Terracycle strives to outsmart waste by creating collection programs for previously difficult to recycle waste. Here at CC, students and teachers are encouraged to save their used energy bar wrappers, candy bar wrappers, cereal bag liners, as well as old writing instruments such as pens, markers, sharpies, mechanical pencils etc.

PINE BEACH — Officials and residents here say they have 18-year-old Lindsey Van Zile to thank for launching the campaign that led to the borough’s first $2,000 grant from Sustainable New Jersey and a new native garden at Pocket Park. “I was tired of looking at the overgrown weeds, and seeing how bad the area looked when I was riding my bike,” said the teen, who lives near the park at the corner of Riverside and Motor roads. Last year, Van Zile began going to Borough Council meetings to persuade council members to help with her quest to revitalize the park. The council agreed to pass a resolution to apply for the grant. “She (Van Zile) walks her talk,” Councilwoman Susan Coletti said of Van Zile. “She is the one who wrote the grant, and executed her plan.” “I just wanted people to be able to come here and enjoy nature, its beauty,” Van Zile said. In addition to the council’s help, Van Zile also sought the help of the American Littoral Society and its Bayscape for Barnegat Bay program. “The program was created for just that purpose, to help individuals with preserving and protecting the bay area,” said Helen Henderson, Atlantic Coast programs manager and Barnegat Bay projects director. “Anyone can participate in the programs and create native plant gardens and become stewards of the land,” she said. Van Zile said her parents, Marcy and Robert Van Zile, have always been environmentally conscious. Her father works for a pharmaceutical company and her mother is a Clean Ocean Action volunteer. “I guess I get my drive to preserve and recycle from my parents,” she said. “It must have rubbed off on me.” The work to create the garden included clearing the land of debris and tilling the land. Van Zile purchased the plants including blazing stars, foxglove and bush blueberry plants. The area is lined with stone pavers and has a tiled stone that was designed for the garden by Van Zile’s neighbor, 9-year-old Taylor McCue. Van Zile recently graduated from Toms River High School South. She has received multiple awards for her volunteer work, and also started a recycling program in the town. Through the program, she collects empty yogurt cups and granola wrappers to send to Terracycle, a Trenton company that recycles the materials into new products. “They pay me money for the recyclables. So far, I have $500 coming to me,” she said. The windfall will go to the environment, of course, says Van Zile, who heads to Lynchburg College in Virginia in August and plans to become an environmental lawyer: She expects to buy garden enhancements, such as signage to identify its plants.

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.

FARMINGTON - Volunteers have been as busy as Santa’s elves at the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area this fall. During this season of thanks, it is important to recognize the impact that many generous volunteers are having in Greater Franklin County. TerraCycle Under the leadership of volunteer Sarah Martin, and UMF intern Joe Dignam, TerraCycle was launched. In this program various products – from shampoo bottles to foil-lined granola bar wrappers – are sent to TerraCycle headquarters in New Jersey where they are recycled into other products or up-cycled into functional art such as juice box tote bags. TerraCycle pays money for the products that are shipped to them (for free) so the environment benefits as well as the United Way!

While eating lunch with her children at school, Tracy Romzek was shocked to see how much of the meal was thrown out. Not just the food, but the things that could be recycled, like milk cartons. Romzek, 38, a Town of Menasha mother of two who has a master’s degree in environmental engineering, decided to research the best way to recycle the materials. Then, she talked to the school principal and school district officials. “I just saw something that could be done and chose to take action,” she said. Romzek admitted she didn’t know what it would take to get a milk carton recycling program started. But once she took action at Clayton, it opened the door to other recycling possibilities and, ultimately, other schools in the district. “It started as a carton thing but what it really turned out to be was cafeteria recycling,” she said, noting the program is currently implemented in all but one of Neenah’s elementary schools and at Horace Mann Middle School. She hopes to bring the program to Jefferson Elementary and Fox River Academy in Appleton. She signed up for recycling brigades with TerraCycle, a free waste collection program for hard-to-recycle materials. Clayton now collects dairy containers like yogurt tubs, drink pouches, Scotch tape dispensers, paper products, Solo cups, granola bar wrappers, cheese packaging and Lunchables containers, among other items. “That is waste being upcycled,” she said. “These are things that are not traditionally recycled.” Romzek also was awarded an environmental education grant from SCA Tissue, which allowed her to purchase containers and things needed for the recycling programs. She hopes to encourage the schools to get away from bagging the recyclables. The milk cartons, she noted, cannot be tied up in a plastic bag or they will rot. She also sought a local facility, Fox River Fiber in DePere, to take away the materials. “It’s pretty cool we have a local company that wants them,” she said. She sees recycling as a cost-saving measure for the district. “A third of the lunchroom waste is going into recycle rather than the garbage,” she said. “Recycling is cheaper to pick up than the garbage.”   Andrew Thorson, director of facilities and an engineer in the district, said he appreciates all Romzek has done.   “She’s very dedicated and she has a lot of energy to handle these things,” he said. “It’s very helpful to us that she can spend her time on that. We have the need but not necessarily the ability to do as much as she does.” Romzek also thinks the recycling programs educate the children. “A lot of these kids, once I showed them what can be recycled, they love it and they really try and they want to do the right thing,” she said, noting that by getting them “involved early on, they will care later.”

FARMINGTON -- Gloved hands sifted swiftly through bags of trash Wednesday, finding paper, disposable cups, foil-lined granola-bar wrappers and uneaten food that could have been recycled.   For the fifth year, members of the Sustainable Campus Coalition at the University of Maine at Farmington rummaged through bags of garbage collected over a 24-hour period in campus residence halls.   They separated recyclables from trash and for the first time, garnered items such as business folders that the on-campus Everyone's Resource Depot could take for resale.   They also looked for Solo cups, pouch drink containers and granola wrappers that can be "upcycled" -- converted to new materials of better quality or better environmental value -- and sent to TerraCycle where they are used to create usable items. TerraCycle provides free waste collection programs for hard-to- recycle materials and turns the waste into "affordable green products," according to its website.   Students are looking for things such as backpacks, bags, newspapers, pencils and plastic picnic tables, said Joe Digman, an intern with Sarah Martin, an adjunct professor at UMF.   Martin is also volunteer coordinator of TerraCycle for the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area. UMF is working with the United Way to start upcycling on campus, with all donations used to benefit the local region.   Cups, wrappers, beauty products and packaging, oral care products and pouch drinks are collected and shipped to TerraCycle, which pays a stipend to benefit the agencies supported by the United Way. A purple collection bin for such items sits outside the United Way door on Broadway.   "It's a win-win," Martin said.   Items that would normally add to landfills are reused, producing less trash and less impact on the environment. The effort also produces a modest, steady income for the United Way, which helps local people, she said.   Digman has helped set up three bins on campus. Adding more bins is being considered, he said, manning a table that displayed items that can be upcycled.   Sustainable Campus Coalition members were finding a lot of foil- lined granola wrappers, No. 6 plastics and Solo cups, senior Sarah Lavorgna said as she helped separate trash.   Students Samantha Ritson, Jasmin Heckler and Emily Vitone staffed a table for Everyone's Resource Depot where they displayed artistic items created from materials found at the depot.   The trash day, sponsored by the SCC, has shown a decrease each year in items that can be recycled, said Kaisha Muchemore, a UMF senior and co-coordinator of the campus group.   The decrease indicates the exercise is effective, Muchemore said. Last year, about 30 percent of the trash could have been recycled, she said. The group was hoping to lower the percentage to 20 percent or less this year, SCC coordinator Luke Kellett said. Members have met with Sandy River Recycling Manager Ron Slater to better understand which items the facility can recycle. They also are working on a food event set for Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Farmington Grange Hall involving local farmers and local food sources, Kellett said. The group also intends to hold another Fiddlehead Festival in May.