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.

Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle and author of "Revolution in a Bottle: How TerraCycle is Redefining Green Business," will be a featured speaker April 18 during Penn State’s Earth Days. TerraCycle collects trash and turns it into reusable items.

TRENTON, New Jersey, March 28, 2013 (TerraCycle) – Every day, more and more companies are thinking of how to get on the green “bandwagon” which leads to many engaging in what they believe to be eco-friendly behavior. A big trend for companies now is to package their products in compostable, bio-based packaging. While it is great for industries and companies to become environmentally conscious, it is also necessary for them to do so only if there is a true benefit to their new initiatives. Unfortunately, the perceived benefits of bio-plastics and compostable packaging may be overstated and hidden costs might be underestimated.

Organizers of the Living Local Expo announce that Albe Zakes, the global vice president of TerraCycle, is one of the featured speakers at the sixth annual Expo, which will be held from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 23 in the Commons at Lawrence High School, located at 2525 Princeton Pike. Zakes will talk at 12:30 p.m. about how TerraCycle is able to collect non-recyclable garbage from consumer packaging and "upcycle" it into new products. TerraCycle currently partners with a number of brands to do this, including P&G, Capri-Sun, Target, and Frito-Lay.

What are the current issues in your region is facing and why is it an issue (regarding waste)? In this day and age, most are familiar with the effects of non-sustainable consumer behavior and aware of the growing importance of resource conservation. Still when budgets tighten, consumers turn away from eco-friendly products and towards more tradition – affordable – options. In 2008, the average American Consumer produced 4.5 pounds and only 1.1 pounds of that was recycled – and this was before the worse of global economic downturn. That same year, Clorox debuted Green Works, its sustainable line of cleaning products, and sales reach as high as 100 million dollars. Since then, sales dropped to about $60 million dollars by 2012 indicating that less consumers are willing to pay a premium for socially responsible items.

Solve and Benefit

TerraCycle’s team of scientists and designers have found ways to recycle and upcycle the waste we collect into cool new products. When we upcycle a piece of waste we leverage both the material it is made from and the original shape of the waste. When we recycle we transform the collected waste into new products through a variety of processes like injection molding. Best of all, when you're done with a TerraCycle product you can put it back in the original Brigade collection program and get credit for the waste a second time. One Brigade focuses on collecting candy wrappers. Participating in a TerraCycle Brigade is totally free. There are no signup or participation fees, and the shipping is covered by the program. Once you have joined the Candy Wrapper Brigade®, simply follow the steps below to receive your TerraCycle points:

A Rochester family helps the environment by recycling items that are usually not recyclable. Cheryl Bertou runs a small makeshift recycling canter in her basement. "We raised about $200.00 and kept about 13,000 items out of landfills," says Bertou through the fundraiser TerraCycle. They are collecting candy wrappers, chip bags, and personal care and beauty items that are then shipped off to TerraCycle.

Terracycle is a company that collects previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste and converts it into new products, ranging from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks. They do this by creating waste collection programs, which are referred to as “Brigades”, for each particular waste item. The LIU Post Recycling Program is currently a member of 9 Brigades. These Brigades include: -Drink Pouch Brigade: Accepted waste includes aluminum drink pouches and plastic drink pouches such as Capri Sun, Kool-Aid Jammers, and Honest Kids. -Candy Wrapper Brigade: Acceptable waste includes individual candy wrappers, large candy bags, and multi-pack candy bags. -Cookie Packaging Brigade: Accepted waste includes cookie packaging like Oreos, Chips Ahoy, and Keebler Cookies. -Chip Bag Brigade: Accepted waste includes chip bags, tortilla chip bags, pretzel bags, etc. -Paired Shoe Brigade: Accepted waste includes pairs of women’s, men’s, and children’s shoes, which may include athletic sneakers, cleats, flats, high heels, dress shoes, boots, and fashion or casual sneakers. Unacceptable waste includes ski boots, roller skates, roller blades, ice skates, completely broken or ruined footwear, single shoes, rubber flip flops, and slippers. -Writing Instruments Brigade: Accepted waste includes pens, pen caps, mechanical pencils, markers, highlighters, and permanent markers. Pencils are NOT accepted. -Elmer’s Glue Crew Brigade: Accepted waste includes Elmer’s glue sticks, Elmer’s glue bottles, and Elmer’s glue tops. ONLY Elmer’s brands are accepted. -Scotch Tape Brigade: Accepted waste includes all plastic tape dispensers and plastic tape cores. -Solo Cup Brigade: Accepted waste includes specially marked plastic #6 cups. Please bring these items to the collection boxes located at the Hillwood Information Desk. For each item that is collected, Terracycle will donate 2 cents to LIU Post. This money will be added to LIU Post Recycling Scholarship. If you have any questions regarding our Terracycle collection efforts, please contact Raheem Barnes, the Student Coordinator of the LIU Post Recycling Program, at LIUPostRecycling@gmail.com For additional information about Terracycle, you may visit http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/

Have you ever thought what happens to your Snickers bar package after you finish eating it. Most probably it will end up in a bin and from there it´s a one way ticket to the trash yard, right? Well there is a company that might take your snickers bar package and turn it into... well why not  a backpack. That company is called Terracycle, and snickers bar packaging is only a small piece of their story. It all started with worm poop The revolution began in 2001 when two freshmen at Princeton University Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer submitted a business plan to a contest sponsored by the Princeton Enterpreneurship Club. The following summer Szaky and Beyer made arrangements with Princeton Dining Services to take the dining hall waste and process it in their prototype „Worm Gin“. By 2002, the company had created a continuous flow process to take garbage and have it processed by worms into fertilizer. The products then were packaged worm poop used in soda bottles. Since then TerraCycle has grown into one of the fastest-growing green companies in the world. According to a company´s spokesperson Stacey Krauss TerraCycle believes that trash does not exist in nature and that it is their purpose to eliminate waste. „By collecting and finding ways to reuse traditionally non-recyclable materials, Terracycle is changing the way the world views waste,“ said Krauss. Terra is defined as The planet, Earth or land, whereas Cycle is recognized with recycling and upcycling and defined as any complete round or series of occurrences that repeats or is repeated. By recycling or upcycling items that would normally be sent to landfills, TerraCycle finds a way to help the environment and create a sustainable solution to waste. Upcycling is making trash valuable A backpack made of Snickers packaging has more value than the original packaging, once the product inside is gone. „Once the packaging has served its purpose and the candy has been safely delivered to a hungry consumer, the packaging is usually discarded, because it is not believed to have any value. At TerraCycle we find value in packaging as-is and can reuse it in almost its original state,“ said Stacey Krauss.

Some of us are feeling a tad guilty about eating the kids' Halloween treats. Well, here's a way to atone -- we can recycle all those candy wrappers through an ongoing partnership between Mars candy and the eco-friendly company TerraCycle. "It's a free collection program for all kinds of candy wrappers, regardless of brands, regardless of type," said TerraCycle public relations manager Stacey Krauss. In a phone interview, Krauss told us how easy it is to help both the planet and the charity of your choice by joining the "candy wrapper brigade." Simply sign up on the TerraCycle website and designate which nonprofit you would like to receive the funds or points earned.