For most people, recycling is boring. It's something they know is a good thing to do. But for many, that's just not enough motivation. I see recyclables in the trash all the time and the nation's horrid recycling rate (which estimates peg around 30-35%) is widely discussed. Over the years, many paths have been tried: paying people money per pound, a nickel deposit back per bottle, curbside collection, and to make it as easy as tossing in the trash, the single blue bin that's been popular since the 90s. Recently, companies like Greenopolis have been getting creative with incentivizing recycling, as I discussed here last week. But what about making recycling fun, something you'd even want to take an active part in doing? Is that possible? Our partnership with NBC New York is another step on that path for us. Putting the silly in recycling is a ridiculous animated Rube Goldberg style machine that "processes" things like Starburst wrappers, with the resulting new product popping out the other end. And this NBC recycling machine doesn't just stay put on their site. We've made it embeddable, and shareable on Facebook and Twitter. It may look silly, but it does two things: gets people's attention, and makes it clear that things they're used to only being able to throw away can in fact be made into something else entirely. . .

TerraCycle’s staff has grown quickly. In 2008, we had about 35 employees, all in the United States. We now have about 100, including 70 or so in the United States and 30 abroad, managing operations in 14 foreign countries. Given our anticipated growth, I expect we will have 125 employees around the world by the end of 2012. I guess some of my views about hiring are unconventional. While I have lectured at many of the major business schools in America, including Harvard and Wharton, I have no formal management training. Most of what I have learned has been through trial and error. And I’ve made plenty of errors, so many that the list is almost endless — for example, hiring senior folks who dazzled me with their credentials and experience until I figured out that they were positioning themselves to take my job.

TerraCycle® and Sprout® Organic Baby Food challenged TerraCycle participants to submit essays explaining why and how they are “Protecting the Planet for Baby”. They have narrowed it down to the top 4 submissions and now they need help choosing!  Take a moment to read through the storiesand submit your answers here! Who are you going to vote for? Voting ends June 20, 2011.  Winners will be chosen June 27, 2011!

Garnier Fructis suggested U.S. citizens to vote for the best rock musician on the Rolling Stone web-site or on the Facebook page. In addition users were welcome to upload their own photos in a rockstar-like fun photo frames, the most voted pics won free concert tickets. With its eco-product line Pure Clean, Garnier Fructis provided all the hair-style stuff for the Garnier celebrity stylist Peter Butler to trim the contestants’ heads in a special Green Room.

Garnier’s Cleaner Greener Tour will be parked at Walmart on Woodrow Bean Transmountain Road! Walmart shoppers can bring any and all hair care, skin care and cosmetic packaging to the tour vehicle to be recycled by TerraCycle, learn about the environmental impact of personal care products, and score some free samples of Pure Clean. Garnier is kicking off a packaging collection and recycling program with TerraCycle called the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and announcing biodegradable hair care line Pure Clean. After these tour stops, El Paso residents can join the Brigade at www.TerraCycle.net to send in their personal care packaging from home.  The program is free to join and all shipping costs are paid.  Even better?  TerraCycle pays $.02 for each unit of waste collected to the charity of the collector’s choice.

Garnier’s Cleaner Greener Tour will be parked at Walmart on Woodrow Bean Transmountain Road! Walmart shoppers can bring any and all hair care, skin care and cosmetic packaging to the tour vehicle to be recycled by TerraCycle, learn about the environmental impact of personal care products, and score some free samples of Pure Clean. Garnier is kicking off a packaging collection and recycling program with TerraCycle called the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and announcing biodegradable hair care line Pure Clean. After these tour stops, El Paso residents can join the Brigade at www.TerraCycle.net to send in their personal care packaging from home. The program is free to join and all shipping costs are paid. Even better? TerraCycle pays $.02 for each unit of waste collected to the charity of the collector’s choice.

Garnier’s Cleaner Greener Tour will be parked at Walmart on Alameda Avenue! Walmart shoppers can bring any and all hair care, skin care and cosmetic packaging to the tour vehicle to be recycled by TerraCycle, learn about the environmental impact of personal care products, and score some free samples of Pure Clean. Garnier is kicking off a packaging collection and recycling program with TerraCycle called the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and announcing biodegradable hair care line Pure Clean. After these tour stops, El Paso residents can join the Brigade at www.TerraCycle.net to send in their personal care packaging from home. The program is free to join and all shipping costs are paid. Even better? TerraCycle pays $.02 for each unit of waste collected to the charity of the collector’s choice.

About: TerraCycle’s purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. We do this by creating national recycling systems for the previously non-recyclable. The process starts by offering collection programs (many of them free) to collect your waste and then convert the collected waste into a wide range of products and materials. With over 14 million people collecting waste in 11 countries together we have diverted billions of pieces of waste that are either upcycled or recycled into over 1,500 various products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today ends up in our trash. The amount of trash that we generate is frightening. Recycling ‘the usuals’ is a good thing. TerraCycle goes beyond the usual and gives new life to waste that would fill up our landfills. There are a couple of ways that you can help. You can send them your waste, so that it can be upcycled or recycled. And you can purchase the fun products that they create from waste. TerraCycle makes lunch boxes out of brightly colored Kool-Aid Jammers and Capri Sun drink pouches. Billions (yes, billions!) of drink pouches end up in landfills every year. TerraCycle can’t take care of all of them, but they upcycle tons (literally, tons) of them each year. They also donate 2 cents to charity for each pouch that they collect. The lunch box is made well and sturdy enough to carry a heavy lunch. The colors vary depending upon what type of drink pouch is used. Mine is made from grape flavored Kool-Aid Jammers and has a coordinating purple zipper and trim. The lunch box is fun to carry and serves as a good reminder to make positive steps to take care of the earth. HOW TO CONNECT – You can like TerraCycle on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. PRIZE – TerraCycle would like to give a Kool-Aid Jammers lunch box to 1 of you (ARV $15) Here’s what you need to do to enter to win …. ***MANDATORY ENTRY: Leave a comment – just say something nice *** Optional Bonus Entries: (must do mandatory entry first- post a separate comment for each bonus entry) * Like  Sweeps4Bloggers on Facebook * Subscribe to Sweeps4Bloggers by email (green sidebar button) * Subscribe to Sweeps4Bloggers by reader (Orange sidebar button) * Post my button on your blog and comment with the link * Follow Sweeps4Bloggers on Twitter * Tweet about the giveaway and comment with the link to your tweet (you may TWEET DAILY for 1 bonus entry each day) * Post on your blog/website about the giveaway and comment with the link (5 entries, leave 5 comments) * Check out  Giveaways4Prizes– add one of your giveaways to a linky or look at what’s listed (2 entries, leave 2 comments) * Like TerraCycle on Facebook * Follow TerraCycle on Twitter * Enter the Bratz DVD giveaway * Enter another current Sweeps4Bloggers giveaway and let me know which one you entered (enter as many as you’d like, but only 1 bonus entry) Giveaway ends June 26, 2011 at 8pm Pacific Time. Giveaway is open for residents of the US only. No purchase necessary – void where prohibited by law. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to notification with shipping info and claim prize – if no response, another winner will be chosen . Subject to the official rules. Disclaimer/Disclosure: Sample and prize provided by the giveaway sponsor.

“Nós queremos agir a partir do que já se trabalha em sala de aula e tornar habitual o cuidado com a escola e com o ambiente em que se vive”, finaliza a diretora. A iniciativa conta com o apoio das empresas Baltt, JL Celulares, Natubrás, Takata, e TerraCycle.

With the help of the TerraCycle program, Kelly Tilton has helped to make students understand the value of recycling. One of the things she has done has set up a bin at the school in which students can recycle their drink pouches. Kelly Tilton is a busy woman. Aside from being a mom and a business owner, the University Place woman is also doing her part to help the environment. And as she tells the story, she "just kind of stumbled upon" her contributions last year. Two of Tilton's four children  - Ben, 9, and Rachel, 6 - attend Sunset Primary, where their mom is a member of the PTA. She buys them the Honest Kids brand of fruit drinks that come in pouches. One day last year, she saw on one of the packages that the pouches could be recycled. In fact, through the TerraCycle program, one pouch could earn her 2 cents. (Click here to find out more about TerraCycle)