Mission Possible: What's the difference between TerraCycling® and recycling?
Many of my invitations to TerraCycle are met with strong, no-thank-you affirmations, "I already recycle." "I've been recycling my entire life" (with a clear implication that the time is longer than I have been alive).
A recycler is already traveling the right road to becoming a TerraCycler, but every single person may engage in TerraCycling and, for many reasons, it's not the same as recycling.
One reason I would like to focus on is the concept of ZERO WASTE! A trash item sent to TerraCycle is fully re—used, recycled, re—purposed, or upcycled with no waste—nothing incinerated, nothing dumped into the earth, nothing permitted to quagmire into aquatic imbroglios. TerraCycle is committed to eliminating global waste by taking anything bound for a landfill and turning it into a functional new product—from back packs to park benches, cereal bags to building materials, fence posts to writing instruments, TerraCycle is changing the way the world sees trash and benefitting not-for-profits in the process.
Beauty and personal care cases, containers, dispensers, tubes and bottles from items such as lipstick, mascara, eye shadow, shampoo and conditioner, bronzer, foundation, body wash, hand soap, lotion, shaving foam, powder, body lotion/cream, lip balm/gloss, face soap, face lotion, concealer; Brita pitchers, dispensers, bottles, faucet systems, all filters and packaging; standard cell phones, smart phones, and iPhones; cereal bags and plastic cereal bag liners; individual and large/outer flexible cheese packaging found on items such as shredded cheese, string cheese, individual slices, solid cheese blocks, deli—style sliced cheese and other large cheese packaging; extinguished cigarettes, cigarette filters, loose tobacco pouches, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging, rolling papers, ash; dairy tubs, seals, and lids from items such as yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, butter and margarine, whipped topping, pudding, plastic ice cream tubs and lids; plastic diaper packaging, wipes outer plastic packaging, and individual wipes packaging; aluminum and plastic drink pouches, and baby food and drink pouches; laptop, tablet, e-reader, Ipod, MP3 player, camera, digital camera, camcorder, GPS unit, and graphing calculator e-waste; baby and toddler food pouches and caps; Elmer's glue sticks, bottles, and caps; any foil-lined energy bar wrappers, granola bar wrappers or protein bar wrappers; Entenmann's plastic pouches; tubs, lids, and seals from all hummus containers; all inkjet cartridges and many toner cartridges; plastic trays and lids, plastic film, outer wrapping, and packaging; all individual, multi—pack and family size snack bags; all No. 6 rigid cups; plastic tape dispensers and cores; all toothpaste tubes with caps, toothbrushes, toothbrush and toothpaste packaging, and floss containers; pens and pen caps, mechanical pencils, markers and marker caps, highlighters and caps, permanent markers and caps.
Are you one of the people collecting TerraCycle items? Does your fridge magnet, office desk, or church bulletin have a current list of TerraCycle brigades? If not, why not? Easier to let someone else take the responsibility? As I challenged in this column last week, let's go beyond easy! Add your name, church, business or organization to the growing list of TerraCyclers!
To check out what trash TerraCycle can take, review the details and pictures at www.CoyoteHowlingShopForaCause.com , or visit Coyote Howling and learn how to take your trash back from the landfills and use it to fund meals for children. Coyote Howling's designated nonprofit: Feed My Starving Children.
Tonya Huber, PhD, is founder and owner of Coyote Howling Shop for a Cause Contact her at CoyoteHowlingNM@gmail.com 575-808-8320.