What happens to your garbage? Ninety-nine percent of the total material flow in the U.S. becomes garbage within six months. That's a lot of waste! For recyclables, many municipalities have the infrastructure to process and re-purpose it. Non-recyclable materials are sent to landfills or incinerators. Garbage that is recycled goes to a processing plant and is converted into new raw materials to make new products. This not only eliminates the negative effects of land filling/incinerating it, but processing garbage into new raw material releases fewer emissions than producing new materials. Why are some materials non-recyclable? Technically, "non-recyclable" materials can be recycled. However, these materials must be collected, sorted and processed differently than what we consider traditionally recyclable materials, which are really just the most easily recyclable — glass, metal, paper and some plastic. How do we go beyond what is easy? In 2001, Tom Szaky, then a 19-year-old Princeton student, accomplished his first major coup against the major environmental issue of "waste." While the intervening successes are amazing, to stay on target, fast forward seven years. In January 2008, Szaky, as TerraCycle founder and CEO, went corporate with "sponsored waste." TerraCycle began partnering with consumer packaged goods manufacturers to administer free programs for consumers to help collect non-recyclable packaging, which is then upcycled or recycled into eco-friendly products. New Mexico-based Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., for instance, is the corporate sponsor for the recycling of cigarette butts into pellets. Rebates for consumer collecting are sent directly to the participants' designated non-profit. Currently, participating nations include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Note: in 2013, reports detailed that in Sweden, people are so diligent about recycling that just 4 percent of all trash ends up in landfills. (Please reread paragraph one before continuing.) As of June 2014, the following stats appear on the TerraCycle website. People collecting trash: 41,813,394 Waste units collected: 2,601,688,712 Money to nonprofits: $6,667,938.12 Coyote Howling's TerraCycle campaign has already logged 24,910 units of cigarette waste. (Thanks, Gabe, for the encouragement to take on this specific collection brigade!) Another flourishing Brigade is cheese packaging for which we have logged 7,679 units. A standing ovation to Pizza Hut and Schlotzsky's for bringing in their weekly collections of cheese packaging! Are you one of the people collecting Terracycle? If not, why not? Easier to just throw things away? Let's go beyond easy! Add your name, church, business or organization to the growing list of TerraCyclers! To check out what counts for TerraCycle, review the details at www.CoyoteHowlingShopForaCause.com, or visit Coyote Howling and learn how to take your trash back from the landfills and use it to fund meals for children. Coyote Howling's designated nonprofit: Feed My Starving Children. Tonya Huber, PhD, is founder and owner of Coyote Howling Shop for a Cause Contact her at CoyoteHowlingNM@gmail.com 575-808-8320.