Last night I joined TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> ! Their purpose is to eliminate waste from landfills. Schools, charities and individuals can sign up for one or more of their 37 brigades <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades?locale=en-US&show_all=true>  to collect items such as Ziploc bags and Capri Sun pouches that would otherwise be dumped in the landfills . I joined the Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades/7-Energy-Bar-Wrapper-Brigade-?locale=en-US>  because I love Clif and Luna bars.  I eat them like everyday lol So I’m collecting those and other nutritional bar wrappers that have a foil lining. Once I get 100 I can ship the wrappers (TerraCycle pays for shipping!) and they upcycle and recycle the items making bags, recyclable bins, and even fences! TerraCycle will also donate $0.02 cents (could be more depending on the item you are collecting) for every unit you send in towards a charity of your choice.  My charity is the Nature Conservancy’s Golf Coast Restoration <http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/gulfofmexico/> .  If you have your own charity you have TerraCycle donate to yours. Follow my progress in my sidebar :) I told my Wellness class today about it and got like ten wrappers lol This is such an awesome and EASY way to help the Earth and eliminate waste.  Recycling can be difficult and tedious, but with TerraCycle you can actually see the finished product and help out a charity.  So go and join a brigade!

What motivates consumers to make more sustainable choices? A desire to “save the planet?” A drive to improve the health of their community? To preserve their own or their children’s health? Ego? Probably a mix of all of these. And sometimes it’s money. At the end of 2010, TerraCycle partnered with the Walmart Foundation <http://walmartstores.com/CommunityGiving/203.aspx>  to do the Trash To Cash Collection <http://www.facebook.com/TerraCycle?v=app_10442206389>  contest. It’s simple: New Jersey public schools competed to see which could collect the most trash to upcycled/recycled by TerraCycle <http://terracycle.net> . The top 6 schools would receive a total of $125,000 in grants.

Since the beginning of October, Countryside Elementary School and its Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) have been participating in an ongoing eco-capitalism initiative in conjunction with a partnership between Walmart and TerraCycle. The contest ended Dec. 15 and results will be released in January.