SOMETIMES we need a little extra incentive to encourage us to recycle – and shopping at brands with recycle schemes is one way to find this. The Body Shop just started asking customers to return empties in store for TerraCycle to collect, recycle and transform for use making park benches and playgrounds.

The scheme, run by recycling specialists TerraCycle, enables customers to buy everyday products in durable packaging that can be cleaned, collected, refilled, and reused. Cascade and Tide are both owned by Procter & Gamble, which is one of the major consumer goods companies backing Loop alongside Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, Mars Petcare, The Body Shop, Coca-Cola European Partners, and Mondelēz International.

To help bolster awareness around proper contact lens disposal, the AOA's Contact Lens and Cornea Section (CLCS)developed a resource to help doctors educate their patients. Here are three tips:

1. Inform patients about recycling programs available for contact lenses and packaging, including terracycle.com, or consider turning your practice into a recycling drop-off site.
2. Most contact lens packages are stamped No. 5 for recycling. Notify patients to remove the foil packaging and ensure the plastic is clean prior to recycling.
3. Remind patients that boxes and cleaning solution bottles may be recyclable, too.

Tom Szaky and his brainchild of a company, TerraCycle, collects non-recyclable items and turn them into everyday goods. Learn how you can join the movement and help reduce waste.

Loop is now available to customers in Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont and will officially begin shipping orders in those states. This expansion comes approximately six weeks after the launch of the pilot in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, DC. Along with the expansion, the platform has greatly increased its product line to include Häagen-Dazs’ non-dairy frozen dessert flavors, International Harvest, Cascade and Tide

In order to help deal with processing cannabis waste packaging, TerraCycle and Tweed announced a cannabis packaging recycling program throughout Canada. The program accepts all cannabis waste packaging purchased from a licensed retailer. Materials include inner and outer plastic packaging, tins, joint tubes, plastic bottles, plastic caps and flexible plastic bags.

SEATTLE (Waste 360): TerraCycle has joined forces with EZ Products CLS for “The Butt Stops Here” initiative. Through the initiative, golf carts at Rolling Hills, a Tempe-owned golf course in Arizona, have been outfitted with cup ash trays, and collected cigarette wastewill be recycled into new products through TerraCycle.

Kilowatt Events once again designed and executed the award show’s red carpet, which featured attention-grabbing letters and sponsor logos nestled in green hedging. The production company's sustainability arm, Kilowatt One, ensured a carbon-neutral event, creating a red carpet made from 100-percent recycled materials and drought-tolerant succulents in place of flowers. More than 1,000 reusable water bottles were provided for staff and crew, and tote bags were given to all showrunners to prevent single-use bag usage. The team also used a TerraCycle Zero Waste Box to recycle supplies from the production office.

Many businesses are incorporating upcycling as a part of their efforts to have a more green/sustainable business model. Honest Tea and Clif Bar are two companies that utilize the services of TerraCycle in an effort to provide upcycling options for their consumers. TerraCycle offers a range of recycling and upcycling programs for companies and individual consumers to participate in. Honest Tea’s Honest Kids drink pouches are part of a program in which a consumer can send the pouches to Terra Cycle, where they will be cleaned, sanitized and used for other purposes, such as being sewn into backpacks. Clif Bar is part of a similar program, where the consumer can send their used granola bar wrappers (and other Clif Bar product containers) to TerraCycle for free to be repurposed into different products, like shoes or shower curtains. Both of these programs offer incentives for the consumers, which encourages them to continue participating.

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Maryland Stadium Authority is now working to recycle the most commonly littered items — cigarette butts. They teamed up with TerraCycle to collect cigarette butts and turn them into plastic pellets that can be used in a variety of recycled products.