Over one million cigarette butts have been collected by consumers, anti-litter groups and businesses since the launch of global recycling company TerraCycle's Cigarette Waste Brigade on Clean Up Australia Day in March this year, making Australia's second most littered item recyclable for the first time in the country.
TerraCycle Inc. is working with two other organizations to increase
recycling and improve the economics of sustainable packaging and manufacturing.
The Trenton, N.J.–based recycling firm
TerraCycle is partnering with nonprofit
Recycle Across America, which has developed a standardized labeling system for recycling bins, and Participant Media, an entertainment company that has launched the television show “Human Resources” on its Pivot network.
The program, which premieres Aug. 8, follows the efforts of TerraCycle to eliminate waste. It inspired the recycling effort, called the Recycle Right! campaign, according to a
news release.
The Recycle Right! Campaign offers informational videos, tips and practical solutions to increase recycling.
The label standardization will be the centerpiece of the project. The campaign aims to double the amount of standardized labels used by the end of the year to one million.
There’s a new campaign under way to help standardize messaging on public recycling containers in an effort to boost the amount of material, including plastics, diverted from landfills.
TerraCycle, known for its work in finding new life for hard-to-recycle materials, is working with non-profit group Recycle Across America and Participant Media in a program to distribute standardized recycling labels in the United States.
The hopes are that standardized messaging will boost recycling rates.
As part of the Recycle Right campaign, the standardized recycling labels are designed to boost recycling rates by providing a clear message about what is accepted at each container.
News of the campaign comes as TerraCycle is promoting the debut of “Human Resources,” which is described as “a half-hour comedy that documents the nonstop, deadline-driven world of TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company whose mission is to eliminate waste on a global scale.”
The show debuts Aug. 8 on the Pivot channel, which is part of Participant Media.
The Recycle Right campaign also includes informational videos, tips and what organizers calls practical solutions, including the standardized labels, to help boost recycling.
RAA Founder Mitch Hedlund, in a statement, had this to say about the labels. “It’s a deceivingly simple solution that creates exponential progress, and I think we’re all ready for some progress.”
Use of the stickers already has taken hold at 2,000 schools in the United States, including all public schools in Washington, D.C. Companies including Hallmark, Kohler, NBCUniversal, Procter & Gamble and SanDisk also are using them.
Estimates are that approximately 500,000 of the labels already are in place in the United States, Canada and Europe. The goal is to double that amount by the end of the year.
More information about the cost of the labels as well as the upcoming television show is available at
www.takepart.com/humanresources.
By collecting and sending in traditionally non-recyclable packaging that would otherwise be destined for a landfill, churches could earn points toward charity gifts or a cash donation through a new program from TerraCycle. This free to join program is open to any individual or Christian school/church, and all shipping costs are pre-paid.
Churches like St. Michael Lutheran Church in Greenville S.C., North Moreland Christian Baptist Church in Wheelersburg, Ohio, and St. Joseph Church in Dexter, Mich. collect a variety of items such as drink pouches, cereal bags, toothbrush tubes and toothbrushes, and cosmetic packaging. These programs are made possible through TerraCycle’s partnerships with Capri Sun, Malt-O-Meal, Colgate and Garnier.
Some religious organizations have enjoyed incredible fundraising success through TerraCycle’s Brigade program. In just three years, St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens, Georgia earned over $6,000 though the program. Last summer, the Hickory Church of Christ in Hickory, North Carolina won the Kraft Cheese Barbecue Bash to earn prizes and a $2,500 donation – doubling the money they had already earned through the Brigade program.
“The money we earn through the TerraCycle Brigade program goes to our food pantry,” said Tracie Perkins, the Brigade coordinator at Hickory Church of Christ. “Our members collect wrappers at home and from coworkers, neighbors and even local businesses.”
You can learn more about TerraCycle’s Brigade programs by visiting
www.terracycle.com.
Stadium and venue owners and managers are constantly on the look out for new ways to make their facilities cleaner, more efficient and more environmentally-friendly. With the help of recycling pioneer TerraCycle, facility managers across the US can now recycle their cigarette waste.
Instead of the butts going to landfill, TerraCycle composts the paper and leftover tobacco and recycles the filters into plastic for industrial uses, such as pallets.
According to Keep America Beautiful, cigarette butts are the most frequently littered waste item. 65% of cigarette waste is disposed of improperly and accounts for 30% of litter at “transition points” where smokers must discontinue smoking before proceeding. Contrary to popular belief, cigarette butts are not biodegradable.
To address the desire to rid facility grounds of cigarette waste in an environmentally-responsible way, the Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena have recently joined TerraCycle’s Cigarette Waste Brigade
®.
Chris Parker, Executive Vice President of the Predators, said he was “proud of both the building and the community for being one of the first organisations to actively rid its venue of cigarette waste”. Parker added that he “hopes this movement catches on with other stadiums”.
Arena staff collect the discarded cigarette butts on the sidewalks outside of the Arena and in plaza areas where smoking is permitted following Predators home games and Bridgestone Arena concerts. With postage paid by TerraCycle, the boxes of butts are then shipped to a plant in New Jersey for recycling.
Managers looking for additional ways to reduce waste can also utilise TerraCycle’s new Zero Waste Boxes. These boxes enable stadiums and venues to recycle everything from cleaning supplies, plastic cups, fluorescent light bulbs, Styrofoam
® and plastic cups, plates and utensils, and chewed gum.
All Zero Waste Boxes can be purchased at
zerowasteboxes.terracycle.com for a variety of prices. When a box is full, it is simply shipped to TerraCycle for processing.
Since 2007, TerraCycle has used innovative recycling processes to repurpose otherwise landfill-bound consumer packaging waste into useful materials and products, such as recycled plastic lumber, industrial shipping pallets, and park benches. Between the Cigarette Waste Brigade and Zero Waste Boxes, there are almost no limits to what can be recycled.
Balatonakarattyán a környezettudatosság is középpontba kerül.
Európa első újrahasznosító fesztiválját rendezik meg július 2–6. között a magyar tenger partján: a második Everness Fesztiválon az öntudatosság és a környezettudatosság egyaránt hívószó. Az egészséges életmód, az alternatív gyógyászat, a pszichológia éppúgy terítékre kerül az eseményen, mint a környezettudatosság, az újrahasznosítás és a jövő zöld technikái.
Un groupe d’étudiants de Sup de Pub a mené un projet écoresponsable.
Papier, stylos, gobelets et mégots de cigarette ne terminent plus dans une poubelle comme de simples rebuts depuis qu'Anna Schleef, Pierre-Émile Jegou et Romain Senegas ont pris les choses en main dans leur école située aux Chartrons. Étudiants en deuxième année de Sup de Pub du groupe Inseec, les étudiants ont décidé de mener à bien un projet écoresponsable qu'ils présenteront très prochainement dans le cadre de leur BTS communication.
