must be sent to a landfill.

Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a 20-year-old Princeton University freshman, TerraCycle began by producing organic fertilizer, packaging liquid worm poop in used soda bottles. Since then TerraCycle has grown into one of the fastest-growing green companies in the world.

Products include traditional garden supplies like a Terra Stone Plant Caddy retailing for $14.99, the Eco-Terra Watering Can for $11.99 and TerraCycle’s trademark All-Purpose Plant Food for $4.99 – $32.00 at major retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, independent garden centers and online.

Other unique items include tote bags, lunch sacks, toiletry cases and travel pouches made from repurposed USPS mail bags and upcycled tents. All USPS and tent products will be available online at www.uncommongoods.com. Lunch sacks will retail for $37.00, dopp kits for $38.00, and tote bags for $46.00. The Coin Pouch, Tote, and iPad Case will retail from $14.00 – $84.00. We are also featuring portable, battery free Eco-Speakers for $19.99.

Students will now have a way to keep their environmental consciences clear when throwing parties by recycling red cups through the Red Cup Cleanup campaign.

The campaign, multilaterally coordinated by the Campus Center for the Environment (CCE), the Dining Services Sustainability Office and the ASUCD Environmental Policy and Planning Commission, will enable students to easily recycle red Solo cups by disposing of them at the South Silo drop-off point every Monday between 9 to 10 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m.

The scheme operates with TerraCycle, a company dedicated to recycling products that are not usually recycled and would otherwise be sent to landfill.

“TerraCycle’s purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. We do this by creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste,” TerraCycle’s website stated.

Red cups are made of grade-6 plastic, deeming them non-recyclable within Davis up until the scheme was brought in.

Third-year nutrition science major Sarah Azari and third-year environmental science and management major Teresa Fukuda, the two interns in charge of the Red Cup Cleanup, initiated the campaign in 2011 by collecting cups from UC Davis fraternities and sending them to TerraCycle. The cups are subsequently melted down and transformed into other usable products, which are sold in chains such as Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. Two cents per cup recycled is then donated to a charity of the program’s choice.

To date, over $500 has been raised by the CCE through the Red Cup Cleanup campaign. The hope is that by implementing the weekly drop-off, students can actively bring their used cups to be recycled in a sustainable way, increasing both the number of cups collected every week and the amount of money raised for charity.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm for the scheme [among] the fraternities. They’re really on board,” Azari said. “Hopefully it will be well-integrated into Greek life so that we can get it implemented into other campus organizations.”

The campaign initially targeted fraternities in Davis due to their large-scale and prolific use of the cups when hosting social events.

“Fraternities are an important place to start because of the sheer volume [of red cups] consumed. It’s important to start in a place where you have a lot of returns when you want to put a scheme like this in place,” said Cameron Scott, a fourth-year international relations major and active member of the Theta Chi Fraternity.

Fukuda agreed fraternities could be influential in the program.

“They [the fraternities] set a great example for the rest of the school population,” Fukuda said.

The charitable aspect of the program, furthermore, is integral to the fraternities’ participation, as it helps them fulfill their philanthropic activities.

“There’s already a philanthropic element to the scheme in that you’re working [toward] a more sustainable future, so I think it’s a double-edged sword where there’s two positive aspects to the effort,” Scott said.

Given the positive response among fraternities, the CCE hopes that momentum for the program will grow throughout Davis.

“There’s a lot of potential to get individuals outside the fraternities involved in the scheme,” said Tessa Artale, a fourth-year sociology and Spanish double major and CCE director. “Eventually we want to use our Facebook campaign and distribute flyers to roll out the scheme to the broader public. We feel individuals will be incentivized by the charitable element.”

The CCE is also hoping to attract grants from private organizations in order to provide further incentives for individuals to get involved in the program. The grants will be used to purchase items — such as trash cans resembling red cups and reusable cups — that will be distributed in exchange for used cups.

The trash cans, which will be designed by first-year art student Carmel Dor, will help students distinguish between recyclable and non-recyclable waste.

“Our biggest priority is getting the trash cans up and running so that students know where to recycle their cups,” said Issy DeMillan, a fourth-year wildlife, fish and conservation biology major and participant of the scheme.

The prospect of reusable cups, however, has a split opinion among the fraternities, with some more willing to embrace the departure from red cups than others.

“The problem with buying our own set of cups is that it’s expensive. The fact we have this scheme, which we’re more than willing to help out with, and that we could get a set of reusable cups will save us money and saves waste,” said Juan Chavarin, the sustainability chair of Sigma Nu, one of the first fraternities to embrace the scheme.

Scott, on the other hand, said that the appeal of the red cups is the very fact that they are disposable.

“There’s comfort in the fact that someone wasn’t responsible for washing that cup. It came out new. People know where it’s been. A more popular approach would be to carry on using the cups and disposing of them in a sustainable way,” Scott said.

Have you ever thought what happens to your Snickers bar package after you finish eating it. Most probably it will end up in a bin and from there it´s a one way ticket to the trash yard, right? Well there is a company that might take your snickers bar package and turn it into... well why not  a backpack. That company is called Terracycle, and snickers bar packaging is only a small piece of their story. It all started with worm poop The revolution began in 2001 when two freshmen at Princeton University Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer submitted a business plan to a contest sponsored by the Princeton Enterpreneurship Club. The following summer Szaky and Beyer made arrangements with Princeton Dining Services to take the dining hall waste and process it in their prototype „Worm Gin“. By 2002, the company had created a continuous flow process to take garbage and have it processed by worms into fertilizer. The products then were packaged worm poop used in soda bottles. Since then TerraCycle has grown into one of the fastest-growing green companies in the world. According to a company´s spokesperson Stacey Krauss TerraCycle believes that trash does not exist in nature and that it is their purpose to eliminate waste. „By collecting and finding ways to reuse traditionally non-recyclable materials, Terracycle is changing the way the world views waste,“ said Krauss. Terra is defined as The planet, Earth or land, whereas Cycle is recognized with recycling and upcycling and defined as any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated. By recycling or upcycling items that would normally be sent to landfills, TerraCycle finds a way to help the environment and create a sustainable solution to waste. Upcycling is making trash valuable A backpack made of Snickers packaging has more value than the original packaging, once the product inside is gone. „Once the packaging has served its purpose and the candy has been safely delivered to a hungry consumer, the packaging is usually discarded, because it is not believed to have any value. At TerraCycle we find value in packaging as-is and can reuse it in almost its original state,“ said Stacey Krauss.

Some of us are feeling a tad guilty about eating the kids' Halloween treats. Well, here's a way to atone -- we can recycle all those candy wrappers through an ongoing partnership between Mars candy and the eco-friendly company TerraCycle. "It's a free collection program for all kinds of candy wrappers, regardless of brands, regardless of type," said TerraCycle public relations manager Stacey Krauss. In a phone interview, Krauss told us how easy it is to help both the planet and the charity of your choice by joining the "candy wrapper brigade." Simply sign up on the TerraCycle website and designate which nonprofit you would like to receive the funds or points earned.

While writing a previous article on green dental care, I found out about a great company called TerraCycle, which offers a program to accept “non-recyclable or hard to recycle waste,” such as toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. After looking at the website , I decided TerraCycle deserved an article of its own! Started by a young Princeton student, TerraCycle began as a small business that sold worm casting fertilizer in used soda bottles. TerraCycle started expanding its business by producing various products out of post-consumer waste, such as pencil cases out of used CapriSun drink pouches. This process, called upcycling, involves producing new, useful products out of waste materials and useless products that otherwise would go to the landfill. So, upcycling helps reduce landfill waste and reduces resource use. TerraCycle quickly grew into a global project with over 20 countries now participating in their upcycling efforts.

At heart of co-creative innovation lies new partnership propositions, and the results of such business partnerships often are unthinkable products. This Lays spiral bound notebook is a truly unthinkable product: the papers are made of recycled material, and its hardbound is made by processing used snacks wrappers. And, it is a result of unlikely partnerships involving Frito Lay, Inc, a part of PepsiCo, and a global leader in the manufacture of snacks, TerraCycle, a recycling company, and thousands of individuals customers of Lays products across the US, and retailers like WalMart, The Home Depot, and Whole Foods. What more, the product also stands for a shared value - value for all. This story of co-creative innovation is scripted by the need for snacks manufacturer, Frito Lay, Inc, to reduce its environmental impact. (This is of course one way of assuming what makes the partnership tick.) Lay encourages its consumers to send used Lays wrappers to TerraCycle, a recycling company. Lay takes care of the postage fee - consumers can download a pre-paid shipping label from TerraCycle website! The company also donates $ 0.02 for every used wrapper sent by the customer to a charitable institution that the customer chooses.