A new workplace "docu-comedy" following the leadership team at TerraCycle will air on Pivot TV next month. "Basically, it's an unscripted, Millennial's version of 'The Office' but where the water cooler trash talk revolves around talking about actual trash," writes Matt Hickman.

By combining our strengths, TerraCycle, RAA and Pivot TV will bring more awareness to reshaping recycling and bettering the environment. Although this is only one partnership hoping to better the environment, it is still better than no initiative at all. After all, it takes a planet to save a planet, and you always have to start somewhere.

According to the latest census, there are roughly three times as many reality TV shows as there are people, so pretty much every job you could possibly imagine has a show. There are shows about the high stakes of baking; programs devoted to the thrilling world of long-haultrucking (which somehow has not had a single episode about meth); series on goldfish caretaking; heck, every other gun shop inAmerica has a show (which is a lot of gun shops). Toddlers in tiaras have their own show as do toddlers who used to wear tiaras. But the reality TV field has been sorely lacking on the green front … until now. Pivot TV is launching Human Resources based on the wacky crew atTerraCycle, a New Jersey-based upcycling company. Breaking into the world of reality TV may seem like a specious victory for the green movement, but it’s a step. So much media portrays environmentalists as fringey weirdos who knit their own formal wear out of svagnum orawkward nerds so in love with ferns they are no longer capable of normal human relationships. It’s nice to see some of our kind given the good old-fashioned reality TV treatment. There are reasons to believe the show will be awesome: One is this beard, which Pivot had the sense to put on TV. So the show is in good hands. And while reality TV can be pretty formulaic, TerraCycle is used to turning old crap into valuable stuff, so maybe they can work their magic with TV. Human Resources premieres on Aug. 8 at 10 p.m. ET on Pivot.

According to the latest census, there are roughly three times as many reality TV shows as there are people, so pretty much every job you could possibly imagine has a show. There are shows about the high stakes of baking; programs devoted to the thrilling world of long-haultrucking (which somehow has not had a single episode about meth); series on goldfish caretaking; heck, every other gun shop inAmerica has a show (which is a lot of gun shops). Toddlers in tiaras have their own show as do toddlers who used to wear tiaras. But the reality TV field has been sorely lacking on the green front … until now. Pivot TV is launching Human Resources based on the wacky crew atTerraCycle, a New Jersey-based upcycling company. Breaking into the world of reality TV may seem like a specious victory for the green movement, but it’s a step. So much media portrays environmentalists as fringey weirdos who knit their own formal wear out of svagnum orawkward nerds so in love with ferns they are no longer capable of normal human relationships. It’s nice to see some of our kind given the good old-fashioned reality TV treatment. There are reasons to believe the show will be awesome: One is this beard, which Pivot had the sense to put on TV. So the show is in good hands. And while reality TV can be pretty formulaic, TerraCycle is used to turning old crap into valuable stuff, so maybe they can work their magic with TV. Human Resources premieres on Aug. 8 at 10 p.m. ET on Pivot.

Recycle Across America® (RAA), a nonprofit that has developed the first and only society-wide standardized labeling system for recycling bins to help eliminate the public confusion surrounding recycling, has joined forces with Participant Media on a social action campaign called Recycle Right!, focused on transforming recycling and improving the economics and prevalence of sustainable packaging and manufacturing. The campaign is inspired by Participant’s new show “Human Resources,” a reality series following the daily operations and challenges of TerraCycle as it sets out to eliminate waste on a global scale, which premieres August 8 on its television network Pivot.The Recycle Right! campaign offers informational videos, tips and practical solutions – such as standardized recycling labels — to help everyone, well, recycle right and increase the amount of quality raw, recycled materials available to be used by manufacturers looking to lessen their environmental footprint. “We can’t sit idle knowing that millions of tons of valuable recyclable materials, which are easy to convert into new products and packaging, are going to waste every year. Which one of us wants to throw billions of dollars and our environmental wellbeing into landfills? That’s what we’re doing if we’re not recycling right,” said TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. “We’re thrilled to join forces with Participant Media and Recycle Across America to fix the dysfunction of recycling and move the needle toward progress. And we can’t wait for audiences to watch ‘Human Resources’ to see inside our world at TerraCycle, where every day we’re proving that even the most undesirable and traditionally non-recyclable materials can have a new purpose and can be valuable.” Historically there have been thousands of different labels on public area recycling bins, causing confusion and resulting in tons of garbage being thrown in recycling bins each day. A key component of the campaign is expanding the use of standardized recycling labels to help eliminate confusion at the bins and empowering everyone to ‘recycle right.’ The campaign aims to double the amount of standardized labels being used by the end of the year to one million. Use of the standardized labels on recycling bins has been shown to:

• Increase recycling levels by more than 50 percent and significantly reduce the amount of trash thrown in recycling bins.
• Help ensure a consistent quality and quantity of recycled materials, helping keep the cost of recycled raw materials competitive with virgin materials.

“We are incredibly excited to work with two of the most predominant leaders of change in their industries, Participant Media and TerraCycle,” said RAA executive director, Mitch Hedlund. “Worldwide waste is expected to double by 2025 and with the US being the largest producer of waste in the world, it is imperative that we address this issue today. “We need to remind ourselves that it’s not just waste that’s doubling; it’s the use of finite natural resources and generation of excessive CO2 that will also double,” Hedlund continued. “This is why we’re thrilled to work with these companies to advance the use of the standardized labels. It’s a deceivingly simple solution that creates exponential progress — and I think we’re all ready for some progress!” Chad Boettcher, EVP of Social Action and Advocacy at Participant Media said: “We know that recycling is the most important action we can do to improve the environment yet the percentage of valuable materials being recycled has not improved much over the past 17 years. We are eager to work with Recycle Across America and TerraCycle to spread awareness on such a tangible and easy step we can all take in improving the health of our world environmentally and economically.” Today approximately half a million of RAA’s standardized labels are in use throughout the US, Canada and Europe labels by a host of industry leaders and at a variety of locations, such as: NBCUniversal; Hallmark; Kohler; Walt Disney World employee areas; Procter & Gamble manufacturing facilities; SanDisk; AOL; 2,000 US K-12 schools — including all the public schools in Washington, DC; universities including University of Denver, George Mason University and Johns Hopkins University; and thousands of other adopters. RAA and Participant Media aim to continue to expand this reach through Recycle Right!  Efforts to understand and eliminate the confusion around recycling in order to make it the norm is right up there with understanding and eliminating the gap between attitudes and behaviors (and sometimes related), and studies, labeling schemes and campaigns continue to abound.

Recycle Across America (RAA) has joined forces with Participant Media to launch a social action campaign focused on transforming recycling and improving the economics and prevalence of sustainable packaging and manufacturing. The campaign is inspired by Participant’s new show “Human Resources,” premiering Aug. 8 on its television network Pivot. “Human Resources” follows TerraCycle, a company whose mission is to eliminate waste on a global scale. The Recycle Right! campaign offers informational videos, tips and practical solutions — such as standardized recycling labels — to increase the amount of quality raw recycled materials available to be used by manufacturers looking to lessen their environmental footprint. The partners say use of the standardized labels on recycling bins have shown to:

• Increase recycling levels by more than 50 percent and significantly reduces the amount of trash thrown in recycling bins.
• Help ensure a consistent quality and quantity of recycled materials. This helps keep the cost of recycled raw materials competitive with virgin materials.

Many industry leaders have already begun using the labels on their bins, such as: NBCUniversal, Hallmark, Kohler, Walt Disney World employee areas, Procter & Gamble manufacturing, SanDisk, AOL, 2,000 US K-12 schools — including all the public schools in Washington DC, many universities including University of Denver, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University and thousands of other adopters. Today approximately half a million of RAA’s standardized labels are in use throughout the US, Canada and Europe. In April Terracycle began marketing its Zero Waste Box programto factory managers in a bid to encourage employees to recycle items commonly used on factory floors, including ear plugs and hair nets.

Recycle Across America has joined with Participant Media and TerraCycle to launch a social action campaign focused on transforming recycling and improving the economics and prevalence of sustainable packaging and manufacturing. A key component of the campaign is expanding the use of standardized recycling labels to help eliminate confusion at the bins and empowering everyone to "recycle right." The campaign aims to double the amount of standardized labels being used by the end of the year to 1 million. For more, click here.   The Recycling Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization closely associated with the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), is currently accepting applications for both the National Scholarship and the Veterans' Stipend Program. The application deadline for both opportunities is July 1. Find more information here.   Lake City, South Carolina-based ICE Recycling has been acquired by Leigh Delaware Holdings, an affiliate of Wellford, South Carolina's Leigh Fibers. Founded in 2008 by Larry T. Gay Jr., ICE reprocesses post-industrial polymers, cardboard, paper and metals. Gay will continue to lead ICE business. Read more on the deal here.

“Content Marketing” was a major buzzword among marketers in 2013, and its importance continues to grow in 2014. At TerraCycle—a pioneering recycling startup with limited marketing budgets—“we learned long ago that it was far more valuable to get paid to create the content than to pay to sponsor other’s content,” says Albe Zakes, Global Vice-President, Communications. In a recent presentation, Zakes outlined TerraCycle’s content-marketing philosophy and approach.

   

 

To get started with content marketing, it is vital to identify the core audiences you are trying to reach and determine what engages them. Then, you have to identify what type of content to deliver and what learning or outcome you want to create for the audience.

   

The content produced and distributed will in part define your brand. It is important to ask yourself, “What makes my brand interesting and what will make people want to share my story?” By doing so, you start the process of creating a brand story. Look to your employees, your business model, your supply chain and your consumers themselves for ideas of what story to begin telling.

 

 

If you want your content to have impact and reach you require, keep it relevant. Look beyond your own story to your industry at large or general news that relates to your brand. How? Follow industry groups, influential journalists and professional associations; create Google Alerts or RSS feeds for keywords; and watch social media threads that parallel your company.

     

TerraCycle began our journey into content marketing unexpectedly. After placing numerous stories in a major small-business magazine, we were told by an editor they simply couldn’t cover our story any longer without seeming biased. In response, we offered to start writing a non-promotional guest blog—an offer they gladly accepted. We then quickly began to approach media focused on other subjects with a similar offer.

To help sweeten the deal, we told these editors or website managers not only would we provide content, but also promote every post on our website, social networks and in our newsletter. For an online/web editor this means more traffic, more clicks and thus more revenue. The results speak for themselves. Within two years, TerraCycle was regularly blogging for Treehugger, The New York Times, Huffington Post and trade publications like Packaging Digest and Industry Intelligence. Combined, these outlets have greatly contributed to the growth of our reach, awareness and expert profile.

- See more at: http://partners.decisionbriefs.com/content-marketing-strategies/article/the-brand-perspective-how-terracycle-innovated-content-marketing/#sthash.14b150xE.dpuf

Recycle Across America® (RAA) has joined forces with Participant Media to launch a social action campaign focused on transforming recycling and improving the economics and prevalence of sustainable packaging and manufacturing. The campaign, unveiled at the European Union’s Environmental Summit by RAA’s founder Mitch Hedlund, is inspired by Participant’s new show “Human Resources,” premiering August 8, 2014 on its television network Pivot. “Human Resources” follows the non-stop, deadline-driven world of TerraCycle, a company whose mission is to eliminate waste on a global scale. The Recycle Right! campaign offers informational videos, tips and practical solutions – such as standardized recycling labels – to help everyone recycle right and increase the amount of quality raw recycled materials available to be used by manufacturers looking to lessen their environmental footprint. “We can’t sit idle knowing that millions of tons of valuable recyclable materials, which are easy to convert into new products and packaging, are going to waste every year.  Which one of us wants to throw billions of dollars and our environmental wellbeing into landfills?  That’s what we’re doing if we’re not recycling right,” says Tom Szaky, CEO, TerraCycle. “We’re thrilled to join forces with Participant Media and Recycle Across America to fix the dysfunction of recycling and move the needle toward progress. And we can’t wait for audiences to watch ‘Human Resources’ to see inside our world at TerraCycle where every day we’re proving that even the most undesirable and traditionally non-recyclable materials can have a new purpose and can be valuable.” Historically there have been thousands of different looking labels on public area recycling bins causing confusion and resulting in tons of garbage being thrown in recycling bins each day. A key component of the campaign is expanding the use of standardized recycling labels to help eliminate confusion at the bins and empowering everyone to recycle right. The campaign aims to double the amount of standardized labels being used by the end of the year to one million. Use of the standardized labels on recycling bins have shown to: ·       Increase recycling levels by more than 50 percent and significantly reduces the amount of trash thrown in recycling bins. ·       Help ensure a consistent quality and quantity of recycled materials. This helps keep the cost of recycled raw materials competitive with virgin materials. “We are incredibly excited to work with two of the most predominant leaders of change in their industries, Participant Media and TerraCycle! Worldwide waste is expected to double by 2025 and with the United States being the largest producer of waste in the world, it is imperative that we address this issue today,” RAA executive director, Mitch Hedlund explains. “We need to remind ourselves that it’s not just waste that’s doubling; it’s the use of finite natural resources and generation of excessive CO2 that will also double. This is why we're thrilled to work with these companies to advance the use of the standardized labels. It's a deceivingly simple solution that creates exponential progress - and I think we're all ready for some progress!" Chad Boettcher, EVP of Social Action and Advocacy at Participant Media, says, “We know that recycling is the most important action we can do to improve the environment yet the percentage of valuable materials being recycled has not improved much over the past 17 years,” Boettcher continues, “We are eager to work with Recycle Across America and TerraCycle to spread awareness on such a tangible and easy step we can all take in improving the health of our world environmentally and economically.” Many industry leaders have already begun using the labels on their bins, such as: NBCUniversal, Hallmark, Kohler, Walt Disney World employee areas, Procter & Gamble manufacturing, SanDisk, AOL, two thousand U.S. K-12 schools – including all the public schools in Washington DC, many universities including University of Denver, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University, and thousands of other adopters. Today approximately half a million of RAA’s standardized labels are in use throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. The RAA and Participant Media through Recycle Right! will continue this effort. For more information on Recycle Right!, please visit www.takepart.com/HumanResources