OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure feels like it, especially after all the rain we got last night. We even have our first flowers!
We are experimenting this year with growing the plants upright by containing each in a large tomato cage instead of using a “fence” to keep them from sprawling all over the raised bed. It seems like only a week ago they were still pretty tiny. Now the leaves have topped the second of four rings. I try to push the leaves back into the cage before they get too big. So far it’s working.
There are companies that do this, too. TerraCycle, a global firm based in Trenton, NJ, is focused on recycling everything from worm poop (into fertilizer) to cigarette butts (into plastic pellets). It upcycles and recycles traditionally non-recycable waste (including drink pouches, chip bags, and tooth brushes) into a large variety of consumer products.
There's no such thing as garbage at this company, which aims to revolutionize the recycling industry.
New Jersey-based TerraCycle's mission is to “eliminate the idea of waste” and it's been a profitable enterprise. The company expects about $20 million in revenue this year, according to founder Tom Szaky.
TerraCycle is a company renowned for turning trash into treasure. Here's an inside look at the graffiti-clad warehouse in Trenton, N.J. where much of the upcycling magic happens.Late last week, I had the pleasure of touring the Trenton, N.J. offices of
TerraCycle, a “waste solution development” firm with the most admirable mission to "eliminate the idea of waste."
Unfamiliar with TerraCycle? Well, if you’ve ever seen or owned a
tote bag made from Dorito wrappers, a
coupon holder made from tortilla packaging, or a
Christmas tree skirt made from Capri Sun pouches, chances are that it came from TerraCycle. And, of course, there’s the company’s signature product, launched in 2001 by vermicomposting Princeton student-turned-eco-entrepreneur
Tom Szaky: liquefied
worm poop plant fertilizer packaged in recycled plastic two-liter soda bottles.
In addition to liquefied worm poop and trashy handbags, TerraCycle offers dozens upon dozens of additional consumer products made from
recycled and
upcycled materials ranging from
plastic lumber lawn furniture to
M&M’s wrapper kites. (More provocative prototype designs such as
wall clocks made from pregnancy tests and picture frames made from cigarette butts do exist, but don’t expect to find them on the shelves at your local Target ... at least, yet). Of the mostly pre-consumer waste collected by TerraCycle (more on that in a bit), 95 percent is recycled, 4 percent is upcycled, and 1 percent is reused. To date the company has collected over 2,432,696,434 units of waste.
So how does TerraCycle amass all the raw materials for their products? As mentioned, a majority is sent to TerraCycle as pre-consumer waste by various companies. The rest of it — the hard/impossible to recycle post-consumer waste that many folks end up tossing in the garbage — is largely collected through the company's popular
Brigades program. Most, but not all, Bridgades have
point-raising incentives and are often instituted as fundraising schemes at schools and nonprofit organizations. Alternately, the points earned through collecting waste and sending it to TerraCycle can also be used towards charitable contributions. TerraCycle Brigades span across a wide range of categories usually paired with a corporate sponsor:
Fllip-flops,
toothbrushes,
chip bags, wine pouches,
Solo cups,
printer cartridges,
energy bar wrappers, and the list goes on and on. Most recently, the company launched a
Tom’s of Maine Natural Care Brigade, which also entails a
sweepstakes.
Green Kids: This is the first in an ongoing series about efforts by area students to live greener lives.
Some environmentally savvy students in Memphis-area public and private schools are happily helping to turn their trash into treasure.
Their efforts at recycling are in conjunction with a company that makes plastic household products for sale. The students are participating in a "drink-pouch brigade" recycling effort through TerraCycle (terracycle.net). The students collect the pouches and send them to TerraCycle, which converts them into usable materials.
"(Recycling) is part of their culture now," said principal Bridget Martin of Sacred Heart School in Southaven, one of the participating schools.
"Our seventh- and eighth-graders recently had a guest speaker for theology who brought them snacks and soft drinks, and at the end they asked me where the bins for the trash were. They knew not to throw it in the regular trash."
The 360 students of Sacred Heart, which belongs to the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Miss., have been involved with TerraCycle since February 2011, when parent Michelle Stamm and others signed the school up.
Green Kids: This is the first in an ongoing series about efforts by area students to live greener lives.
Some environmentally savvy students in Memphis-area public and private schools are happily helping to turn their trash into treasure.
Their efforts at recycling are in conjunction with a company that makes plastic household products for sale. The students are participating in a "drink-pouch brigade" recycling effort through TerraCycle (terracycle.net). The students collect the pouches and send them to TerraCycle, which converts them into usable materials.
"(Recycling) is part of their culture now," said principal Bridget Martin of Sacred Heart School in Southaven, one of the participating schools.
Who could imagine that a granola bag could be turned into a watering can? Or, a drink pouch into a plant caddy? TerraCycle®, Inc., the pioneering upcycling and recycling company, has three new products available for the eco-conscious gardener. The Terra Stone Plant Caddy, the Eco-Terra Watering Can and TerraCycle’s trademark worm poop All-Purpose Plant Food will be on store shelves this spring. These are all great additions to the host of tools used by gardeners who want to do their part for the environment.
TerraCycle, an award-winning company that specializes in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, wants to help small businesses achieve their green initiatives while giving back to the community.
If your company signs up to a TerraCycle “Brigade” and begins collecting specific items such as Scotch tape dispensers, toner cartridges, pens, drink pouches, potato chip bags and more, TerraCycle will process those items and your company can earn money for the school or charity of your choice.
This is the third entry in "Full Circle," a series that will be profiling companies and organizations that offer biodegradable and recyclable products or services -- both in the New York City area and beyond.
Albe Zakes will admit it. While in school at the University of Colorado, he was a “frustrated environmentalist.”
“I felt like too many environmental non-profits [organizations] refused to work with major companies,” he said. “It was always petition, letter-write, protest, and picket instead of coming to the board room table and trying to work with them.”
Nicole Patrick has a passion for recycling that she's not afraid to share with others. The Westover resident is a brigade administrator for several TerraCycle projects and recently brought Pepsi and Waste Management's Dream Machine Project to Purchase Line North Elementary School.
TerraCycle, Patrick explained, is a national organization that offers programs called brigades that allow individuals or groups to send in waste to be recycled. Its goal, she said, is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating a recycling system for anything that must be sent to a landfill.
