Reduce, Reuse, TerraCycle (Part 1 of 4)
M&M Mars Include USA
So there I was, happily munching away on a bag of peanut butter M&Ms when I noticed a strange recycling symbol on the edge of the bag.
It wasn’t the usual symbol I’m so used to seeing on recyclable items and there was no number anywhere on it. I thought to myself: “What the heck is this and how does it fit into the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle plan?
A quick web search later and I’m at Terracycle.net. Here’s what they had to say about themselves.
“TerraCycle’s purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. We do this by creating national recycling systems for the previously non-recyclable. The process starts by offering collection programs (many of them free) to collect your waste and then convert the collected waste into a wide range of products and materials. With over 14 million people collecting waste in 11 countries together we have diverted billions of pieces of waste that are either upcycled or recycled into over 1,500 various products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today ends up in our trash.”