Her biggest breakthrough came via
TerraCycle, a company that offers solutions for “hard-to-recycle waste.” She became involved in the program’s “brigades,” regional initiatives that pool resources to collect and recycle materials—pens, water filters, snack wrappers, hydration tubes—that municipalities don’t accept. She also learned how to create a “recycling center,” and this is the first thing I see when entering the store’s break room. I’m surprised by its simplicity—it’s just a stack of repurposed cardboard boxes, clearly labeled to collect various materials. While not every retailer will have the space for quite so many, I’m struck by the idea that even one box—one type of material diverted from landfills—can make a difference.
Throughout the summer, Public Works Director Hal Adkins said the town collects six, 55-gallon barrels of discarded cigarette butts from beach receptacles. Instead of throwing them in the trash, he said the town could join in on Smith’s initiative.
“Whether we dump them into boxes with pre-paid shipping labels and ship them to TerraCycle, or we continue to dump them in the trash, it does not matter,” he said. “You all need to make the decision.”
Esponja é um item que todos usamos em casa e, por higiene, devemos trocá-la sempre, o que resulta em muitas unidades utilizadas por ano. O que pouca gente sabe é que a esponja pode ser reciclada.
The national recycling competition is run by Colgate and global recycling pioneers TerraCycle, a company which creates new products from the waste. With the garden set competition the hope is to promote gardening and healthy eating among schools, as well as showing how recycled materials can be used as a sustainable alternative to virgin plastic.
Six Grand Rapids area schooled were recognized in this year’s “Recycled Playground Challenge,” courtesy of Colgate-Palmolive (“Colgate”), Meijer and TerraCycle.
The company has devised various strategies to limit trash: providing travelers with a zero waste toolkit that includes personal reusable items such as water bottles, mugs, cutlery and tote bags; transporting packed meals in reusable containers; recycling single-use packaging, including hard-to-recycle items through TerraCycle; composting napkins and biodegradable food waste; and buying food in bulk. Waste reduction begins even before the trip starts, with travelers receiving digital versions of all pre-trip materials, including forms to complete and the daily itinerary.
In addition, many trash haulers in smaller communities offer specialized recycling. The Ecology Action Center has a full list on its website,
ecologyactioncenter.org, as well as contact information for TerraCycle, which takes hard-to-recycle items at St. Luke Union Church, 2101 E. Washington St., Bloomington, garage area at back; Boys and Girls Club, 1615 W. Illinois St., Bloomington, drop at counter; and Common Ground grocery, 516 N. Main St., Bloomington, drop at counter.
If you're overdue for a fresh toothbrush (which, if you're like
most Americans, you are), you may find yourself puzzling over what to do with the brush that's been sitting on your bathroom sink for the past several months. It is recyclable, but if you recycle it with the rest of your plastics it will ultimately be sorted out and sent to a landfill. To make sure most of the materials in your toothbrush get reused,
Lifehacker reports that you need to send it to a special recycling center.
The Colgate Oral Care
Recycling Program, a collaboration between Colgate and TerraCycle, accepts not just old toothbrushes but used toothpaste tubes and dental floss containers as well. These items are each made from multiple types of materials, which means they can't be processed by your town's regular recycling plant.
What happens to the car seats that Target collects? It has teamed up with recycling company
TerraCycle to have them recycled. Target and TerraCycle have kept more than 4.6 million pounds of car seat materials out of landfills since the program started in 2016.
