Many of us wear our blue denim until it is completely worn out with holes in the knees beyond repair and likely are destined for the trash. Fortunately, during the winter months of January and February, Teton Valley Community Recycling (TVCR) partners with Habitat of Jackson Hole to collect used blue denim no longer suitable for wearing or resale at the Thrift Store. Through the “Blue Jeans Go Green” program, your old blue denim will be upcycled into Ultratouch Denim House Insulation, some of which will be used in local affordable homes.   The TVCR Denim Drive will take place from January through February 15. Please bring your clean blue denim to a collection point at the Geo Center in Driggs (open 5am-11pm) or at the General Laundry in Victor (open 7am-10pm). This is an annual recycling program that we offer each winter, so if you miss it this year, please save your blue jeans for next winter. For more information about the recycling process, check out bluejeansgogreen.org. You can also turn your old cotton clothes into household rags, or compost them when they are really worn out.   While you are dropping off old denim, take advantage of these same locations which are also TerraCycle collection sites to drop off your dental waste (old toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, floss containers), contact lens & blister packs, deodorant or mouthwash containers, beauty product packaging, health & wellness product packaging, and any sort of foil energy bar wrapper. Thank you for recycling!!   If you have any questions or comments about recycling in Teton Valley, don’t hesitate to contact Iris Saxer at 208-557-1193 or email tetonrecycling@gmail.com.

When you think of plastic pollution, you probably imagine discarded straws. And water bottles. And bags. Some folks are also focusing on something smaller — itty-bitty items millions of us use everyday. Contact lenses, when improperly discarded, likely create contaminating microplastics.   To help prevent microplastic pollution, responsible disposal is important. A free program is in place to help you recycle your used contacts.   Don’t Flush Used Contacts   That’s the advice from a trio of scientists at Arizona State University. They teamed up to study the effect of contact lenses that are washed down the drain or flushed down the toilet.   The study reveals that:  

• Fifteen to 20 percent of contact lens wearers dispose of the lenses down the sink or toilet.
• With an estimated 45 million people in the United States wearing contacts, about 1.8 billion to 3.36 billion lenses are flushed per year.
• At wastewater plants, contacts likely are too small to be filtered out and removed.

  “The study showed that wastewater plants fragment them into microplastics, which accumulate in sewage sludge. For about every two pounds of wastewater sludge, a pair of contact lenses typically can be found,” according to an article about the project on Arizona State University’s website.   Tossing used lenses in regular trash is preferable to flushing, explains Charles Rolsky, a Ph.D. candidate who worked on the research project. Even better, recycle.  

ONE by ONE Recycling Program

  Bausch & Lomb, which sells contact lenses, partnered with TerraCycle, which recycles unusual items, to launch the ONE by ONE program. The recycling initiative accepts used lenses from any brand. It also accepts empty blister packs and foils, which most curbside recycling programs do not accept.   Since it was established three years ago, ONE by ONE has received about 16 million items to recycle. That represents more than 95,000 pounds of waste, according to information from Bausch & Lomb.     Contact Lens Recycling Information   Users may drop off their used lenses, blister packs, and top foils at participating optical offices. Or, send a year’s worth via mail with a free shipping label.   For the most efficient and eco-friendly approach, drop off used contacts and blister packs at a recycling station when you see your vision professional or at a participating eye care office in your area. If no recycling drop-off location is near you, save up about a year’s worth of contact lenses to send through the mail.   “[Drop offs are] more environmentally friendly overall as it saves packaging,” according to a Bausch & Lomb representative. “While we do offer free shipping labels to those who do not have recycling centers close by, we do try to limit this where possible since individual shipping can typically translate to more shipments with fewer recyclable materials, which has an impact on sustainability through transportation costs.”   Also, when dropping off your contact lenses and blister packs, do not include paperboard or cardboard packaging. You can usually include these materials with your other clean household paper recycling.   These links will help you get started:  

• Find a recycling location or request a shipping label at the Bausch & Lomb website.
• Find a recycling location on TerraCycle (this same location finder is on the Bausch & Lomb website).
• Encourage your vision professional to participate (downloadable PDF).

A St. Catharines small business is helping Niagara up its recycling game with the hopes of ultimately enticing people to embrace a more low-waste lifestyle.   Garden City Essentials, a wellness and lifestyle boutique, is collecting packaging from health and beauty-related products to be recycled through TerraCycle.   “I feel like there’s an evolution that has to happen where people become more mindful of what they’re using, what they’re purchasing and I just really want to support that in my business,” said founder Jolene Antle.   “If I’m going to sell products, I also want to be a place where people can take things that aren’t recyclable.”   With waste overflowing in landfills and oceans, negatively impacting animals and contributing to climate change, Antle said it’s important to take responsibility of an issue we all contributed to creating.   “There’s thousands of ways we can all make changes in our daily lives.”   Even if it’s simply refusing single-use plastics or bringing reusable cups or containers to cafés or restaurants, Antle said those seemingly small changes add up to make a meaningful difference.   Four Zero Waste Boxes now sit in the front window of her James Street shop — one a free, Gillette-sponsored box collecting razor blades (of any brand), the other three she is paying for out of pocket to collect the remnants of products related to oral hygiene, beauty, personal care and cosmetics.   “I’d love to see other businesses and different institutions having boxes that relate to their products.”   It’s the smaller products — like razors, plastic tubes and caps, dental floss containers, lipstick tubes, empty makeup pallets and deodorant sticks — that aren’t accepted by some municipalities because they are small or sharp or inconvenient, said Antle. While these items are technically made of recyclable material, they can still end up in oceans or landfills.   The intention isn’t to be the place people put their packaging waste forever, she said, neither is it to judge anybody for their waste. But it was important to her to offer an alternative and hopefully incite a more thoughtful lifestyle approach.   Lifestyle changes don’t have to be instantaneous, they can happen incrementally, she said.   “I think people become more mindful and they will switch to more sustainable options when it’s time for them, when it’s accessible or when they can afford it.”   In the meantime, she said having a place to recycle those trickier items will at least keep them out of landfills.   Collected items are shipped to one of TerraCycle’s warehouses, located in 21 countries around the globe, where they are cleaned and weighed, said Sue Kauffman, the North American public relations manager.   Treatment depends on the type of material, but generally, she said it is shredded and broken down to its core elements then re-melted into pellets.   These pellets are then sold to other manufacturers to make new products like plastic decking, shipping pallets, outdoor furniture, basically any non-food grade plastic products.   “Walk through Home Depot and anything that’s plastic can be made out of this type of plastic material.”   There’s so much plastic material out there and all of it can be recycled, she said, but it often comes down to economics. Some items are just too expensive to recycle.   “Local recycling industries are trying their best, but they don’t collect everything … What we do is we pick up where local recycling facilities leave off.”   The company offers more than 150 different waste streams and both free (product-sponsored) and paid recycling programs.   In the short time since introducing the Zero Waste Boxes to her shop, Antle said she’s already seen a ton of interest and participation.   Yes, it’s a service that’s costing the shop money, but she said it’s completely worth it.   “If I can reduce my waste but also help people in my community do it, then why wouldn’t I? It seems like a small price to pay.”   For more information, or to purchase a Zero Waste Box of your own, go to terracycle.com.  

outh Philadelphia based soap company, Hand in Hand has recently announced a new incentive to address the waste crisis in the City of Brotherly Love. Hand in Hand to partner with TerraCycle to help the city's growing recycling problem Hand in Hand is used to the philanthropic world: According to the release, the brand is guided by the principles of sanitation, sustainability and philanthropy, and has donated nearly 3 million bars of soap to Haitian and Cambodian children threatened by water-related illnesses. Through partnerships with non-profits in both countries and by creating products that are palm oil-free, cruelty-free, paraben-free and petrochemical-free as well as vegan, Hand in Hand prides itself on environmental and ethical responsibility. The Philly-based company has even worked with Eco-Soap Bank, which diverts leftover hotel soaps from landfills and donates them to schools, hospitals and villages--- just to name another charitable accolade. Now, Hand in Hand has teamed up with TerraCycle to amp up, even more, their existing sustainability initiatives. In partnership with TerraCycle, Hand in Hand will recycle their leftover flexible plastic tubes diverting additional waste from landfills while adding to their sustainability repertoire. The collected plastic waste will be recycled into a variety of new products such as park benches, bike racks, shipping pallets and recycling bins, according to the release. "Hand in Hand is always looking for ways to sustainably improve our packaging while still remaining economical for our active customers," said Holly La Porte, Director of Brand Development in in the release. "With our products, we pride ourselves in supply chain transparency, sourcing our ingredients without palm oil or any palm derivatives. We're thrilled to partner with TerraCycle as a next step in our path to long term packaging sustainability." This new initiative for the company comes after the city incinerated half of its recyclables in 2019 and is set to spend a record amount in 2020 to have recycling hauled. In all, taxpayers will pay up to $9 million this fiscal year for Waste Management to haul their throwaway plastics, glass bottles, and paper — almost double what the city was paying just a few years ago according to inquirer.com. Hand in Hand is looking to help this issue with its partnership with TerraCycle, who according to the release, specializes in collecting and repurposing hard-to-recycle waste through a variety of platforms, including large-scale recycling, which helps manufacturing facilities like Hand in Hand's recycle large volumes of waste. "Partnering with socially-aware and environmentally-conscious businesses like Hand in Hand dovetail well with TerraCycle's philosophy of minimizing the impact of humans while maximizing our ability to do-good," said Tom Szaky, TerraCycle CEO in the release. The new initiative will be huge for the city's growing waste crisis in 2020.

As esponjas de limpeza são fabricadas de um plástico de difícil reciclagem, por isso o descarte correto é fundamental para facilitar este processo. Pensando nisso, a Secretaria de Agricultura e Meio Ambiente, em parceria com a Unidade de Triagem e Compostagem – UTC Reciclinho, separou 65 quilos de esponjas em 2019. O material foi enviando para a ONG TerraCycle, que está presente em 21 países e é a líder global em soluções para resíduos de difícil reciclabilidade. Este ano já foram coletados 6 quilos e a população pode colaborar com a reciclagem descartando junto com o lixo seco.

This industry-first new toothpaste lists and explains each ingredient and its purpose on the front of the pack Packaged in the first tube recognised as recyclable by RecyClass.     Colgate-Palmolive is sharing its tube technology with competitors to help ensure that all toothpaste tubes meet third-party recycling requirements   Colgate has launched a ground-breaking new toothpaste called Smile for Good that contains a minimal number of ingredients and, in an industry first, lists each ingredient and clearly explains its purpose on the front of the pack.   The toothpaste is packaged in Colgate’s first-of-its kind recyclable plastic tube.  

Everything you need, nothing you don’t

  There is a great deal of confusion surrounding the ingredients that make up toothpaste and the purpose each serves.   With nearly three quarters (74%) of consumers more[1] and more invested in the impact that products have both on the planet and their health, Colgate’s Smile for Good Toothpaste sets a new precedent by explaining the purpose of each ingredient in simple language so consumers can make an informed decision.   The ingredients contained within the paste are 99.7% natural and purposefully selected to make the paste optimal for everyday protection.   There are currently two variants – Smile for Good Protection and Smile for Good Whitening, with baking soda known for its whitening properties.   PROTECTION VARIANT

• Water – blends everything together
• Fluoride – protects from cavitie
• Silica – cleans & polishes teeth
• Glycerin – prevents the paste from drying out
• Xylitol & Aroma – makes the paste taste fresh
• Cellulose Gum – gives the right consistency
• Lauryl Glucoside & Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate – foams to reach teeth all around
• WHITENING VARIANT
• Water – blends everything together
• Fluoride – protects from cavities
• Silica** – cleans & polishes teeth
• Glycerin – prevents the paste from drying out
• Xylitol & Aroma – makes the paste taste fresh
• Cellulose Gum – gives the right consistency
• Lauryl Glucoside & Disodium Cocoyl Glutamate – foams to reach teeth all around
• Baking Soda – known for its whitening effect

  *We commit to be open and transparent to empower you to make an informed decision. This formula is responsibly made and the ingredients provide an optimal everyday protection. We believe this is everything you need and nothing you don’t.   **This variant includes High Cleaning Silica which helps restoring the natural whiteness of your teeth   Furthermore, the product is SLS Free and has been certified by the Vegan Society, the FSC, and EcoCert, meaning the formula is responsibly made and most of the components are derived from natural sources.  

A category-first – the recyclable tube

  Almost two thirds of people are not aware that you cannot recycle toothpaste tubes1.   Most of today’s toothpaste tubes are made from sheets of plastic laminate – usually a combination of different plastics – sandwiched around a thin layer of aluminium.   The mix of materials makes it impossible to recycle through conventional methods.   Smile for Good changes this, using High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), the plastic used to make milk jugs and other plastic bottles that is already widely recycled.   Having previously thought HDPE was too rigid to create a squeezable toothpaste tube, Colgate engineers figured out how to combine different grades and thicknesses of HDPE laminate into a tube that meets recycling standards, while protecting the product and holding up to the demands of high-speed production, all while remaining comfortably squeezable.   The tube has recently received recognition from APR (The Association of Plastic Recyclers) and RecyClass (an initiative that works on improving recyclability of packaging) which sets recyclability standards for North America and Europe respectively.   Colgate has also engaged with packaging and recycling stakeholders to build awareness and acceptance of the “ready-to-recycle” tube.   Building on ongoing efforts to help people make small, sustainable changes for the better, including the launch of the Colgate Bamboo Charcoal Toothbrush and TerraCycle partnership, Smile for Good is a way Colgate is improving the sustainability profile of its products to help achieve its aim of 100% recyclable packaging by 2025.   Toothpaste alone accounts for an estimated 20 billion tubes annually around the world, and so Colgate is sharing its innovative technology with competitors as part of its commitment to transform one of the most widely used forms of plastic packaging that up until now could not be recycled.   Noel Wallace, Chief Executive Officer and President of Colgate-Palmolive commented:   “Colgate wants to make tubes a part of the circular economy by keeping this plastic productive and eliminating waste. If we can standardise recyclable tubes among all companies, we all win.   We want all toothpaste tubes — and eventually all kinds of tubes — to meet the same third-party recycling standards that we’ve achieved. We can align on these common standards for tubes and still compete with what’s inside them.”   Mr. Wallace said the decision to freely share the tube technology aligns with the company’s values and sustainability goals.   It also contributes to its ongoing work supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.   The Foundation’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

It takes two hours to spot-treat a growing zit with a pimple patch. It takes 20 minutes to de-puff the eye area with a mask. It takes only 10 to give your complexion a shot of hydration with a sheet mask.   Fifty years ago, or as recently as 10 or even five, one skin-care product could last you a few weeks or sometimes months. Now, beauty companies feed our single-use behavior — the super-convenient way of using something only once before discarding it — with a flood of non-biodegradable, non-recyclable disposable products.   Not only is there an abundance of sheet masks, but there are also derivatives sold to target specific areas like laugh lines or your derrière or your nether regions. There are cleansing wipes available from nearly every brand on the market. And there are zit stickers that come packaged in multiple layers of plastic.   “People haven’t been made as aware of the impact of beauty,” said Freya Williams, the chief executive of Futerra North America, an agency that helps companies with sustainability efforts. “We’re taught in school to recycle, but it’s focused more in the kitchen than in the bathroom, so it doesn’t seem as important.”   The single-use phenomenon is a fairly recent development, Ms. Williams added. And, she said, “it’s happening without anybody realizing how much these items are taking over.”  

The Overconsumption of Beauty

  It’s hard to resist innovative product introductions, seasonal trends and the promise of clearer, tighter, smoother skin. At the peak of the K-beauty trend, a 10-step beauty routine was not only heralded as the answer to a flawless complexion, but it also came to exemplify one form of self-care.   “We saw an uptick in the number of skin-care products consumers used at the height of the Korean skin-care trend, with many adding an additional mask or product,” said Larissa Jensen, the executive director and beauty industry analyst at the NPD Group market research consultancy.   Every extra serum or mask comes with problematic side effects, of course. Without our even realizing it, we’re driving up the environmental impact.   Elizabeth Mullans, a dermatologist in Houston, believes that a streamlined anti-aging regimen can be boiled down to three essential products: sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher, an over-the-counter retinol or prescription-strength retinoid, and a vitamin C serum.   “I don’t think you can use too many products — they will all be absorbed into your skin — but these three are going to help the most,” Dr. Mullans said. Other products can be added to target specific concerns, like benzoyl peroxide or salicylic acid for acne, or hyaluronic acid for irritation or dryness.   “Stay away from any product that contains collagen because the molecules are too big to be absorbed,” she said. “It’s basically a glorified moisturizer.”  

Luxury’s Excess Problem

  Many believe the industry’s biggest culprit — and most challenging hurdle — is packaging, with luxury brands being the greatest offender. “The way brands create ‘luxury’ is through layers of heavy packaging, which is often not recyclable and is being discarded,” Ms. Williams said.   Already we have reached a point at which overpackaging no longer feels luxurious. The industry watchdog Estee Laundry, an Instagram account that calls out bullying, copycats and social injustices, has long put brands on blast for waste. A recent target was Pat McGrath Labs and the excessive amount of plastic that comes with a single beauty product.   “Making sustainability synonymous with luxury is an opportunity, and it’s something we’re starting to see in fashion,” Ms. Williams said. “Invest in something that’s worthy of your time and money.”   Investing in waterless beauty products is one example. Anhydrous formulas eliminate water as a key ingredient to deliver on three things: higher potency (and in turn, greater efficacy); a longer shelf life (without water, there is less risk of bacteria growth); fewer toxins (because there is no longer a need for parabens or preservatives); and water conservation.    

The Clean Beauty Push

  Clean beauty is expected to generate nearly $25 billion by 2025, according to a report from Grand View Research. That may be only a fraction of the beauty industry (an $863 billion business by 2024, according to Zion Market Research), but the demand for products that are marketed as “clean” or “natural” continues to be strong.   “This focus on ingredients and whether they’re good — if they’re harmful to your skin or the environment — is why there’s a big movement toward clean beauty,” Ms. Jensen said. “Clean beauty ties into the wellness movement and the wellness movement ties into the environment, because it’s about what’s good for you and the planet.”   She added that demand for such products may help explain an NPD 2019 market report (from January to September) indicating that the skin-care category was up 7 percent in sales, while makeup was down 5 percent.   And as Gen Z consumers, whose priorities include transparency and sustainability, gain spending power as they age, this movement will likely accelerate.  

Every Action Counts

  If you look at beauty’s impact as a whole, the challenge can seem overwhelming. Everything — how ingredients are sourced, carbon emissions in production — must be considered lest it lead to harmful social and environmental impacts.   Products that use plastic, like glitter or microbeads, can contribute to ocean waste; certain chemicals in sunscreens can harm marine life; and if an ingredient is not sourced responsibly, it can to environmental destruction, like deforestation.   Some companies are making an effort to effect change. Unilever recently pledged that all Dove bottles will be composed of recycled plastic, that the Dove Beauty Bar will be plastic free later in 2020 and that refillable stainless steel deodorant sticks are in the works in an effort to reduce its use of virgin plastic by more than 20,500 tons per year.   For many digitally native, born-good start-ups, sustainability is embedded in their DNA, like By Humankind, a personal care brand dedicated to reducing single-use plastic by introducing plastic-free shampoo and conditioner bars and refillable deodorant containers.   LOLI, a zero-waste clean beauty brand, bottles its formulas in food-grade glass yogurt jars, which can be reused in the kitchen.   Cadence, a company committed to eliminating travel-size plastic, will begin selling its refillable containers on Jan. 21. They allow users to decant their products into durable, leakproof vessels, a percentage of which is made from consumer waste.   “Travel-size versions of beauty products are especially wasteful,” said Stephanie Hon, the founder of Cadence. “By delivering what you love — your beauty routine — we’re allowing you to bring what you want in a more sustainable way.”   She has a point: Consumers are fiercely loyal to their routines (it’s why the beauty industry has historically been immune to recession), which means it is that much harder for them to give up their products for a more sustainable option.   Even though 75 percent of consumers believe sustainability is very important, it’s the key purchasing criterion for only 7 percent, according to a study by Boston Consulting Group.   “Consumers think companies aren’t willing to change, and companies think consumers aren’t willing to change, so it’s a stalemate,” Ms. Williams said. “Once consumers aren’t forced to choose between sustainability and performance, that’s when you’ll start to see solutions taking off.”   There are, however, small actions you can take now: Look for packageless products (Lush has long championed them); avoid single-use products; swap disposable cleansing wipes and cotton pads for reusable ones; and recycle whatever you can. (TerraCycle offers programs for cosmetic products.)   “We’re nowhere near where we want to be, but taking the right steps is all we can do,” Ms. Jensen said. “At the end of the day, there are companies that are making money without any changes, but when it starts to affect a company’s bottom line, that’s when things are going to start to change.”

De autoria de Ana Catadora (Instagram @ana_catadora) e adaptado pelo Instituto Arapoti, foram elaboradas 27 (vinte e sete) propostas de ações sustentáveis para os moradores do Distrito Federal. A seguir são enumeradas estas ações sustentáveis:

A zero waste grocery store in Sherbrooke Avrac A'davrac provides its customers with a recovery box for non-recycled packaging such as bags of chips. These plastics are supported by TerraCycle. Réjean Blais discusses it with Mourad Ben Amor, professor at the Faculty of Engineering and specialist in Environmental Life Cycle Analysis.   The TerraCycle company manages the "non-recyclable" like coffee pods, used pens, factory plastic gloves and certain types of packaging. The company works with private collectors, large firms, SMEs, local businesses, cities in more than 21 countries. It can divert billions of waste from landfill and incineration.

After the success of l’initiative d’une Sherbrookoise who organized last year's Halloween candy packaging collections, François Vincent, owner of the Avrac A'davrac grocery store in Sherbrooke, decided to take over.   Last October, the Sherbrooke trader participated in Hélène Boissonneault's campaign, which wished to divert the packaging of treats from the landfill.   A one-off initiative that did not continue due to the costs associated with transporting the packaging to Terracycle's facilities in Toronto.   Mr. Vincent decides to maintain the link with Terracycle. He set up a box on the premises of his bulk grocery store that cost him $ 250. To finance the service, he asked customers to pay $ 20 a year.   Candy, potato chip, soft bar or chocolate packaging… François Vincent makes sure to do a final sorting before shipping the packaging to Toronto.