Which brings us to garbage. Albe Zakes – VP at Terracycle, told us how they have grown from a 2-man dorm room operation to a global phenomenon that collects and repurposes waste in 15 countries on 4 continents. Repurposing brand waste has become the real focus... repurpose and reuse being the key words. TerraCycle has changed the debate on brand responsibility. They realized every brand has a waste issue, most all their packaging is non recyclable and brands are not stepping up to deal with it. They pitched brands that spend millions on this packaging and branding to reuse their brand packaging and avoid the pollution of landfills and incineration. It is catching on. Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, Mars, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oreal Coca Cola and others have signed up and created partnerships.

Which brings us to garbage. Albe Zakes – VP at Terracycle, told us how they have grown from a 2-man dorm room operation to a global phenomenon that collects and repurposes waste in 15 countries on 4 continents. Repurposing brand waste has become the real focus... repurpose and reuse being the key words. TerraCycle has changed the debate on brand responsibility. They realized every brand has a waste issue, most all their packaging is non recyclable and brands are not stepping up to deal with it. They pitched brands that spend millions on this packaging and branding to reuse their brand packaging and avoid the pollution of landfills and incineration. It is catching on. Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, Mars, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oreal Coca Cola and others have signed up and created partnerships.

In addition to "upcycling," or directly reusing materials to create new ones, TerraCycle also grinds and reprocesses items like pens and glue bottles into plastic lumber, trash cans, watering cans and planting pots. "Take a walk around your local supermarket," suggests Albe Zakes, director of publicity for TerraCycle. "A vast majority of the consumer packaging that you're going to find is non-recyclable." He starts to list products: candy wrappers, chip bags, drink pouches, pens, glue bottles, tape dispensers ... And it becomes obvious that this guy has thought a lot about trash.

Students at a Michigan elementary school are raising money for their school, while keeping hard-to-recycle materials out of the waste stream. It’s called “upcycling” and at West Ottawa’s Pine Creek Elementary School, it’s becoming part of the school’s culture. “One of our focuses is incorporating environmental education into our curriculum and raise kids’ awareness,” said Principal Dave Gough. “We wanted to think about how we can problem solve and have a positive impact at the same time.” The school’s efforts are run through TerraCycle, a company that finds new uses for trash, turning otherwise unusable waste into things like coolers, picture frames and cleaning supplies. Students, teachers and staff members collect things like food wrappers and juice boxes and turn them over to TerraCycle, which transforms them into other, usable items.

Otsego Baptist Academy is one of nine area elementary schools bringing green into the fall and winter by participating in programs from TerraCycle, a recycling and upcycling company. TerraCycle offers eco-friendly, upcycled and recycled lunchboxes as well as a way to earn money by collecting nonrecyclable food packaging for cookies, chips and juice pouches. In addition, TerraCycle offers lunchboxes made from the wrappers that students have collected, showing students the recycling and upcycling processes in action. Olivet’s expandable cooler, sold at Walmart, has a removable hardliner made from recycled chip bags, while the Capri Sun lunchboxes are crafted from the juice pouches.

TerraCycle and Partners Provide Upcycled Costume Ideas and Free Collection Programs for Halloween Trash Halloween is one of the best times of the year for creative people as they set out to make their own eye-catching costumes and bags. Halloween lovers can now create costumes out of used candy wrappers and other non-recyclable packaging commonly found this time of year, all thanks to TerraCycle’s do-it-yourself costume ideas. Then, after Halloween, families can send their candy wrappers back to TerraCycle (for free!) and earn money for a local charity or school.

TerraCycle and Partners Provide Upcycled Costume Ideas and Free Collection Programs for Halloween Trash Halloween is one of the best times of the year for creative people as they set out to make their own eye-catching costumes and bags. Halloween lovers can now create costumes out of used candy wrappers and other non-recyclable packaging commonly found this time of year, all thanks to TerraCycle’s do-it-yourself costume ideas. Then, after Halloween, families can send their candy wrappers back to TerraCycle (for free!) and earn money for a local charity or school.

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — Some schools are finding cash in an unlikely place: Students’ lunch boxes. A handful of Genesee County schools have supplemented in-school recycling efforts by teaming up with TerraCycle, a New Jersey company that pays them for reusable and recyclable materials like empty juice pouches and potato chip bags.