I've seen this TerraCycle logo on several products, but it wasn't until today that I took time to investigate what exactly it is! Basically TerraCycle (TC from here on out...) is a program that takes trash that wouldn't typically be recycled and turns in into a host of products--ranging from bookbags to fences, picture frames to fire-starter logs! What type of things can be TC'd?  Juice pouches, candy wrappers and bags, ziploc bags, chip bags, lotion bottles, yogurt containers...on and on!  In order to get in on the TC movement folks join a 'brigade' where they collect specific items from neighbors, family, friends, co-workers...and once you've reached the minimum number of items needed to ship TC emails labels you print and send off.  AND, for each item you send TC will donate cash to a charity or non-profit organization of your choice!  How cool is that??

Terracycle is one of those incredibly cool organizations you love to come across. Not only do they help keep our planet a little freer of waste, they make the waste into useful, fun, good-looking products. They have lots of Brigades to help you earn money for your church or school as well. I dig them. A lot! Emily over at Terracycle has offered a few upcycled goodies to giveaway to one lucky My Atlanta Mommy reader. Check these out!!

Students at Bentley School are trying to do their part to help the environment. The school has different recycling containers throughout the building for plastic and paper recycling. In the lunchroom students are encouraged to recycle their foil juice drink containers, granola bar wrappers, candy wrappers, cookie wrappers, chip bags, as well as milk containers, pop cans, and water bottles. Students are encouraged to recycle at home and bring these items back school. The foil juice drink containers, granola bar wrappers, candy wrapper, cookie wrappers, and chip bags are then boxed up and sent to TerraCycle. This company then turns the “trash” into backpacks, lunch bags, folders and more! Last year Bentley students recycled 1,684 Capri Suns, 1,145 Granola/Energy Bar Wrappers, and 396 Chip Bags. We are very proud of our students for all that they are doing to make the world a better place!

BERLIN -- Grow Berlin Green, a campaign to promote conservation and environmental protection, will launch a new TerraCycle program beginning Sept. 10. TerraCycle is a company that makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste matters. This company runs a free national collection program that pays non-profits for their waste. Berlin resident Kathy Winte is spearheading this program to raise funds for GBG and will coordinate and orchestrate the collection, sorting and mailing of the disposed waste of non-recyclable trash items. The town has agreed to place two containers next to the paper/cardboard recycle container located at the recycle station at the John Howard Burbage Park on William Street for residents to dispose non-recyclable trash items, including corks, chip bags, cookie wrappers, juice pouches and coffee packs which are turned into plastic items such as coolers, trash cans, pavers, bricks, fence posts and more.

TerraCycle and Colgate are both offering their own FREE curriculums; Colgate seeking to teach kids how to keep their mouths clean and TerraCycle seeking to teach kids how to Outsmart Waste! Both curriculums can be used at school or in the home and both meet national education standards.

What excited me about my daughter’s project was her description “Inspired by Terracycle“. My daughter’s familiarity with Terracyle comes from items we have been sent to review for our blogs.

TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage.

I absolutely loved the show Garbage Moguls. I want to work at TerraCycle but I already have a good job and I do not live near Trenton NJ. I have some suggestions for Terracycle on how they might find some ideas, what to collect…etc.

There are many ways to help a school earn money through fundraisers, contests and grant applications, but what if your time is limited because of your work schedule or because you're a stay-at-home mom with other little ones still at home with you? Are there ways to help that don't require selling anything or require a whole lot of time that you just don't have right now? Yes, and here a couple of ways to earn money for your school with very little effort on your part. CapriSun's Drink Pouch Brigade <http://brands.kraftfoods.com/caprisun/be-green-earn-green.aspx> -Earn $.02 per CapriSun pouch collected and recycled through TerraCycle. Complete details on CapriSun's website <http://brands.kraftfoods.com/caprisun/be-green-earn-green.aspx> . Talk to your local school of choice to find out if they have established their own brigade so you can contribute drink pouches or start your own, ask if you can visit during lunch or snack time and collect the empty drink pouches and you don't even have to pay the postage to send them in.

It seems easy, at first, to hate Tom Szaky, who gives the keynote address at Columbia’s fourth annual Green is Good for Business conference on Tuesday, Sept. 14. At 27, Szaky is the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company that he started in his Princeton dorm room. Last Friday, he was driving up the West Coast to a Dave Matthews Band show, having just met with one of his company’s big clients: Starbucks. Other clients include Kraft Foods, Home Depot and Frito-Lay. But the goal of TerraCycle, his nine-year-old company, is so jaw dropping — and so freakishly noble — that scorn and jealousy dissipate quickly.

It may be a polyester costume, but note the upcycled Terracycle bag!