There are a wide and creative variety of these sorts of partnerships with both commercial companies and government agencies -- strategies that produce value for both sides, rather than for only one. I'm reminded of TerraCycle, for example, an impressive company that tries to outsmart waste by paying schools who teach kids to recycle things like Capri Sun drink pouches. The kids learn to recycle waste, the school makes a little extra spending money, and TerraCycle uses waste items to make nifty handbags, purses and other consumer items to sell. Sounds like the beginnings of a virtuous cycle, to me.

Most people have heard the saying that you can't improve what you can't measure. But, measurement can be complex and time-consuming, especially when it comes to figuring out how to reduce environmental impacts. That’s why Kraft Foods is using lifecycle assessment (LCA) to help it make the right changes and get the best results. For example, in the United States, the Kraft YES Pack salad dressing team used LCA to confirm their design has a reduced environmental impact, using 60% less plastic packaging than the previous container. And in Europe, the Tassimo single-serve beverage team's LCA showed they could reduce the carbon footprint of each T Disc beverage ingredient package by about 20% when upcycling them with partner TerraCycle and diverting them from landfills.

Moms in need have babies in need. Research has shown that moms dealing with financial hardships often choose between buying diapers or other necessities like food. Some of these moms reuse soiled disposable diapers or leave a dirty diaper on their child longer than they should. You can help moms in need get access to clean diapers by recycling common household items for free with TerraCycle. Their newest charity partner is Huggies’ Every Little Bottom, an organization that provides free diapers and moms and babies that need them. In honor of all mothers this Mother’s Day, consider how you can help moms, babies, and the planet by signing up for one of the programs below.

Really looking forward to hearing Tom Szaky at FEI — he’s CEO and Founder, TERRACYCLE and author of Revolution in a Bottle. That’s him in the picture. You’ve got to love a guy who makes millions from garbage nobody else wants…that’s innovation!

You can help moms in need get access to clean diapers by recycling common household items for free with TerraCycle and their newest charity partner, Huggies’ Every Little Bottom, an organization that provides free diapers to moms and babies that need them. To help, sign up for one of these programs: Recycle Diaper PackagingHuggies and TerraCycle are now accepting shipments of any size of diaper and wipe packaging the Huggies Diaper Packaging Brigade. Parents can sign up to send in any brand of diaper packages and earn charity points. Recycle Cleaner PackagingMethod is expanding its program with TerraCycle to accept all kinds of cleaner packaging, regardless of type or brand. The newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade allows families, schools, or individuals to collect and recycle pumps, triggers, refill pouches and almost any cleaning product packaging to earn charity points. Recycle Baby Food Pouches - CONTEST This May, Sprout Foods is offering prizes to the three Sprout Foods Brigade participants that donate the most charity points to Every Little Bottom by May 31st! Moms can recycle baby food pouches to earn charity points and be entered to win a TerraCycle-Sprout Prize Pack, containing Sprout Organic Baby Food, Toddler Meals, Fresh Start cookbook by Sprout co-founder Tyler Florence and TerraCycle upcycled products.

Foi pensando nisso que a Coppertone lançou o projeto Brigada Coppertone Protetores do Planeta, um programa que pretende coletar embalagens de protetores solares vazias (independentemente do tamanho e da marca) e transformá-las em matéria-prima novamente, como forma de substituir o material virgem e evitar que mais recursos naturais sejam extraídos. Essa matéria-prima, por sua vez, pode ser utilizada na produção de novos materiais a base de plástico, como baldes, estojos e sacolas de compra reutilizáveis.

Tang presenta el nuevo comercial “Bicibus”, el cual sintetiza y refleja el logro de todos los chicos que se sumaron al “Programa de Reutilización de Envases de Bebidas en Polvo” desarrollado en forma conjunta por Tang y Terracycle durante 2011. El programa, único en su tipo en Argentina, convocó a más de 350.000 chicos; quienes se unieron para conformar más de 1100 Brigadas Tang y lograron recolectar 500.000 sobres. El Spot “Bicibus” muestra el esfuerzo de los chicos en recolectar sobres y disponerlos de tal manera, de crear un original y colorido vehículo con ruedas de bicicleta y formato de bus, de 8 mts de largo x 1,80 mts de ancho y 2 mts de altura; íntegramente recubierto de los sobrecitos Tang recolectados. El nuevo comercial tiene como propósito plasmar el compromiso de Tang y de los chicos con el cuidado del medio ambiente, en línea con su campaña global “Prepará, Tomá y Hacé”; generando en los padres el orgullo por este increíble logro conjunto. La nueva pieza de Tang se integra a la campaña 360º,  que abarca Vía Pública, TV y Gráfica, entre otros medios, para mostrarle al mundo esta iniciativa. Las Brigadas Tang continuarán durante el 2012 y todos los consumidores pueden sumarse a la recolección. La alianza de Tang y TerraCycle hace posible que los sobres dejen de ser basura y puedan ser reutilizados y reciclados en nuevos productos amigables con el medio ambiente. Kraft Foods es la segunda empresa de alimentos y bebidas a nivel mundial, con operaciones en más de 160 países, produciendo alimentos para miles de millones de consumidores. Es líder en chicles, caramelos duros, galletitas, bebidas en polvo y premezclas.  El portfolio de productos que se comercializan en Argentina incluye marcas líderes como Tang, Beldent, Oreo, Clight, Milka, Halls, Mantecol, Tita, Rhodesia, Terrabusi Express, Club Social, Cerealitas, Cadbury, Pepitos y Royal, entre otras. Actualmente, Kraft Foods Argentina, brinda empleo a más de 4.200 empleados y posee cuatro plantas industriales en Argentina: una en Gral. Pacheco, donde se producen las categorías de galletitas, pastas y chocolates, otra en Victoria donde se elaboran caramelos, chicles y chocolates, un molino harinero en Tres Arroyos, Provincia de Buenos Aires, y la planta de producción de bebidas en polvo y postres para preparar en Villa Mercedes, San Luis. Kraft Foods (www.kraftfoodscompany.com; NYSE: KFT) es miembro del Dow Jones Industrial Average, el índice Standard & Poor's 500, el Índice Dow Jones de Sustentabilidad y el Índice Ethibel Sustainability. TerraCycle (www.terracycle.com.ar) es una compañía que representa a una nueva generación poniendo un especial interés en la triple línea de resultados, comprometidos en lo social y ambiental, sin perder de vista el resultado económico. En 2001, el estudiante universitario Tom Szaky fundó TerraCycle con la esperanza de construir una nueva y más responsable forma de hacer negocios. Desde entonces, TerraCycle ha revolucionado la industria haciendo productos respetuosos del medio ambiente y al alcance de sus consumidores, a partir de materiales de desecho. Hacé click en el siguiente link para ver el comercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzGY0zIu2S8

After launching the Method Refill Brigade® in 2011, Method, the leading innovator in premium, environmentally-conscious household and personal care products, and upcycling/recycling pioneer TerraCycle, Inc. have now expanded the program to accept pumps, triggers, refill pouches and almost any cleaner product packaging, regardless of brand. Schools, offices, families or individuals can collect traditionally non-recyclable cleaner packaging and send it to TerraCycle to earn money for charity gifts and donations through the newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade. The collected packaging will be turned into trash cans, coolers and other home goods. “Packaging sustainability is a core priority built into the design of every Method product,” said Adam Lowry, Method co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper. “In addition to the recyclable packaging we make from recycled materials, we want every part of a cleaning bottle to be used again, including parts that aren’t accepted by most recycling systems, like triggers and pumps. Our goal with this Brigade is to ultimately collect more triggers and pumps than we actually manufacture, which would substantially improve the packaging footprint of not only Method, but our competitors as well.”

We invite you and your middle and high school students to join Philippe Cousteau and distinguished guest speakers for a special webinar to kick-off The Big CleanUP, an exciting summer-long contest involving young people taking action to protect our world’s oceans. The webinar and contest is a partnership between EarthEcho, TerraCycle, and One World One Ocean with a simple mission: remove plastic from the waste stream and earn money for your school. Prizes include a school visit from Philippe Cousteau and others, film passes, and more. During this webinar, we will also explore how plastic affects the oceans, how these issues relate to classroom learning, and how young people can take a lead in protecting our oceans. Students will hear from Philippe Cousteau as well as guest speakers from TerraCycle, a national recycling system for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste, and One World One Ocean, a multi-year campaign harnessing the power of film, television and new media to restore a healthy ocean.

In honour of Earth Month, TerraCycle Canada is recognizing its top 10 waste-collecting schools. Oakville’s St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School placed second, diverting 12,782 units of waste from landfills during the past six months – September 2011 to February 2012. The school collects drink pouches, cookie and cracker wrappers, sandwich bags through Brigade®  programs sponsored by Kool-Aid, Mr. Christie’s and Glad brands, and earns two points (the equivalent of $0.02) for every of waste received. In addition, the school was the top collector in the Cookie and Cracker Wrapper Brigade® program for the same period. Since joining TerraCycle in February 2010, the school has collected 63,446 units of waste and raised $634.46 for fundraising.