TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash Winner Gets Free UGA Semester Dedicated to the Late Jim McGown of Athens who passed away March 7 of this year. A Veteran of the U.S. Navy, and a tireless worker for the betterment of mankind whose labor and efforts were felt as far away as the Middle East! There is No Waste...Only Wasted Resources! Perhaps Earth Day Should be Every Day as we only have one Earth and without it we would be lost! St Gregory the Great Episcopal Church on the East Side has now earned almost $6,000 by keeping over 260,000 pieces of formally difficult to recycle trash out of the landfill. While Broward College near Ft. Lauderdale has now earned $15,000. Let's be honest how much sense does it make to bury unbiodegradable trash under ground from land we stole from Mother Nature? This is Varsity Recycling: TerraCycle.com is now accepting what we would normally think of as difficult or impossible to recycle. Things like Any & All: Chip Bags, Candy Wrappers, Glue Sticks, Sunscreen  and Lipstick Tubes, and now Any and All Cigarette Trash to include Stinky Cigarette Butts. Here is the Deal: From right now until August 15th, 2013 collect everything you can from the list below placing and separating each category in its own container such as a  Box, Bird Seed, or Pet Food Bag.  Feel free to get as large as you want but make sure a single average person can move the container around fairly easy through average doorways with the assistance of a hand truck. Items can be damp but not soaked and should be shaken or squeezed free of most food and liquid.(No Need To Scrub or Rinse Anything Out) Boxes and Packages will be opened for inspection. The winner with the most by weight wins a free Semester(In-State Tuition estimated to be $3,800)! Participants will meet for a Showdown on August 16th, 2013 at a location To Be Determined. For more information meet Captain PLaneT for a personal demonstration, description, and Q&A in the Odum School of Ecology Courtyard on Tuesday June 11th, 2013 at 4:00 pm! Or schedule me for a briefing at your location! If you are far away I can just email you all the UPS Shipping Labels for free shipping and TerraCycle will do the measuring. Just ask me for a label for specific brigades. The List:

1. Any & All Drink Pouches(Such as Capri-Sun, Kool-Aid to include the straws and straw wrappers)
2. Any & All Coffee Pouches(Such as Maxwell House, Equal Exchange Organic, and Starbucks)
3. Any & All Cookie and Cracker Wrappers(Such as Oreo and Keebler)
4. Any & All Energy or Breakfast Bar and Energy Food Wrappers(Such as Granola Bars, Breakfast Bars, Cliff Bars, Oddwalla Bars, Nut Bags, Kashi Bars)
5. Any & All Candy Wrappers(Such as M&Ms, Hershey, and Snickers) and Gum Wrappers(Such as Trident, Bubblicious, and Wrigley)
6. Any & All Chip and Salty Snack Bags(Such as Frito Lay, Pepperidge Farm, potato chip, crackers, pretzel, cheeto, nacho, and any that look and feel similar)
7. Any & All Lunch Kit Trays, Wrappers(such as Lunchables)
8. Any & All Dairy Tub Containers(Such as Stonyfield Farms, Chobani, Dannon) Butter Type Spread Containers (Such as Country Crock, Promise, and yes even the little baby single serve sizes along with baby coffee creamers) Sour Cream and Cottage Cheese, etc.
9. Sprout Brand Baby Food as well as Any & All Crushed Fruit Bags and Containers and Wrappers(GoGo Squeeze, Plum Organics, Gerber,  Chiquita, Ella's Kitchen, etc)
10. Any & All Cereal Bags(Such as Malt-O-Meal, Rice Crispies, and Honey Nut Cheerios)
11. Bear Naked Brand Granola and Cereal Product Wrappers
12. Any & All Corks Real and Fake Plastic from wine and other liquor bottles
13. Any & All Disposable Household Tape Dispensers (Such as Scotch Tape)
14. Any & All Home Storage Bags and Containers (such as Zip Lock Type Bags, sandwich bags, and temporary tupperware plastic containers)
15. Any & All Paper Towel and similar Paper Product Wrappers (Such as Scotts Paper Towels, Tissue Paper, Paper Napkins etc)
16. Any & All Tooth Paste Tubes, Dental Floss Devices, and used Toothbrushes (Such as Colgate, Crest, etc)
17. Any & All Glue Containers and Glue Sticks (Such as Elmer's)
18. Any & All Human Writing Instruments except Chalk and Crayons (Such as Used Up or Broken Pens, Sharpies, Markers, Highlighters, Magic Markers, and Mechanical Pencils, Wooden Pencils)
19. Any & All Beauty and Skin Care Product Tubes and Containers (Such as Aveeno and Aveda Skin Product Tubes, Neosporin Medicine Containers, Lip Stick Tubes, Cosmetic Cases,  Chap Stick Tubes, Shampoo Bottles, Deodorant Sticks and Sun Screen Tubes and Bottles)
20. Any & All Diaper Wrappers (such as Huggies, Pampers, g-Diaper and any sort of Baby Sanitation Wipe as well as Incontinence Pad Wrappers)
21. Any & All Cell Phones, MP3 players, Digital Cameras,  GPS Systems, Calculators, Printer and Toner Cartridges, and Laptop Computers including all cords and chargers
22. Any & All Cheese Wrappers (such as Kraft, Kroger, Sargento)
23. Any & All Tortilla, Tostada & Bread Wrappers (such as Mission Tortillas)
24. Any and All Home Cleaning Containers and Items (such as Method Packs, Windex, Pledge, Ajax, and Toilet Brushes, Tubes, Pistol Squeezers)
25. Any and All #5 & #6 disposable plastic drinking cup (Solo Cups)
26. Any and All Laundry and Dish Wash Detergent Briquette Bags (Dropps, Tide, Cascade)
27. Any and All Wine Pouches
28. Any and All Hummus Products (like Athenos Hummus)
29. Any and All Shoes
30. Any and All Cigarette & Cigar Waste including all the ashes, unburnt tobacco, filter stubs, plastic outer wrap, aluminum paper inner wrap. (Please place in an airtight plastic bag inside the outer package)

Students today know the importance of recycling, reusing and repurposing at home, but are they getting the opportunity to put the lesson into practice at school? A company called TerraCycle helps schools implement what they teach while also earning money for the school. Several local schools already have TerraCycle programs, including Corpus Christi in Wheeling, Hilltop in Marshall County and North Elementary in Brilliant. Students and teachers can collect supplies such as pens, markers, glue containers, tape dispensers, keyboards and mice, along with lunchroom waste such as drink pouches and chip bags. For each piece of waste collected and sent in for free, the collector earns points toward a donation to the school or charity of their choice. The materials are then made into a variety of eco-friendly products like trash cans, playground surfaces and watering cans. TerraCycle also provides free sustainability curricula, DIY and craft projects, and art and product design contests that teachers can use to engage their students.

I speak for many of our eco citizens and dedicated environmentalist when I say that it pains me to throw anything away, but unfortunately, there are just some things that just can’t be recycled. Chip bags, candy wrappers, tape dispensers and used pens all have to go into the trash… or normally would… Thanks to the company TerraCycle, hard-to-recycle items like those listed above are not trashed, but are actually recycled, or even upcycled. TerraCycle partners with the companies that produce these items, and works with them to create an environmentally friendlier end of life- which means that for many of them, they are turned into something completely new-for example, pens and sharpies are turned into dry erase marker holders, and cookie wrappers are turned into backpacks. Awesome, right? Wait- it gets better.

TerraCycle, an award-winning company that specializes in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, wants to help small businesses achieve their green initiatives while giving back to the community. If your company signs up to a TerraCycle “Brigade” and begins collecting specific items such as Scotch tape dispensers, toner cartridges, pens, drink pouches, potato chip bags and more, TerraCycle will process those items and your company can earn money for the school or charity of your choice.

Tom Szaky über den Kern seiner Geschäftsidee ... über Müll: Müll haben sich Menschen ausgedacht, meint der Gründer von Terracycle. Vor 70 bis 80 Jahren gab es ihn gar nicht in dem Umfang, wie er heute existiert. Die Konsumgesellschaft sei schuld, sagt der 28-Jährige. Sein Unternehmen Terracyle verarbeitet Müll zu neuen Produkten: Taschen aus Einkaufstüten, Kühlboxen aus Bonbon-Verpackung oder Klobrillen aus Trinktüten. Albe Zakes von Terra Cycle steht vor 1500 Chipstüten - wiederverwertet und verarbeitet zu einer großen Mülltonne. Nur eines von 500 Produkten aus dem Sortiment. Die alten Verpackungen sammeln Konsumenten, die ihn portofrei einschicken und dafür sogar Geld bekommen. Ein paar Cent pro Flasche, Tüte, Verpackung - die dann jedoch nur für gute Zwecke gespendet werden können. Albe Zakes: "Der Großteil der Getränke- und Nahrungsmittel-Verpackungen in den USA ist nicht recycelbar. Verpackungen für Süßigkeiten, Kekse, Chips, Müslitüten und so weiter. Partner von TerraCycle bieten ihren Konsumenten die Wahl an. Ihre Verpackung muss kein Müll bleiben." Zu den Partnern gehören neben dem Lebensmittelriesen Kraft längst andere Branchengrößen wie der Schokoriegelhersteller Mars, der Kosmetikkonzern L'Oreal und der Post-it-Hersteller 3M. Sie zahlen die Kosten und die Logistik des Systems und bekommen dafür Werbung - durch ihre Marke auf den neuen Produkten - und ein grünes Image mit dazu. Tom Szaky: "So eine Tasche machen wir. Das Material: gepresste Plastiktüten. Die Tasche kostet im Laden fünf Dollar. Der Einzelhandel kauft die Taschen für zwei Dollar beim Produzenten. Der Produzent kauft das Material von mir und zahlt eine Gebühr für die Nutzung des TerraCycle Logos. Alle machen ihr normales Geld - außer, dass das Fabrikat nicht Kunststoff aus China ist, sondern unser einzigartiges Material." Mehr als zwölf Millionen Menschen in den USA sammeln bereits für Terracycle, immerhin fast fünf Prozent der Bevölkerung. Ganze Schulen haben Sammelprogramme gestartet, um Umweltbewusstsein zu lehren. Zwei Milliarden Verpackungen wurden bereits verarbeitet. Und TerraCycle hat jetzt schon Büros in elf Ländern - auch in Europa. "Kraft waren die ersten, die uns nach Europa gelotst haben: Sie wollten das Programm nach Großbritannien bringen, dann Schweden, dann Deutschland. Es ist aufregend, dass es gar nicht wir sind, die Expansionsideen haben, sondern unsere global tätigen Partner, die die Idee überall hinbringen wollen." Jetzt kommt Terracycle auch nach Deutschland. Allerdings soll im Musterland der Mülltrennung nicht das gesammelt werden, wofür es schon erfolgreiche Recyclinglösungen gibt, wie Glas, Papier oder organische Abfälle. Terracycle geht es um Müll, der in Deutschland bisher noch in Verbrennungsanlagen landet. Klaus Hillebrand vom Grünen Punkt in Köln ist skeptisch. Er bezweifelt, dass in Deutschland die Mitmachanreize sowohl auf Seiten der Partnerunternehmen als auch auf Seiten der Konsumenten ausreichen. In einem Statement von ihm heißt es: "Die Verpackungsverordnung verpflichtet alle Hersteller von verpackten Produkten, die verwendeten Verpackungen bei einem dualen System zu beteiligen, damit Recycling und Entsorgung gesichert sind. Es macht daher in Deutschland keinen Sinn, ein weiteres Sammelsystem aufzubauen, und es hätte auch keine Aussicht auf Erfolg." Zudem gibt es in Deutschland bereits neun private Wettbewerber auf dem Markt der dualen Systeme. Auch das Prinzip, aus Müll direkt Produkte zu machen, wird schon umgesetzt. Hillebrand schreibt weiter: "TerraCycle bietet außerdem keine flächendeckende Entsorgung überall in jedem Haushalt in Deutschland, sondern sammelt nur ganz bestimmte Verpackungen an ganz bestimmten Orten ein, zum Beispiel in Schulen oder Kantinen. Das hat nur in solchen Ländern Aussicht auf Erfolg, in denen es keine bestehende und funktionierende Recyclinginfrastruktur gibt." TerraCycle wird sein Glück in Deutschland trotzdem versuchen. Zumindest die Partnerunternehmen unterstützen die Idee. Und mit Caprisonne und dem Stifthersteller BIC haben zwei bereits fest zugesagt.

“Eliminate the idea of waste” and “Outsmart waste”. This is the tagline and mission statement of TerraCycle. Although I’m a sucker for a great tagline you don’t need one to have something awesome to offer. For proof, Trails.com provides it. This is a nature edition of Free Resource Friday and I’ll dive into each website to explain how something so simple can be so freakin’ useful.

WOOLWICH TWP. Fifty first-grade students at the Gov. Charles Stratton School demonstrated what they've learned about recycling and composting this year in "Composting - The Musical." They sang songs on Thursday about what can be recycled, what can be composted and what kids can do themselves to help keep the landfills empty. "This year the first-graders got a chance to see first hand how they can make a difference," Joann Ellis, one of the school's teachers, said. The children have been taking part in a recycling program with Trenton-based Terracycle. The company makes eco-friendly items from materials that would normally be non-recyclable. Students at the school have been sending their trash to Terracycle for the last five months including 607 cookie wrappers, 9,025 drink pouches, 2,984 chip bags, 263 Elmer glue sticks and 24 Scotch tape rolls. For each item they donate Terracycle gives the school two cents, which gets donated to charity.