In honor of America Recycles Day tomorrow, check out TerraCycle's cool program for all your used makeup, hair, and skin care products. http://www.terracycle.net

Otras iniciativas de reciclaje a distancia Terracycle: basado en la idea del "upcycling", este sistema se ha extendido por todo Estados Unidos. Su objetivo es transformar residuos domésticos en productos útiles para su posterior venta y que los consumidores ganen dinero durante el proceso. Con los beneficios obtenidos desde sus comienzos, en 2009, sus responsables han donado más de tres millones de dólares a distintas organizaciones de caridad. La iniciativa ha entrado en España hace poco y se centra en el reciclaje de bolígrafos.

Costumes and candy make for a sweet Halloween. Afterward, however, the clutter and litter haunt closets and landfills for years. Wrap up this spooky season with the help of the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher, 900 Loggerhead Road, Kure Beach, by donating gently used costumes and empty candy wrappers. The Aquarium will collect those ninja suits, princess dresses and all other spooky get-ups through Nov. 30. Next fall, families can select new costumes from the donated items as part of a free costume exchange. Also, instead of trashing empty candy wrappers, drop them off at the Aquarium. The Aquarium collects empty wrappers throughout the year and sends them to a recycling partner, TerraCycle, as part of its focus on conservation. This partnership raises money for conservation efforts at the Aquarium.

The ultimate solution to recycling is perhaps the ability to turn waste material or trash into cash. TerraCycle is well established recycling and upcycling company which do exactly that through a simple but powerful goal: “eliminate the idea of waste.” The idea is to use find the value in each hard to recycle product and upcycle it turning waste into a profitable and eco-friendly business. They do this by creating national recycling systems and collection networks for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste and using the waste to create marketable items. These regional recycling programs are increasing in numbers and are available to everyone. They regularly receive contributions from all over the world, waste material which they then convert into a wide variety of products and materials. With more than 20 million people collecting waste in 14 countries TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers. So next time you are thinking about turning Trash into cash, just pick up the phone and call TerraCycle. 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. Find out more about them

Meet-up #3 with Tom Szaky, the founder of TerraCycle This meet-up was organized by the U.S. Embassy for its Alumni and for some reason I managed to make it this time. There are always a lot of interesting people there and since everyone is rowing in the same boat having returned from the States after working or studying there it is nice to see them from time to time. Just like the previous night’s protagonist, little did I know about the guy. I knew he was Hungarian, he was young and a CEO. I thought he must know something and therefore the meeting was promisingly interesting. I googled again. I wanted to know who he was and what his business was and how did he become so important to have a meeting organized for him. Well, he is all over Google! He is 29, blogs for New York Times and he runs a company now present in 18 countries, he makes money out of trash and he is kind of good-looking. And a genius! Of course I was late from the meeting – as usual (I should stop being late!). I got lucky and they only started after I got there. Tom founded TerraCycle as a freshman in uni where he made fertilizer out of wormpoop…and wrapped it in used sodabottles…and sold 100,000 of it to Wal-Mart. He realized trash was not entirely waste and it can be reused, recycled or upcycled meaning that with different technology new products can be made out of it so the level of the ever-growing trash can be reduced or even eliminated. His business is about collecting big corporates’ trash (for which he gets paid by the corporate) and then resells it to another company as raw material for which TerraCycle also gets paid. Smart! They collect pens, candy wrappers, juice pouches, bottles and – here comes the mind blower – used chewing gum and used diapers. He says he started this because he saw a large gap in the market and now he is so successful cause he doesn’t have an adequate competitor. He thinks it is because people don’t find trash “sexy”. I think environmental consciousness IS sexy! He also adds that mostly women and children are open to such ideas, men only buy hybrid cars because of the cool factor. Is it true? I was curious if he was collecting waste selectively at home as well but he said the company is not yet set up for private trash. Would be nice though! Tom said that TerraCycle’s mission is to eliminate trash for once and for all. Daring goal and a very respectable one. On the other hand I have one concern because in some respect I feel like that this activity legitimates the current production of stuff and wrappers instead of eliminating them. I still appreciate what TerraCycle is doing and at least they are doing something, looking for solutions is far more than most other companies are doing and I dig that.

Robert Fogarty started Dear World to bring attention to the world's most tragic causes. But can he turn it into a scalable business? The Experts Weigh In Tom Szaky, Founder TerraCycle Trenton, NJ They are beautiful photos, but this kind of feels like a trend, and trends come and go. How will he be able to keep up interest for people writing on their hands? It behooves him to assume that he is going to trend out in a few years, so he should look at the kernel in his work that has lasting power, and that’s the idea behind the photographs. Maybe his play is that he turns this into a cause-related advertising agency, and the photographs are just one of his platforms. Then he should look at what other modules fit into that mission.