What is "garbage"? A. Things you toss into trash bags then toss into trash bins. B. Things you aren't supposed to put in the blue recycling bins. C. Empty toothpaste tubes, shoes that no longer fit, extinguished cigarette butts, make-up containers, dairy tubs and lids, high lighters and pens, outdated cell phones & laptops. D. Almost everything. E. Almost nothing. F. D and E G. A through D Since the answer is assuredly "G," perhaps it is past time that we trash the idea of garbage before all of Mother Earth herself is trashed. "All the ants in the world weigh more than all the humans in the world, but ants create not a single pound of garbage," explains Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle; "that's because in Nature, one system's garbage is another system's food." Not so with humans in the equation. Szaky reports that "99 percent of the things we buy will be in the dump within one year." TerraCycle see's human garbage as an opportunity to make new products — products that are thereby cheaper and much more sustainable. One year ago, May of 2013, Coyote Howling Shop for a Cause launched a TerraCycle campaign that one year later has collected waste stream items to be TerraCycled from donors across New Mexico, as well as from Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Together, donors have kept more than 1,380 pounds of trash from landfills and incinerators — protecting our land, water, and air. Starting with just two brigades — Personal Care and Beauty and Writing Instruments — the campaign has grown to more than 24 active brigades with another five waitlisted. During May to December 2013, volunteers shipped 23 boxes of items to TerraCycle. In the first 4 1/2 months of 2014, we have shipped 62 boxes. Some examples to date: • 8,385 personal care and beauty items • 17,610 units of cigarette waste • 5,049 pieces of cheese packaging • 4,900 cell phone points • 438 toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, and floss containers • 1,186 plastic No. 6 cups • 136 pairs of shoes to be sent to under-resourced communities It would be enough of a reward to have kept these items from becoming garbage, but each item sent also earns a rebate that is sent directly from TerraCycle to Feed My Starving Children. More than 1,400 nutritional FMSC meals have been paid for by the rebates. Together we can trash the idea of "garbage" and "starvation"!