TerraCycle's goal is singular: To solve the problem of waste. We have not taken positions on the products that we collect, similar to how recycling companies accept products of any brand that fit their capacity to recycle. But here's where it gets interesting—We've been approached by a tobacco company to collect and turn cigarette butts into new eco-friendly products. What do you think? Is doing business with a cigarette company any different than any of the other companies whose waste we collect? Or is this somehow different? If so, how?

Waste is a problem. We’ve been helping solve it, one piece at a time, via our collection brigades for years now. Literally billions of pieces, collected by millions of people each earning 2 cents donated to the charity of people’s choice. That translates into $100,000 a month in the US alone. And we’re currently in 5 countries, aiming for 10 this year.

Kraft anunció una alianza con la empresa de reutilización de empaques Terracycle. Por medio de Tang, su marca líder de bebidas en polvo, Kraft comenzará un programa de recuperación de empaques para reutilizarlos en la elaboración de otros productos.

La Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad Regiomontana asistió a la presentación donde Tang y TerraCycle anunciaron un programa nacional de responsabilidad social e invitaron a la comunidad regiomontana a recaudar empaques de la bebida en polvo para su reutilización.

The end of this year has been a return to our roots for TerraCycle in many ways. First with the opening of our first retail store a few blocks from where I first had a basement “office,” and now we’re going north to Canada–where I grew up and where we had our first major sales of product, to The Home Depot and Walmart Canada. This new Canadian endeavor is, in fact, with Kraft–the first company with which we made a major agreement to collect branded waste in order to upcycle it into new products.  In two years, our US partnership withKraft on Capri Sun juice packs has resulted in more than 35,000 collection points, millions of pouches collected, and more than $250,000 donated to a variety of causes.

If you’ve read any of my articles on here, you probably know TerraCycle’s focus is on upcycling, the process of creating something of equal or greater value and quality from materials that may have otherwise been thrown away. We’ve done it by turning cookie wrappers into umbrellas, juice pouches into pencil cases, and LP records into clocks.

If you’ve read any of my articles on here, you probably know TerraCycle’s focus is on upcycling, the process of creating something of equal or greater value and quality from materials that may have otherwise been thrown away. We’ve done it by turning cookie wrappers into umbrellas, juice pouches into pencil cases, and LP records into clocks. But what would you say if I told you we’re now going to collect packaging from Huggies, and a range of Scott paper products, from toilet paper to moist wipes?

We just did something that some would say is crazy. We -- the company best known for making "worm poop" gardening products bottled in what were previously plastic soda bottles, and for turning billboards into messenger bags -- are creating products based on Huggies and Scott paper products from Kimberly-Clark. Excuse me? No, not used diapers and handy wipes, but the packaging that they came in. Oh. Yes. But you see where there might be a bit of a mental leap for people to buy products that are made from brands they associate with very unrecyclable things?

I’m returning to my roots, Canada, and learning some lessons that might be of use to us all, back here in the U.S. Though we are U.S.- based, it was Canada that gave us our first big break, Walmart Canada and The Home Depot to be precise. People thought I was foolish to buck the green business trend of starting in niche, boutique, small stores and then inch our way to larger, national chains. We held firm, knowing that a much bigger, broader impact could be made, should we be carried outside the “green bubble” of the usual suspects. And it first paid off in Canada.

We just began an interesting experiment at TerraCycle: Opening our first retail outlet and giving people a place to bring in what they'd normally mail to us as part of our collection Brigades. But that's not the most interesting part. We've decided to see what people will do when given the chance to pay whatever price they want for products. In this economy, will people intentionally undercut the price? Will they, unaware of what we really charge, which, whenever possible, is the same or lower then comparable non-green products, actually overpay for their purchase? Or, might they, knowing we're a company working hard to make as sustainable a product as possible, make a point to pay more as a show of support? Ah that, the mythical LOHAS consumer who will pay the "green tax" because a product is green (or greener) then other products. Nonsense.