How to Avoid Candy Wrapper
TerraCycle Mars Nestle Include USA
TerraCycle's DIY "love bracelet" design. Photo: Courtesy of TerraCycle
Two days after Valentine’s Monday you’re undoubtedly coming down off your love- and sugar-high, and no one is judging you for those candy wrappers <http://earth911.com/news/2010/11/02/what-to-do-with-your-leftover-candy-wrappers/> piled up in your cubicle corner.
Plastic-coated candy wrappers have long been a recycling dilemma because of their size, weight and lack of valuable, post-life material. But even though they’re tiny in size, they’re everywhere. In fact, Americans consumed 23.8 pounds of candy <http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb09-ff19.html> per capita in 2008 alone.
When readers ask about recycling candy wrappers, we often recommend reusing them in some way (last year, one of our staffers tricked out his BMX <http://earth911.com/news/2010/04/05/ultimate-reuse-challenge/> with Starburst wrappers). We are also big fans of the upcycling geniuses at TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.ca/> , who collect hard-to-recycle items to create products ranging from book bags to fire logs.
The company has partnered with Mars to collect wrappers through its Candy Wrapper Brigade, a free program that pays nonprofits to help collect candy wrappers. For each wrapper collected, Mars and TerraCycle will donate 2 cents to the charity of the donor’s choice.
This Valentine’s Day, TerraCycle capitalized on its upcycling concept by releasing instructions to make your own design from candy wrappers <http://www.terracycle.ca/31?locale=en-CA> . Dubbed the “love bracelet,” the DIY design calls for chocolate wrappers, a glue stick, scissors, a ruler and a marker. Viola! A solution to post-V-Day candy waste served up on a silver platter.