Halloween is here, bringing lots of tricks and treats. Each of those tasty treats come nicely wrapped in what will soon become trash. However, there may be a better place for all of those wrappers besides the garbage. TerraCycle is a web-based recycling service with the goal to eliminate waste. Their specialty is creating collection and solution systems for anything that must be sent to a landfill. TerraCycle does this by having teams or groups sign up for a specific program, called the brigades, and start sending them the waste. Each brigade is built on collecting a specific type of item in bulk. The materials are up-cycled into household and office items, and distributed to major retailers including Walmart and Whole Foods.   M&M’S has teamed up with TerraCycle to form the M&M’S Candy Wrapper Brigade, to collect and give candy wrappers a second life. Not only will more trash be kept out of landfills, but participants will also be helping a school or charity of their choice. TerraCycle will reward participants two TerraCycle points per candy wrapper, and each TerraCycle point is worth 1 cent that will be donated to the school or charity selected when participants register. Registration with TerraCycle is free. Just collect enough individual candy wrappers, large candy bags and multi-pack candy bags to fill up a shipping box or bag. Download a pre-paid shipping label from TerraCycle’s website and drop off the box at the nearest UPS location.

Follow these instructions, provided by TerraCycle, and learn how easy it is to recycle your empty candy wrappers into a fun gift bag.

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If you have completed this project and still have more candy wrappers to upcycle, be sure to sign up for Terracycle's Candy Wrapper Brigade and send them in!

TerraCycle's Candy Wrapper Brigade collects empty candy wrappers, donates money or charitable gifts to the organizations that send them in, and turns the waste into new items. And … we made it through Hurricane Sandy. My family and I were hunkered down for two and a half days and were without power for one of those days. I feel fortunate. There are still hundreds of thousands of people without power, and not too far from me at the Jersey Shore, as well as other places in the region, people and businesses have lost everything. When the power finally came back on yesterday afternoon, I couldn’t turn off the news. The scenes of the devastation are heartbreaking. As the East Coast starts its cleanup, most of the rest of the country is celebrating Halloween. Our town’s trick-or-treating has been moved to Saturday, and most of the towns around me have postponed it until sometime later in the week. Eventually, those of us with kids will have piles of candy in our homes. When that candy gets eaten, we’ll have piles of candy wrappers.  Did you know that you can recycle many of those wrappers? TerraCycle’s Candy Wrapper Brigade is a recycling program that accepts any brand and any size candy wrappers. What would normally end up as waste in a landfill gets turned into new products like messenger bags, kites and picture frames. This program is a fundraising program for charities, schools and nonprofits. Organizations can sign up, and the wrappers that they send in can earn them 2 cents a wrapper or two TerraCycle points that can be redeemed for charity gifts like providing meals or planting trees. According to the TerraCycle website, participating is easy after an organization has gone through the free signup process. Here is what you need to do.

1. Collect enough approved candy wrappers to fill up a box or bag. The waste does not need to be cleaned or stacked.
2. Download a pre-paid shipping label from the website.
3. Drop the box off at a UPS location.

“Who put this recyclable item in the garbage???” My kids have gotten used to me asking this question as I’ve become more environmentally conscious over the years. I knew the habit had become deeply ingrained when I attended a church dinner and found myself trying to move a bunch of recyclable 2 liter bottles someone had set on top of the trash to a recycling container.  Since I moved from halfhearted recycling to serious recycling around ten years ago, I’ve tried to support companies who are reusing waste in creative ways, like Terracycle.  They take traditionally nonrecyclable waste, drink pouches, chip bags, toothbrushes and many other products, and create new and innovative products. Have you ever wanted to recycle your nonrecyclable items? If so, Terracycle has a program that pays you cash! You collect these items and send them in to Terracycle.  They produce reusable goods like this circuit board clipboard and you get cool cash in your pocket. It’s a win-win situation.

Remember to recycle your candy wrappers to TerraCycle. Collect them at home or work in a bag or plastic container then bring them to the Waverly Recycling Center TerraCycle drop-off site. This is a fundraiser for the Waverly-Shell Rock schools. Check out www.terracycle.net and like "Waverly TerraCycle" on Facebook.

El ecocapitalismo en México va por buen camino. A principios de año, Reporte Indigo habló de aquel joven empresario de origen húngaro que desde hace dos años sentó las bases en el país para revolucionar la idea que los mexicanos tenemos respecto a la basura: Tom Szaky, fundador y CEO de la multinacional TerraCycle. Mediante el proceso de “upcycling” (o súper reciclaje), el “negocio nada sucio” de Szaky hace posible transformar materiales de difícil reutilización en productos sustentables e innovadores. Esto, en alianza con empresas como Frito-Lay, Kraft Foods y Nestlé, y a través de las llamadas “Brigadas”, programas nacionales con los que más de 25 millones de personas a nivel global recolectan toda clase de desechos, como empaques de alimentos y cepillos de dientes, por ejemplo, para darles una segunda vida. Mes con mes, cada desecho que ha sido recolectado y enviado a TerraCycle se convierte en “puntos” que las Brigadas reciben en su cuenta de la empresa, que posteriormente se traducen en donativos a organizaciones no lucrativas. Hasta hace unos meses, la empresa ecocapitalista trabajaba de la mano con cuatro programas de Brigadas en México: Cuidado Bucal Colgate (pastas y cepillos de dientes), Botanas Sabritas (bolsas de papas), Botanas de Galletas Gamesa-Quaker (empaques) y Bebidas en Polvo (sobres de Tang). Hoy, se suma la Brigada de Pan Bimbo, el primer programa de recolección de empaques de pan en México, con el que TerraCycle robustece su “catálogo” de unidades recolectadas. “En México, tenemos 1.2 millones de personas que están recolectando (basura) y cada mes estamos recolectando entre 200 y 400 mil residuos en el país”, dice Tom Szaky en entrevista para Reporte Indigo. Nuevos programas Y va por más. Tres nuevos programas de Brigadas que marcan un hito en la era del ecocapitalismo y el upcycling han sido lanzados a nivel mundial y, adelanta Szaky, espera que los mismos pongan pie en México en 2013. Chicles masticados En Brasil, el equipo de recolección de TerraCycle se encarga de tomar chicles masticados, la materia prima para fabricar productos de plástico. “Ahora podemos hacer productos a base de 35 por ciento de chicle masticado y 65 por ciento de bolsas de papas”, señala el joven emprendedor. Pañales usados A los pañales usados, tanto de bebé como de personas de la tercera edad, también se les dará una segunda vida en un programa que, dice Szaky, será lanzado en Estados Unidos a fines de este año. Pero “con los pañales sucios (el reciclaje) es aún más complicado”, expresa el empresario, quien recientemente asistió a la EGADE Business School, en Monterrey, para compartir su visión de negocio a directivos, líderes empresariales, alumnos y egresados en la conferencia “Empresa Social: Capitalismo del Mañana”. Szaky comenta que los pañales tienen que pasar por un proceso de radiación gamma, que ataca bacterias como la E.coli, salmonella y otros agentes patógenos. A partir de este primer paso, el pañal se tritura y se separa en sus partes componentes, que consisten en plástico, el material interior que absorbe la orina conocido como “polímero superabsorbente” (SAP, en inglés) y la celulosa, que se obtiene de la pulpa de madera. Esto hace posible convertir el plástico de los pañales en madera, muebles de jardín o una banca, por ejemplo. Colillas de cigarro En verano se lanzó el primer programa de recolección de colillas de cigarros en Canadá. A decir de Szaky, los cigarros “(…) pasan por el proceso de radiación gamma y después se separa y se destroza el material orgánico, que es la ceniza, el tabaco y el papel, y se convierte en abono (…)”, explica Szaky. Lo que se recicla son los filtros de cigarro (o las colillas), que están hechos de acetato de celulosa, para transformarse en materiales industriales, como palets (bandejas de carga) de plástico. “Estos programas son muy emocionantes para nosotros porque representan flujos de residuos muy complicados, así como nuestra capacidad para resolverlos”, apunta el empresario. Fuente: http://www.reporteindigo.com/piensa/ecologia/terracycle-recicla-y-reutiliza

Monterrey representaría hasta un 30 por ciento de la recolección de basura para reutilización en otros productos en México René Salinas Monterrey, México (13 octubre 2012).- Tras afirmar que el mexicano sí tiene fuerte la cultura del reciclaje, el director de la empresa TerraCycle, Tom Szaky, que se dedica al proceso de convertir basura difícil de reciclar en algo reutilizable o "upcycling", señaló que ésta ha venido creciendo en su recolección de basura, su materia prima, en un 5 a 10 por ciento mensual en el País. Szaky, de 30 años, quien fundó la empresa cuando era aún estudiante universitario de Princeton, señaló que esto representaría alrededor de 300 a 400 mil piezas de basura recolectadas actualmente en el País, que cuenta con alrededor de un millón de personas registradas en TerraCycle.

Dana Krueger, a special education teacher at Northview's Highlands Middle School leads a Green Team at the school, dedicated to mammoth recycling efforts. The recycling efforts have garnered awards for the school and money from a recycling company. Through the efforts of a Green Team, recycling has become part of the school culture and daily efforts at Northview’s Highlands Middle School. The Green Team was launched in March 2011 and now because of the recycling club’s efforts the school recycles everything from candy and gum wrappers, chip bags, drink pouches to glue sticks, toothbrushes, shoes, and electronics. Recycling has been a long-time passion for Dana Krueger, a special education teacher at Highlands Middle School who leads the Green Team recycling club that meets weekly after school. She stresses to students, staff, and parents that just making one change can “make a huge difference.” Dan Duba, principal at Highlands Middle School, said the efforts of Krueger and the recycling team have lead to community building. “I believe it’s a life skill and something that is good for everyone,” said Duba, noting Krueger’s passion for the environment has spread throughout the school. Krueger and her Green Team have taken over an empty classroom where recyclable items are gathered and sorted. Recycled items initially have come from the school but now students and parents bring items from home. Krueger said most of the recycled items are boxed and sent to TerraCycle in New Jersey who pays the school. Although the focus is on recycling and reducing waste, last year the program made $1,200 that will be used for the recycling club and buying things for the school. The school now taps and stacks the lunch trays that are rinsed off and recycled through Dart Container, a company that retrieves about 20,000 trays a year. Every two weeks all the plastics go to Chef Container and paper is routinely recycled through the Paper Gator. Highlands Middle School was rewarded with a bench and birdhouse made of recycled plastic bags after winning a national competition from Virginia-based Trex Company last year. “We sent in nineteen, 44-gallon bags full of those plastic bags,” Krueger said. With a grant from the Northview Education Foundation, the Green Team sponsored a toothbrush swap. Students bringing in toothbrushes to recycle were given a brand new one to take home. Another foundation grant funded a Vermicomposting system with a worm factory that will demonstrate to students how food waste is composted.

Do you like to keep the earth clean by recycling? I’m always finding ways to recycle. I’ve even got my daughter, who is only three, recycling. When someone tries to throw away a can or plastic bottle she will pull it out of the garbage and put it in the recycling bins we have. I think it’s great that she wants to help me keep things recycled. Makes me feel great that I’m helping my daughter learn to help keep the earth clean. I’m very excited to have had the chance to review some recycled products from Terracycle.