IF YOU think living your life without producing any rubbish is impossible, just ask the growing number of city-dwellers embracing the trend. Living a completely rubbish-free life is difficult but some are managing to reduce their waste so dramatically that two years worth of rubbish can fit into a mason jar.

Recycling has even become a worldwide business with TerraCycle, a company that recycles hard-to-recycle items, launching in Australia in 2014. It started in the US in 2001 and is now in 21 countries. “The TerraCycle philosophy is to eliminate the idea of waste,” TerraCycle communications manager Ausseela Thanaphongsakom said. In Australia it allows people to recycle yoghurt pouches, used mail satchels and other dental products for free. While the company has only just established itself in Australia, in other countries it even offers recycling of things like chewing gum. “I think (the companies) perceive, rightly so, that consumers would appreciate and are demanding such programs,” TerraCycle founder and chief executive officer Tom Szaky told news.com.au. Pretty much everything is recyclable, Mr Szaky explained, but the problem is making it into a product that people wanted to buy. This is because most products, especially plastics, can only be “downcycled”. A plastic toothbrush can’t be recycled into a new plastic toothbrush, for example. This is in contrast to metal, which can be recycled endlessly, and paper, which can be recycled seven times. Most plastics are recycled into things like park benches and garden materials. Part of TerraCycle’s business is creating a market for these recycled products. Mr Szaky said he thought Australians had less opportunity to recycle things, compared with other countries, because of a lack of infrastructure. This applied even to more profitable materials such as glass and paper. But he acknowledged that the ideal situation was not to consume. “That’s the fundamental answer, don’t buy this stuff to begin with. But if you chose to buy, as many do, the best thing is to buy things that you can reuse.” TERRACYCLE RECYCLING PROGRAM Items that can be recycled for free include: Colgate Oral Care Brigade: used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, floss containers and outer packaging Nescafé Dolce Gusto Capsules Brigade: only Nescafé Dolce Gusto are accepted. Whole Kids Snack and Pouch Brigade: snack wrappers and yoghurt pouches. Australia Post Mailing Satchel Brigade: Mailing post satchels. Natures Organics Cleaner Packaging Brigade: nozzles, triggers, on cleaning, beauty and laundry products, beauty wipe packaging Nespresso Capsules Brigade: only Nespresso capsules are accepted and can be dropped off at participating florists and garden centres. Loccitane Recycling Program: Its products can be dropped at participating stores. For more information on the free recycling program go to: www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU/brigades You can also purchase zero waste boxes to recycle other items: www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU/zero_waste_boxes

Australia Post announced this week a national recycling program for used plastic mail satchels that will hopefully reduce the amount of satchels reaching landfill. The national postal service provider says the free program will see used satchels sent on to waste solutions company TerraCycle for processing into items like esky liners and plastic garden furniture.

The meteoric rise of online commerce and its profound effect on Australia Post’s fortunes are usually couched in terms around the rapid decline of paper mail and corresponding revenue. But internet shopping and its reliance on single-use waterproof plastic satchels to post millions of parcels have created a new dilemma – how does a thriving parcel business cope with the environmental challenge of keeping packaging out of landfill and on a sustainable footing?

Last week I attended LifeInStyle and the Home and Giving Fair in Sydney, and came home with some great businesses to share and some new products for our store. I will share a post about these events and my thoughts about them soon. But first, in a moment of “it was meant to be”, the very clever Nathan Devine, the author of the website and book Retrash, called me before I left on the off-chance I may have been able to come to Sydney for an event last Friday. I just happened to be headed to Sydney on Thursday so it was perfect! Retrash is a book of inspirational stories from people across the world, on ways they are reducing landfill through recycling, upcycling, repurposing and rethinking waste. Nathan gave me a copy and I will review it soon on the blog. Not only was the event at Google headquarters, which for a geek like me was a real thrill, but it was a presentation from both Nathan and the Chief Design Junkie (yes that is her actual job title!), Tiffany Threadgould, from one of the most clever upcycling and recycling organisations in the world – TerraCycle. TerraCycle basically take things you think are not recyclable, including DIRTY nappies (yes I know!) and cigarette butts (because they are essentially plastic, may be time to give up now) and recycles them. They recycle and upcycle pretty much everything and anything and you can even make cash sending your trash into them. Tiffany is an eco-lifestyle expert who spreads recycling inspiration with easy do-it-yourself solutions. Tiffany began with an MFA in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute, and now hones her upcycling know how as Head Design Junkie at the mega recycling company Terracycle. Her own company Tiffany Threadgould has been featured on CNN, Every Day with Rachael Ray, the New York Times, and countless magazines and blogs. Stay tuned for more as I am going to run an interview and feature with her soon. Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a 20-year-old Princeton University student, TerraCycle, Inc. began producing organic fertiliser by packaging liquified “worm poop” in used soft drink bottles. Since the inauspicious start, TerraCycle has become one of the fastest-growing green companies in the world. Today, TerraCycle is a highly-awarded, international upcycling and recycling company that collects difficult-to-recycle packaging and products and repurposes the material into affordable, innovative products. TerraCycle is widely considered the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable, post-consumer waste. TerraCycle works with more than 100 major brands in the U.S. and 24 countries overseas, including Australia, to collect used packaging and products that would otherwise be destined for landfills. It repurposes that waste into new, innovative materials and products that are available online and through major retailers. Tiffany also told us about the new partnership with TerraCycle and Australia Post, that makes it easier for groups to collect waste and post it for free. You can collect your waste, print a postage label and send it for free. It is a great idea for schools and community groups, through the national programs -“Brigades” – where you collect previously non-recyclable or hard to recycle waste and in most programs, you receive a small donation for each piece of waste collected. It’s a great way for schools to fund raise. Find out more about the TerraCycle Brigades here. It was a fabulous session and so good to hear about the amazing things happening around the world. Have you heard of TerraCycle? And will you now be saving up waste to send to them?  I am starting special boxes here and will be speaking with my son’s school about getting involved. Helen

Local Manly small business The Shop Next Door takes part in innovative butt recycling program TerraCycle, an innovative global company that recycles ‘unrecyclable’ waste including cigarettes is working with local Manly business The Shop Next Door to tackle cigarette litter. The Cigarette Waste Brigade allows any individual, group or business to register and collect unrecyclable waste such as cigarette butts and send it to TerraCycle via Australia Post at no cost. Since its launch on Clean Up Australia Day in 2014, TerraCycle has collected over four million cigarette butts to be recycled into new industrial items. The Shop Next Door is taking part in the Manly based environmental consultancy, Edge Environment’s 200 Stories Project.  This project being funded by through the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s Bintrim Business Grants, providing free waste audits to 200 businesses in the Northern Beaches to reduce waste going to landfill. "Cigarette butts are a pervasive, non-biodegradable waste and is Australia’s most littered item. TerraCycle recycles ‘unrecyclable’ waste that others deem challenging or unsavoury. Instead of ending up on our streets, in landfill or in waterways, cigarettes can now be recycled into new sustainable items,” said Anna Minns, General Manager, TerraCycle. The Shop Next Door on busy Pittwater Road in Manly is a popular hangout for locals and visitors –it’s fantastic to see that both shop and organic café are reducing their waste to landfill. The Shop Next door is not only tackling cigarette litter – they will help recycle it too from the Laundromat one shop down so the butts don’t end up in storm water and in the ocean. They will place an upcycled receptacle for people to dispose of cigarette butts responsibly,” "Local businesses and individuals can simply send in cigarette waste to TerraCycle to be recycled by securely storing it in a plastic bag (which will also be recycled), requesting a free shipping label from the TerraCycle website and affix it to any used box. For every kilogram of cigarette waste collected, TerraCycle donates two dollars to a not-for-profit organisation of the collector’s choice.” TerraCycle Australia collects other difficult to recycle waste streams including oral care waste such as toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, floss containers, used cleaning, laundry and beauty packaging waste as well as Nespresso and NESCAFE Dolce Gusto capsules.  

Clean Up Australia Day will be held this year on Sunday 2 March. The annual event provides a simple way for people to clean up, fix up and conserve the Australian environment. For the very first time, volunteers will this year be able to safely collect cigarette butts for recycling. Almost 6000 satchels will be distributed to volunteers, including businesses and community groups.

Eco entrepreneur Tom Szaky believes some of the profits reported by the corporate world are absurd. His own company, TerraCycle, has given $20 million to charities over ten years and each year processes 50 million kilograms of waste. This year the company, with 120 staff, will bring in $25 million or more but will only keep 1% as profit.

SMOKERS can now send dirty ashtray contents through the mail in a recycling deal struck with Australia Post. Households, restaurants, other businesses and community groups are being urged to stash butts, ash, inner foils and outer packaging in secured plastic bags or containers before dispatching sealed boxes to a recycling specialist free of charge.