Do you know about TerraCycle? This company runs recycling collection programs for previously on-recyclable items, such as drink pouches, diaper packaging, candy and energy bar wrappers, dairy tubs, and household cleaner packaging. They recently added the ability to recycle cigarette waste. Much of the collected items are upcycled into new products that are sold on their website or through retailers they’ve partnered with, such as Target. Some is turned into pellets or other forms that then are converted into building materials. Recycling programs are organized into ‘Brigades’ by waste type. Some materials collections are done with partners such as Bear Naked and Athenos. Sign up for a Brigade online, create your own collection box, and start gathering your recyclables. Collection boxes at a place of work or at a school will help to collect items faster. Terracycle suggests creating a collection box that clearly indicates what you are looking for and placing the collection box in a well-trafficked location. Items don’t have to be cleaned or neatly stacked/packaged prior to donation, making the process simpler. Use odor-blocking plastic bags in your collection box to contain smells and liquid drips. Terracycle provides a collection and mailing guide on their website.

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.

More than half of U.S. product packaging –37 million tons – is discarded in landfills or burned rather than recycled, and packaging comprises nearly one-third of all U.S. landfill waste (US EPA).  Terracycle is an innovative waste reduction solution that encourages producer responsibility for their packaging, and recycles or upcycles packaging and other hard-to-recycle or previously non-recyclable items. Terracycle partners with producers who sponsor specific “brigades” – like chip bags or writing instruments - whereby waste can be collected and re- or up-cycled. Further, Terracycle incentivizes participation by rewarding “points” for items collected that can then be used to support nonprofit organizations of our choice. Harvard has recently expanded single-brigade programs located at several individual sites on campus into a multi-brigade Terracycle program being piloted at Harvard Law School.  We hope to scale the program to become University-wide in the near future.  Harvard community members can now drop off many kinds of waste in bins located throughout the University. Collection of Terracycle items in managed through a partnership between the Office for Sustainability and Harvard Recycling and assisted by the LABBB program (http://www.labbb.com/). The “points” Harvard earns for the waste we collect are donated back to this program. While the total volume of waste collected through Harvard’s Terracycle program is small compared to the total amount we generate, recycle, and compost, Terracycle participates in a new model of voluntary producer responsibility for their environmental impacts.  This producer responsibility lies in contrast to the traditional model in which costs for landfilling packaging after a product is consumed are externalized by product manufacturers – and internalized by taxpayers. Rob Gogan, Harvard’s Recycling & Waste Manager, weighs in on why Terracycle matters: “What I like most about this program is that it involves the producers and TerraCycle has managed to get them to take on some of the responsibility for the next phase in the life of these materials and not pass the cost of disposal/recycling on to consumers.” Get involved today by collecting the waste below and bringing it to the Law School’s Wasserstein Caspersen Clinical building. Find bins on the first floor of the Caspersen Student Center under the ramp leading up to the café in and at the ITS helpdesk in the basement. Harvard’s Brigades (we hope to expand further as Terracycle’s wait list for other brigades opens up – check the Law School Green Team site frequently for an up-to-date list of all brigades):

• Oral care: Any brand toothpaste tubes, toothpaste caps, tooth brushes, floss containers.
• Personal care and beauty packaging: Any brand lipstick cases, mascara tubes, eye shadow cases, shampoo bottles, conditioner bottles, bronzer cases, foundation packaging, body wash containers, soap tubes, soap dispensers, lotion dispensers, shaving foam tubes (no cans), powder cases, lotion bottles, chap stick tubes, lotion tubes, face soap dispensers, face soap tubes, face lotion bottles, face lotion jars, eyeliner cases, eyeliner pencils, eyeshadow tubes, concealer tubes, concealer sticks, lip liner pencils, hand lotion tubes, hair gel tubes, hair paste jars.
• Energy bar wrappers: Any brand foil lined energy bar wrappers, foil lined granola bar wrappers, foil lined meal replacement bar wrappers, foil lined protein bar wrappers, foil lined diet bar wrappers. Clif SHOT wrappers, Clif Twisted Fruit Wrappers, Clif Roks Wrappers, Clif Bloks Wrappers, Clif Gels Wrappers.
• Elmer’s Glue products: Elmer's glue sticks, Elmer's glue bottles, and Elmer's glue tops.
• Tape products: Any brand plastic tape dispensers, plastic tape cores.
• Cheese packaging: Any brand string cheeses packages, individual singles wrappers, singles packages, shredded cheeses packages, grated cheese containers, creamed cheese packaging, cottage cheese tubs, all cheese wrappers.
• Drink pouches: Any Brand aluminum drink pouches, plastic drink pouches.
• Bear Naked packaging: Bear Naked granola bags, Bear Naked trail mix bags, Bear Naked Granola cookie boxes.
• Cookie Packaging: Any brand Cookie Wrappers, Cookie Bags, Individual Cookie Bags, Inner Plastic Trays.
• Chip Bags: Any brand chip bags, tortilla chip bags, pretzel bags, pita chip bags, bagel chip bags, soy crisp bags, salty snack bags.
• Writing Instruments: Any brand pens, pen caps, mechanical pencils, markers, marker caps, highlighters, highlighter caps, permanent markers, permanent markers caps.

Want a Terracycle bin for your office? Contact sustainability@lists.law.harvard.edu to learn more, or with any questions.