Admit it: You have at least one outgrown car seat moldering away in a closet or the garage. Everyone does, because you paid good money for it, used it daily, and then when you didn’t need it anymore, soon realized that no one wants a used car seat. Charities generally won’t take them, they don’t sell at yard sales, friends don’t want them, and if you had thoughts of recycling them so that the plastic and metal would get reused, you soon realized that was unlikely, if not impossible. (For more on that, see BabyCenter’s story Can you recycle car seats? Why that’s a tough question to answer) So what are you supposed to do with your old car seat? Just throw it in the trash? Well, yeah — unless you live in one of the rare communities that offer a car seat recycling program, that’s what experts generally advise: cut the straps so the seat can’t be used again, recycle any parts you can, and dump the rest in the trash. Not many people are comfortable doing that, and so the car seats in garages continue to wait for their final destination. But if you live near a Target, you have another option: Target is teaming up with nationwide recycling company TerraCycle to launch a massive — and unprecedented — car seat recycling program. Bring in your old car seat(s) (you can bring 4 per day!) from April 17-30, and you’ll get a coupon for 20 percent off any car seat purchase, in-store or online. You can use the coupon until May 31, 2017. Sharp readers may be wondering why I called the Target Take Back “unprecedented,” when Babies”R”Us and Toys”R”Us have been hosting their Great Trade-In events for years. Though both programs do exchange used baby gear for discounts on new stuff (and you may have believed/hoped that what you brought there was recycled), the store merely safely disposes of used gear instead of recycling it. And no shade on these stores, either, the principal problem with recycling baby gear is that it simply isn’t made with recycling in mind. It’s made to be safe, useful, and cute — not to be used again. Target expects to get more then 700,000 pounds of donated seats, based on what the company received in a test for the program that was held in 90 stores in September. Look for bins in Target’s Baby section, or near the front of the store. Don’t see one? Ask, and it shall be found for you. Veronica Rajadnya, a representative for TerraCycle, says that the donated seats will be collected at Target’s distribution center and shipped to TerraCycle’s third-party recycling partners in various areas of the country. There the seats will be pried apart, their components separated, the plastic melted and “pelletized,” and from there sold to manufacturers to make into new products, like “plastic wood” pallets, park benches, playground equipment, and furniture: “In [TerraCycle’s] courtyard we have a chair made entirely out of old Capri Sun packets, it’s the most comfortable chair ever.”

People are encouraged to become "recycling hubs" as part of this year's Earth Day and Month celebrations. International recycling company TerraCycle is calling for Kiwis to serve as public drop-off points for recyclable materials. TerraCycle runs free recycling programmes in New Zealand dealing with waste such as coffee capsules and yogurt pouches. People involved with its programmes normally collect recycling in their home, office or school, bit it also has a network of public drop-off points where anyone can leave appropriate items to be recycled. Earth Day is marked on April 22 while Earth Month runs throughout April. Go to terracycle.co.nz and search for the free recycling programmes for more information and to become a public drop-off point. Manukau Courier_Apr 10 (1)

Mountain View School in Mangere Bridge has a long-held enthusiasm for recycling. From food waste to rearranging rocks - if something is no longer useful, then they find another purpose for it. A quick tour of the school grounds with Principal Sue McLachlan is accompanied by a host of stories about the ways in which the students are taught to think about and value, their environment. It is no surprise then, to learn that from 1450 entrants, the students have been awarded Fonterra's 2016 Recycling Champions. For the past four years the school has been a recipient of the Fonterra Milk in Schools programme, as part of which they are taught to recycle the cardboard milk packs. The students had to collect all the empty containers, fold them in a special way, so any drops don't leak out, and stack them neatly for the milkman to collect. Initially the milkman nominates the best schools in his delivery area. Then the nominated schools create a video telling the story of their commitment to waste reduction, before the winner is chosen. At assembly on Thursday the 9th of March, the whole school was presented with a trophy by TerraCycle, and thirty students were chosen to attend an upcycling workshop. TerraCycle is a specialist recycling organisation which partners with businesses to create recycling solutions for waste that is not usually considered recyclable. For example, they have come up with a way to recycle cigarette butts into compost and plastic pellets. At Mountain View School, the students created coin pouches, tote bags, and tic-tac-toe sets out of old containers. With the help of some strong tape, Velcro dots and enthusiasm they created some bright, interesting and practical items from rubbish. Student Breeze Johnson is a milk monitor, which means she is one of the team who deliver milk around the school on a daily basis. She says recycling is "good, it keep my school clean. I enjoy making fun things." Onehunga Community News_Apr 7

Newtown School has a new Friendship Seat and it is made out of products that help people smile. The school won a park bench made out of recycled oral care waste as part of the recently wrapped Colgate Community Recycle Drive and chose to use it to make a Friendship Seat for students. A Friendship Seat would encourage new friendships around the school, year five student Estella War explained. "If you don't have anyone to play with you can sit down on it and if someone doesn't either or if a group doesn't they can pick you up from it and play with you," Estella said. Colgate and global recycling and upcycling pioneers, TerraCycle, created the Community Recycle Drive to call on New Zealand residents to recycle their used oral care items and raise funds for their local school, preschool, sporting club or community group. The drive is part of Oral Care Recycling Programme launched by Colgate and TerraCycle in October 2014, a recycling scheme in which Newtown School is an active collector. Newtown School was one of the top six collectors in the drive, collecting oral care waste such as toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and mouthwash bottles. As part of their prize, the students designed their own park bench made of oral care waste. "We believe it is important to do everything we can to care for our environment," said Newtown School teacher Tim Crawshaw. "What better way to manage our needed waste but to recycle it, rather than send it to landfill?"

Kaurilands School won the 2016 Community Recycle Drive. Student Nina, 8, designed and won the bench design competition. Western Leader_Kaurilands School_Mar 28  

It’s spring cleaning time—is your old car seat on the toss list? Maybe your little one’s outgrown it, or perhaps you want an upgrade. Whatever the case, we’ll trade ya! April 17–30, bring your used car seat to Target stores nationwide and trade it in for a coupon for 20% off any car seat in our stores or at Target.com, good through May 31. What happens to all those car seats we collect? We’re teaming up with our friends at TerraCycle to make sure they get recycled, or upcycled into new products. Through the partnership, we expect to keep more than 700,000 pounds of car seat materials out of landfills. “In honor of Earth Month, we wanted to make it easy for guests to do something positive for the planet and their communities,” says Jennifer Silberman, chief sustainability officer, Target. “We love this opportunity to give families an environmentally friendly way to dispose of unwanted car seats and get the new ones they need just in time for spring.” Can’t wait to score this deal? Start picking out your new car seat now. Check out a few of our guest-favorites below, and shop the full assortment here. Then, read up on these smart tips for getting your new car seat safely installed in your vehicle. Don’t miss out on the latest Target news and behind-the-scenes happenings! Subscribe to our bi weekly newsletter and get the top stories from A Bullseye View delivered straight to your inbox.

Recycling is a win-win situation. Not only are you helping save the planet, but you’re also clearing the clutter out from your life. How do you know you’re doing it right? From bottle caps to aerosol cans, here’s a look at some of the things you may not think to recycle – but actually can. 7. Coffee pods Those single-serve coffee pods are notoriously wasteful. On average, Australians use one a week each. Do your bit to help by gathering those used pods in a plastic bag and dropping them at your nearest Nespresso store. 10. Makeup When was the last time you cleaned out that storage area under your sink? We shudder to think how many cracked, expired, half-used beauty products we’d find under there. Enter TerraCycle, who’ve teamed up with L’Oreal Australia to set up the Beauty Products Recycling Program. Simply fill a box, go online and download a shipping label, that way you can print and post it for free to the local recycling depot. Check out other Terracycle programs, including the Oral Care Recycling Program, allowing you to recycle used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and dental floss containers.

Recycling is a win-win situation. Not only are you helping save the planet, but you’re also clearing the clutter out from your life. How do you know you’re doing it right? From bottle caps to aerosol cans, here’s a look at some of the things you may not think to recycle – but actually can. 7. Coffee pods Those single-serve coffee pods are notoriously wasteful. On average, Australians use one a week each. Do your bit to help by gathering those used pods in a plastic bag and dropping them at your nearest Nespresso store. 10. Makeup When was the last time you cleaned out that storage area under your sink? We shudder to think how many cracked, expired, half-used beauty products we’d find under there. Enter TerraCycle, who’ve teamed up with L’Oreal Australia to set up the Beauty Products Recycling Program. Simply fill a box, go online and download a shipping label, that way you can print and post it for free to the local recycling depot. Check out other Terracycle programs, including the Oral Care Recycling Program, allowing you to recycle used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and dental floss containers.

Next term, Sacred Heart will take on an exciting new recycling initiative to help reduce waste and fundraise for charity! TerraCycle recycles the “non-recyclable” and from Term Two, Sacred Heart will have two new TerraCycle bins on site. The first recycles oral care products such as old toothbrushes, floss containers, empty toothpaste tubes and caps, empty packaging from toothpaste and toothbrushes. For every kilogram of recycled packaging, we raise money to donate towards a charity. Our school also goes into a competition to win $1000 and a park bench made of…recycled oral care products! The second box recycles empty beauty care packaging and much like the oral care recycling, we earn money for every kilogram collected. Accepted waste includes: Cosmetics packaging such as used lipstick and lip gloss, mascara, eye shadow, bronzer, foundation, eyeliner, eye shadow, lip liner, and concealer packaging. Hair care packaging such as used shampoo and conditioner bottles and caps, hair gel tubes and caps, hair spray and hair treatment packaging. Skin care packaging such as lip balm, face moisturiser, face and body wash soap dispensers and tubes, body and hand lotion dispensers and tubes and shaving foam packaging. So…start collecting your oral care and beauty product waste over the holidays, and watch this space for more information!  

The third most preferred option on the Waste Management Hierarchy is ‘Recycling’. Recycling involves the collection of waste materials and processing these into new products – therefore keeping these items out of landfill. For recycling to be effective we must know how to recycle properly. While recycling is great and we are lucky to have defined systems in place in Australia, we should still view this as the third option after we have exhausted any avoidance or reuse strategies. The recycling process of many items often uses less energy than starting the whole manufacturing process from virgin sources –  but it does still use energy – something we can save if we ‘avoid’ or ‘reuse’. For waste products you cannot reuse here are some tips on how you can recycle properly and effectively. There are even some items that you may not be aware can be recycled… 10 tips on how to recycle properly 4. Did you know that some coffee pods can be recycled? Nespresso and Nescafé dolce gusto both offer recycling schemes  – check out the details along with other recycling programmes you might not be aware of through Terracycle.