Tom Szaky founded TerraCycle in 2002. Originally a producer of organic fertilizer, the company shifted its focus to upcycling and recycling solutions in 2007. Today, TerraCycle is a multi-million dollar business and works with thousands of schools, NGOs and brands to divert billions of units of waste a year. Partnering with brands is a part of TerraCycle's business model. What do you think makes a partnership successful? Successful partnerships are all about aligning interests. You want to have brands who see the problem in the same way and are really interested in having a solution. For example, L’Oreal is really committed to solving cosmetic waste and they're getting really behind that with us. TerraCycle been able to generate positive PR by telling its story through various media outlets. How can small businesses take advantage of the PR opportunities available to them? The easiest way to do that is to make the job of the reporter very easy. Don’t approach it like you just want to get your propaganda out there, but instead think about it from the reporter’s perspective. Reporters want to have interesting stories and they want to be able to get good content. The easier you can make it for a reporter to get great content, the easier it will be to do an article. How can a small business turn a negative review or PR experience into a positive one? The best way to turn a negative into a positive is to own it and be transparent about it. Own the issue, because if you own the issue, no one can come back to you and hit you for it. The press will only hit you for it if you’re not acknowledging and owning the problem.

St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church in Athens is hosting its first TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash through Aug. 15. The community is asked to gather trash from the list included here below and bring it to the TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash Showdown on Aug. 16 at a location to be determined. The person that brings the most trash, by weight, will win a free semester at the University of Georgia — in-state tuition only, estimated at $3,800. Trash that will be accepted includes: Drink pouches, straws and straw wrappers, coffee pouches, cookie and cracker wrappers, energy bar, breakfast bar and energy food wrappers, candy and gum wrappers, chip and pretzel bags, all lunch kit trays and wrappers, dairy containers, Sprout brand baby food and crushed fruit bags, containers and wrappers, cereal bags, Bear Naked brand granola and cereal product wrappers, wine corks, disposable household tape dispensers, plastic sandwich bags and temporary plastic containers. Also, wrappers from toilet paper, napkins and paper towels, toothpaste tubes, dental floss devices and used toothbrushes, glue containers and glue sticks, all writing instruments except chalk and crayons, beauty and skin care product tubes and containers, diaper wrappers, cheese wrappers, tortilla, tostada and bread wrappers, home cleaning containers and items, plastic drinking cups, laundry and dish wash detergent briquette bags, wine pouches, hummus containers and cigarette and cigar waste including ashes, unburnt tobacco, filter stubs, plastic outer wrap and aluminum paper inner wrapping. St. Gregory also will accept all cellphones, MP3 players, digital cameras, GPS systems, calculators, printer and toner cartridges and laptop computers including all cords and chargers, and all shoes. For information on how to package the trash, about the competition, about TerraCycle and more, call Andrew Lane at (706) 296-6631 or emailandrew.s.lane@us.army.mil.

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)

It’s been said over and over again: reduce, reuse and recycle in order to help Mother Earth. But how many of us actually heed this call and live our lives consciously reducing, reusing and recycling? Not many, that’s for sure. Good thing that people like Tom Szaky not only take up the environmental battle cry with a passion, but turn it into a useful enterprise that shows the rest of the world just how waste elimination can easily be handled. Terracycle, Szaky’s social enterprise, is a prime example of literally turning trash into cash.

Recycling has been one of the biggest movements in response to pollution, and dealing with the huge amounts of waste produced by today’s society. Of the biggest problems with recycling is that there are a lot of plastics, and other products that aren’t recyclable yet. A lot of progress has happened recently in recycling abilities, but there are many products and luxuries that we use today that come in packaging that isn’t easily recycled. This is where the company Terracycle comes in. Terracycle is a company that collects hard to recycle wastes and either recycles the materials, or upcylces them for new purposes.

A few weeks ago I was sent a set of M&M Eco Speakers from TerraCycle to try. I have to say, I am pretty impressed with the quality of sound these tiny little speakers can project. The best part, they are eco-friendly!   The M&M Eco Speakers are portable, lightweight speakers that are made with recycled materials. Their 3.5 mm universal plug allows you to play music from your iPod, iPhone, MP3 player, laptop, or computer. I was very excited to try these out on my iPod, iPhone, and iPad.  When you get them, they come flat and you simply fold them to form the speakers.  It is very easy to do!

What if you could reduce waste and get some awesome gifts at the same time? No seriously. What if you could give someone garbage and they create the coolest gifts for those special people in your life? I’m for real!

TerraCycle upcycles and recycles traditionally non-recycable waste (including drink pouches, chip bags, tooth brushes and many more) into a large variety of consumer products. These products keep waste out of our landfills and contribute to a cleaner world.

I was provided some of the coolest items ever to review (and to add to my gift giving list!) I received the Upcycled Mail Sack Tote that as soon as I opened the box, hubby and I were fighting over it!

I discovered the site TerraCycle through information that was on my gourd organic fruit juice. It said that the packaging could be recycled and the TerraCycle website report stated. Curious as I am, so I went to make a turn and I found their concept quite surprising! TerraCycle proposes to harvest some of the daily waste (yogurt, pencils, printer cartridges, packaging for chips or cakes ...) and send them for free via UPS.United States simply drop the box in a UPS box or in a shop in France and the UPS will look directly at you! ;) In return for this you collect points which are used to receiving gifts eco-friendly or to make donations paid to schools and charities. TerraCycle uses these waste products to create other, totally recyclable, you've already had to perceive in some shops, I'm sure! You have to register on the site and then enroll in "brigades" that correspond to the waste that is to be harvested. This system exists for different countries, not only for the United States: France, Canada, Germany, Spain ... To see the types of products that can retrieve and send, just choose the country in the small bar "Select your country" at the top of the homepage. However, I note a few minor gripes ... For some countries there are very few brands that participate in the experiment. In France for example, only offered to collect the Bic pens. But hey when you do the bottom of the barrel, which is recovered all the old pens that no longer works, it's been enough to send! :) And for the United States, where many brands are available, his little bio: only two brigades of 29 porposant retrieve food packaging! Luckily it was the good because they are two brands that we consume at home ;) But I still adheres to the concept and I will participate by sending my yoghurt pots and gourds my juices!

TerraCycle, upcycled design powerhouse and purveyor of worm poop plant food, helps usher in spring with two new products: A watering can made from granola bags and a plant caddy made from juice pouches.