Beginning Sunday, April 17 and running through Saturday, April 23, customers can trade in their used writing instruments, regardless of brand, to any Office Depot retail store location nationwide. In exchange for ten pens, pencils or markers, customers will receive a coupon toward a new product from Newell Rubbermaid Office Products, maker of Sharpie®, EXPO®, Paper Mate® and more. The collected instruments will be sent to TerraCycle, the pioneering upcycling and recycling company, to be turned into new office supply products ranging from trash cans to desk organizers.

Bring your old flip-flops to Old Navy: From April 22 to May 21 the store, along with TerraCycle, is collecting old flip-flops to be recycled and made into playground equipment

TerraCycle wants you to recycle everything, and they don't just mean everything that's "recyclable." The company is attempting to set up a system that takes in and recycles literally any kind of garbage -- including candy wrappers, leftover food, and tooth brushes -- and establish the system on a wide scale. And with Earth Day coming up, they're pushing the project even harder. "Our goal is to open in every country around the world and collect every type of waste," [founder Tom] Szaky said by phone between business meetings in San Francisco. "We have big ambitions to try to solve this for all. Our model works for every type of garbage so why not bring it to everyone?"

Total Wine & More has teamed up with TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of nonrecyclable post-consumer waste. Partnering additionally with Nomacorc, the global leader in alternative wine closures, Total Wine & More will place collection bins in select stores where customers can drop off wine closures to be “upcycled” into eco-friendly cork boards, all produced via low-energy-consumption means by the TerraCycle Cork Brigade program. Beginning in California, Total Wine & More hopes to expand the program throughout many of its 73 wine superstores across 11 states.

Other retailers taking steps in a greener direction include Old Navy, which has created a program to turn used flip flops into playgrounds.

From flip flops to playground? Yes! In honor of Earth Day, TerraCycle and Old Navy have partnered together in the Flip Flop Replay, which runs from April 22 – May 21, 2011. Now you can Reflip, Reflop, and Recycle for a fantastic initiative this Earth Day!

That red cup from Friday night is going from the beer pong table to the playground as a result of a new initiative from Solo Cup Company. Solo Cup has joined forces with TerraCycle, Inc., an international upcycling company that takes difficult-to-recycle items and turns them into affordable, eco-friendly products. The "Solo Cup Brigade" is an initiative that takes the iconic red party cups and upcycles them into playground materials, park benches, and other outdoor furniture by converting the waste into new products of higher environmental value. "The partnership started with TerraCycle to create a recycling program for our square cups," said Kim Frankovich, vice president for sustainability for Solo Cup. "We wanted to find an avenue to actually get our cups recycled as well as create an incentive for those to do so." The idea for this project emerged when consumers asked Solo how they can go about recycling a product that most community curbside recycling programs do not accept, according to Frankovich.

Recycle: Drop off your used flip-flops at Old Navy in Bellis Fair mall, so they can be recycled and used at four public playgrounds in the country. Look for designated collection bins.

The other day I was led to website that absolutely blew my mind.  Let me preface by saying that being “green”, when it comes to the environment, is something I’ve skimped on to say the least.  The website in questions is www.terracycle.net and they will take your used, non-recyclable wrappers from chips and tortillas and indeed, recycle them.  With Earth Day and Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, TerraCycle’s wonderful recycling program has hit full swing. Megan Yarnall from TerraCycle along with Mission Products were kind enough to supply me with recipes that I tried personally and the results were stupendous.  With a maximizing effort to keep our environment around for a long time, these recipes are conducive for a “green” diet.  All products used are approved with TerraCycle and can be returned for recycling!