TERRACYCLE NEWS

ELIMINATING THE IDEA OF WASTE®

Please explain your innovation at greater length

The Guerillapps team quickly realized that in order to maintain Trash Tycoon’s fun, social landscape but ultimately change consumers’ environmental outlook, they would have to take the game outside of the virtual and into the real world. The first step? Teaming up with some of the biggest players in the green space. Guerillapps quickly acquired sponsorship from upcycling company TerraCycle and carbon offset provider Carbonfund.org to further opportunities for real world impact. Trash Tycoon’s garbage-tackling premise directly mirrors the real-world goals of TerraCycle, a collection and solution program for typically non-recyclable waste. TerraCycle’s sponsorship also provides players the opportunity to earn game points by engaging in sustainable, real-world practices outside of the game. By simply buying TerraCycle’s green products online, players can redeem game points. Through Carbonfund.org’s contribution, players can also vote for their favorite carbon offset project within the game. Guerillapps then donates 10% of this revenue to the chosen project to help fight climate change.

INSTANT MBA: Be Flexible In Your Business, But Not In Your Ideals

"Be flexible in your business model but not in your ideals, and harbor determination." Szaky founded TerraCycle when he was just a 19-year-old Princeton freshman. The company made worm refuse into fertilizer and packaged it in recycled bottles. Now, TerraCycle has completely altered its focus, after Szaky saw an opportunity and went for it. TerraCycle's main business is now in 'upcycling' -- the repurposing of used material -- and things are going better than ever.

Facebook Game Turns Trash Into Treasure

A new social game for Facebook is putting the fun into cleaning up trash and recycling. The green themed social game challenges players to find and recycle trash that can be turned into new products. The ‘Trash Tycoon’ game was released by Terracycle and resembles the company’s business model. Terracycle collects post-consumer waste like drink pouches and chip bags and upcycles them into new products including bags, placemats and frames. In the ‘Trash Tycoon’ game, players collect and recycle trash like glass, plastic and paper that can be turned into eco-friendly products. Players earn game money and points for the amount of waste that they upcycle into products.

Green-themed upcycling game launched on Facebook

As the online community dives into game play with Trash Tycoon via Facebook, they take on the role of recycling entrepreneurs by collecting litter in a trash-strewn city and upcycling waste into higher-quality, environmentally friendly products. Upcycling, a process in which discarded waste is repurposed for use, can range from building a house of abandoned material to finding innovative uses for discarded plastic bags. After completing missions, users collect money and earn points to ultimately earn the title of garbage tycoons. The game's trash-tackling premise directly mirrors that of its sponsor, TerraCycle. "Something as simple as a social game where players earn points for recycling in the real world is capable of changing people's behavior for the better," says Raviv Turner, co-founder and CEO of Guerillapps. "We've organically integrated real-world recycling goals into the game to ensure that players have fun and see Trash Tycoon first and foremost as a game, while at the same time presenting a proactive approach for more mindful actions as users approach real-life situations with acquired knowledge from Trash Tycoon."

Programm zum Recyclen von Schreibgeräten und Korrekturmitteln

Erstmals ermöglicht ein Sammelprogramm das Recyclen von leeren Schreibgeräten und von Korrekturmitteln in der Schweiz.

Ein Programm für sozial und ökologisch nachhaltiges Handeln: Ab jetzt können alle Schreibgeräte und Korrekturmittel, egal welcher Marke, zu neuen nützlichen Produkten wie Giesskannen oder Stiftehalter recycelt werden. Dadurch hält das Programm Schreibgeräte von Müllverbrennungsanlagen und Mülldeponien fern und ersetzt den Bedarf an Neukunststoff, um neue Produkte herzustellen. Das Programm ist offen für Universitäten, Schulen, Kindergärten, Unternehmen, Organisationen und Institutionen, die ihre leeren Schreibgeräte und Korrekturmittel kostenlos einsenden. Als Gegenleistung dafür werden pro eingesendetem Schreibgerät oder Korrekturmittel zwei Rappen an eine gemeinnützige Organisation nach Wahl der Teilnehmer gespendet. Im Fall von teilnehmenden Schulen, kann das Geld direkt an die Schulen gehen, um zukünftige Bildungsprojekte zu unterstützen. Mitmachen ist ganz einfach: Wer daran interessiert ist, teilzunehmen, registriert sich auf www.terracycle.ch und meldet sein Sammelteam an. Schon kann das Sammeln von benutzten Schreibgeräten losgehen. Anschließend wird die Sammlung kostenlos zu TerraCycles Lager geschickt, wo der Recyclingprozess zu neuen Produkten beginnt.