Our editors share what’s captured their attention this month. Fodor’s Faves is a new monthly column where our editors, writers, and staff share their current obsessions. From hotels and restaurants to books and products, these are the places and things we can’t stop thinking about.     1 OF 10

A Design-y Desert Retreat

  I love New York City, but lately, I find myself yearning for desert. Maybe it’s pre-Spring angst or just my current lack of heat and starry skies, but I’m craving—very specifically—a terracotta-and-beehive-fireplace-filled desert retreat and the company of spiny succulents who pose their alien, organic shapes against endless starry skies and low-hung moons. Meanwhile, I am acting like a middle-finger-shaped cactus, needling New Yorkers who dare bump against me on the subway.   Yes, I need some desert in my life and I’m swooning over Posada, the Tucson, Arizona rental from the design duo behind The Joshua Treehouse. I follow The Joshua Treehouse on Instagram and obsessively pin their bohemian, desert-chic Airbnb interiors to both my “Weekend House Inspiration” and “You Deserve This” collection boards (yes, I practice both manifestation and affirmation while Insta-scrolling.) Sara and Rich Combs became Insta-famous with their rustic-but-luxe Joshua Treehouse properties in the Mojave Desert but I’m really feeling their most recent oasis in the Sonoran Desert. Nestled into a canyon next to Saguaro National Park, Posada is a five-suite inn set on 38 acres of Saguaro cacti, native plants, and an abundance of wildlife. The vibes are warm and inviting, with carefully designed spaces decorated in neutral tones and natural textures to meld with the incredible surrounding landscape. This incredible retreat is designed to cater to larger groups, but I am daydreaming of escaping my overcrowded subway car to enjoy the canyon pool, large fire pit, and panoramic rooftop views of the desert all by myself.   —Jacinta O'Halloran     2 OF 10

A Next Level Cocktail Bar

  Accomplice Bar, located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Mar Vista, makes cocktails that are so delicious and so unlike anything else, you’ll forever struggle to justify ponying up $16 for a signature drink that’s basically a regular old fashioned with, like, a sprig of rosemary tossed on top. Order up a Honduran Hurricane (a fruity tiki-type drink with “the tropical notes in coffee”) or a Creme de Rand (made with Japanese whiskey, mango, creme de banane, and cardamom) while sharing some squid ink xiao long bao and braised pork belly from the Taiwanese comfort food restaurant, Little Fatty, which shares the space with Accomplice.   —Chantel Delulio   3 OF 10

These Koalas in Australia That Can Use Your Help

  From September of last year until just last month, Australia suffered through a series of devastating bushfires, all amounting to one of the worst wildfire seasons in their history. By the time the fires were finally extinguished, more than 44 million acres burned (a landmass more than twice the size of Austria), 34 lost their lives, and an estimated 1 billion animals perished. And, Australia needs our help to recover.   One of the easiest ways to help is to get on a plane and take a vacation to Australia—they really can use your tourism dollars. But you can help even without leaving your home, which brings us to my fave of the month: the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital koala adoption program. From the comfort of your couch, you can adopt one of the 18 koalas currently housed at the hospital—it only costs $40 AUD (about $26) and you’ll get an e-certificate that you can print out and frame (I’ve got mine on my desk).   I adopted a little fella named Paul (you can also e-adopt him if you like). Paul was found at the Lake Innes Nature Reserve, where a volunteer found him “curled up on the burnt ground.” He had burns on his hands and feet and 90% of his body was singed. But, there’s good news! He’s currently doing very well in the rehab yard. He’s expected to be able to climb again within the month and, if all goes well, he’ll be released into the wild in the winter.   In addition to the Koala Hospital, there are a number of other places you can donate to help the koalas, including the Koala Clancy Foundation and the Taronga Conservation Society of Australia. Zoos South Australia and Zoos Victoria have also both set up bushfire recovery donations efforts. And the Australian Koala Foundation and the World Wildlife Foundation both have adopt-a-koala programs.   —Jeremy Tarr   4 OF 10

A Different Kind of All-Inclusive Resort

  I just returned from a trip to Palmaia in Mexico’s Riviera Maya, the capital of cheesy all-inclusives. But Palamia is different: It’s a brand-new resort with a truly unique concept that’s a mashup between a luxury all-inclusive hotel and a boutique wellness resort. There’s yoga, meditation, an in-house astrologer, sunset ceremonies on the beach, and a shaman that leads groups through a cleansing ritual in the temazcal. At night there’s cocktails and dancing to DJ sets so you can retox before the next day’s detox. It’s kind of like a giant bacchanalian festival at a chic rehab in the jungle. I can’t wait to go back.   —Teddy Minford     5 OF 10

The Perfect All-Natural Moisturizer for Dry Skin

  For years I have been looking for the perfect moisturizer for my dry skin–I tried thick expensive balms and many hyaluronic acids. While all of these worked fine, the results were not impressive enough to dignify the price tag, nor did they tend to hold up as well when dry winter-weather came around. After spending hours reading article after article and tons of reviews, the one name that kept coming up was Weleda. The company’s Skin Food was being celebrated by makeup artists, skin-care fanatics, and was even on Victoria Beckham’s top-shelf.   The reviews held up, and my skin went from dull and patchy to soft and glowing (you can toss your highlighters because you won’t need them anymore). The price is unbeatable (less than $15), and a little bit goes a long way. Where I had been slathering my skin in other products and running through the tubs quicker than I could afford, this cheap little tube lasts me about four months. It is perfect for morning or night, for tired travel skin (I keep this in my carry on and right at landing rinse my face to add a fresh new layer), and seasonably dry skin. Bonus: The company is working to reduce its carbon footprint by partnering with TerraCycle to make recycling the bottles even easier.   —Kaelin Dodge   6 OF 10

Dinner at the Versace Mansion

  My latest Netflix binge, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, recently inspired a memorable dinner on South Beach. The iconic Villa Casa Casuarina (aka Gianni Versace’s home from 1992 until his death on its steps in 1997) was star of the show—so I was excited to learn you can actually eat and sleep there. While normally I wouldn’t touch most of Ocean Drive with a ten-foot pole, I had to go for the experience of it all—to see the historic 1930s mansion, to walk where Versace walked, and to snap a photo at the show-stopping tiled pool. And it didn’t disappoint: The multi-color light display is mesmerizing. The setting is opulent. The Italian-Mediterranean food is good (not the best in Miami, but worth the price, considering Miami Beach basically invented overpriced food). And it’s not at all the tourist-shuffling nightmare it could be, probably because many people don’t know you can dine here without booking a room. You have to book in advance, but it’s simple to snag a lunch or dinner reservation on OpenTable. If you want to spend less than $100, split the charcuterie board with friends then order truffle gnocchi and a glass of wine, or if you want to splurge like you’re a fashion designer, order the caviar and Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Go early and look the part to snag the table front and center next to the pool. Wherever you’re seated, this is a great introduction to the ostentation of Miami.   —Kayla Becker   7 OF 10

A Rave in a Cave

  When most people think of Wales, they tend to think of it as an extension of England: quaint villages, rolling hills, charming seaside towns with fish-and-chip shops. But Welsh culture is actually quite distinctive in a million different ways and recently the country has been making an effort to stand out for its adventure tourism, an initiative that I am now declaring a raging success.   The key has been reimaging some of the region’s many former industrial sites, turning them into adventure parks, glamping sites, and even self-contained surf spots.  Ziplining, in particular, is having a moment, with Zip World now offering the world’s fastest and highest (and Europe’s longest) zipline along with several zipline paths within slate caverns and quarries. For many years, Wales was one of the world’s biggest slate producers and as the industry declined, the country was left with an abundance of hollowed-out caves that fell into disuse. The perfect solution? Add a trampoline and some ’80s and ’90s dance music, and you get Bounce Below, another Zip World invention, where guests can enjoy a few hours on a trampoline adventure course within a former slate cavern, accompanied by the perfect soundtrack. It’s where I want to spend every birthday party for the rest of my life.   —Amanda Sadlowski     8 OF 10

A Movie-Going Experience You Won't Soon Forget

  The Alamo Drafthouse, which arrived in Los Angeles just last year, is, frankly, awesome. From a movie-lover’s perspective (mine), it’s an oasis/es—there are 41 theaters across the country—complete with leather recliners, gourmet-style meals, and, at select locations, onsite DVD rental stores with thousands of titles. The theater(s) also regularly serves up retrospectives presented by respected filmmakers and special showings, like the consistently-sold out “Cats Rowdy Screening.” And, good news for you, the company just announced that it will be offering a subscription service called “Season Pass,” which allows customers access to one movie per day for the low price of up to $29 per month, depending upon the location. I say “low” because a standard ticket price is around $18.   —Jesse Tabit   9 OF 10

This Uber-Hydrating Face Serum

  The act of travel, in general, can be extremely dehydrating (planes!) and being in a new climate can make your skin freak out a little bit. This is why I will not travel–or live, generally–without the Hydro-Plumping Re-Texturizing Serum Concentrate by Kiehl’s. It’s described as “an efficacious hydrating serum that helps moisturize, plump and smooth skin,” and let me tell you what, that is exactly what it is, in addition to being Generally The Best Thing I’ve Ever Bought. The serum hydrates with intensity, and makes the skin on my face go from “looking like wood” to “looking like regular human skin again.” If you are feeling seriously dehydrated like I am 100% of the time while traveling, first of all, drink some water, and second of all, put this serum on your dry little face and enjoy your vacation time. Is it pricey? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes. And frankly, NOTHING–not one thing–is worth $60 to me, regularly, so you legally have to believe me.   —Audrey Farnsworth   10 OF 10

This Summer Camp-Themed Music Festival

  I’m semi-obsessed with a music collective based in Brooklyn called The Wild Honey Pie. Once a month they host very dreamy three-course dinner parties in cozy restaurants throughout New York, LA, and Austin, each with live music ($50 covers dinner and unlimited drinks). And not just any live music: some of the best and coolest indie musicians in the scene. This Memorial Day Weekend they are bringing their music festival/adult summer camp Welcome Campers back to Camp Lenox in Otis, Massachusetts, in the quintessentially quaint and scenic Berkshires (where I happen to be from). It lasts for two days and three nights, accommodating around 400 attendees. Guests stay in shared bunks (just like real summer camp!), listen to live music in the woods, do yoga, dine, and play games. Tickets start at $300 and cover food, drinks, and lodging, and the chance to revisit your youth if only for a weekend. Performing this year will be Vagabon, Sasami, Haley Heynderickx, Salt Cathedral, Jennah Bell, and many more. Check out one of last year’s performances at Welcome Campers here to get a sense of what you can expect. Transportation will be available by bus to and from McCarren Park in Brooklyn for $75 round trip.   —Rachael Roth

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WJMN) — Michigan Tech University’s Sustainability Demonstration House is hosting Keweenaw’s first waste reduction drive to kick off Earth Week 2020.   The primary goal of this campaign is to educate students and the public on how to recycle efficiently and what you should not be putting in your recycling bins.   “Something common that we see is people will recycle, but they actually will be recycling all wrong. Some big things that we see are people are not cleaning out their, jars, their cans, their boxes, their plastic containers before putting them into the recycling and if you have a small amount of food waste in a load of recycling, it will contaminate the entire load,” said Rose Turner, MTU Sustainability Demonstration House Coordinator.   With this drive, the Sustainability Demonstration House is asking the local community to save five items that cannot be recycled in the Houghton curbside recycling.   Those five items are batteries, any plastic bag with a number on it, egg cartons, plastic bottle rings & caps, and granola bar wrappers.   “So granola bar wrappers can’t typically be recycled anywhere at any curbside location in the country, just because their foil-lined, their plasticity, their using a unique material, so we found a company called TerraCycle, who will recycle these granola bars and convert them into a hard plastic that can be used for manufacturing,” said Turner.   The Waste reduction team is hoping that the community will realize how many resources are being wasted or un-utilized daily.   “Waste is something that’s in our culture right now because it’s so easy to buy something and throw it away,” said Tristan Tarsa, Tenant, MTU Sustainability Demonstration House.   “You don’t think of that material having to be produced that once it’s thrown away, it’s no longer useable, that you need to produce more of that material and when you are buying one thing at a time and throwing it away, it’s easy to think ‘oh, it’s not that much and not making a difference’. I think a big thing that this drive will do is when you see it all together, you’ll see how much volume of materials is produced and that’s just people bringing it to the drive-in our area. You start to realize how much potential is there and material and energy usage and just efficiency overall,” said Tarsa.   The Waste Reduction Drive will be held on Saturday, April 18th from 9 am to 5 pm at Fischer Hall on the Michigan Tech Campus.   For more information on the Michigan Tech University Sustainability Demonstration House, click here.   If you would like to participate in the Keweenaw’s First Waste Reduction Drive, click here.

Hunting for the next Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) doesn’t necessarily mean you’re searching for the next big consumer tech explosion. “The next Amazon” largely means finding the next high-growth stock of the future. And the earlier you invest in these companies, the bigger the gains. Few options can beat privately traded firms in this regard, but private investing has historically held a high barrier to entry.       Does your net worth exceed $1 million (not including your primary residence)? Do you make more than $200,000 per year ($300,000 if you file taxes jointly with your spouse)? If you do, congratulations! You’re an accredited investor and can invest in private businesses.   If not, don’t fret. You can still invest in privately traded companies through equity crowdfunding … but, boy, if there were ever an area of the market that felt as if it were pioneered by the likes of Saul Goodman, it’s regulation crowdfunding.   That’s because regulation crowdfunding stipulates that firms raise no more than $1.07 million … per year. This severely hampers the quality of offerings, as few startups worth investing in need such small amounts of cash. Regulation A+ offerings, though, can raise substantially more. So when looking through offerings, I stuck to swiping through companies in the latter category … and I stumbled on an anomaly in TerraCycle.   Now I’m sure many of you have heard of this company in passing before, but what caught my eye was the amount it’s raised ($12 million) and the revenue it already brings in ($20 million in 2018).   By the end of its funding round, TerraCycle hopes to raise $25 million. Just what is this company that I’ve never heard of and how is it that it’s already profitable. And why does it continue to attract so much cash from everyday people?  

What Is TerraCyle?

  TerraCycle’s main concept is “recycle everything.” With that, you can tell it’s not your ordinary recycling business. TerraCycle springboards off of the sustainability trend, making #RecycleEverything a creed to live by, and not simply a corporate motto.   The firm wants to eliminate the idea of waste, which it does by recycling things that were previously un-recyclable. It can recycle waste such as your red wine-stained corks, crooked cigarette butts, dirty diapers and even your acid-leaking batteries.   By this measure alone, TerraCyle’s claim is a godsend if it actually does what it says.   Per-capita solid waste generation has grown tremendously in the decades since 1960, until it trended sideways nearing the early aughts. In the 1960s, the average individual produced 2.68 pounds of waste per day. But by the 1990s, a person could expect to create 4.57 pounds of trash each day.     Household waste consists of (typically) paper and other paper-made materials, such as packaging (think of all those Amazon packages you discard each week). Sure, paper is recyclable, but tell that to the landfills that play host to 17.6 million tons of paper in a year. With that kind of waste, it’s no surprise the global waste management market is expected to increase 60% by 2025.   Its mission to erase waste and transform previously land-filled goods into new materials is a value proposition both consumers and corporations can get behind. But TerraCycle still has to do the legwork of winning over consumers with its promise of sustainability.  

What Does TerraCycle Do?

  TerraCycle works by offering free recycling programs across the globe and in partnership with many large companies. Some of its partner brands include Arm & Hammer, Barilla, Bausch + Lomb, Brita, Colgate and Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS). Here’s how it works:   Customers simply search for a recycling program that match their lifestyle, and those of their community members, and sign up. Say you sign up for its Brita recycling program (free of charge). You can start collecting Brita filters, pitchers, bottles and more in your home, school or office. Some brands even provide reward points for participating.   Once you’ve collected at least 5 pounds (the amount necessary to keep down greenhouse gas emissions), you ship your package to TerraCycle. The company then separates the products by composition and makes new recycled products out of them.   TerraCycle’s unique methods yield some fantastic results. Through upcycling, the company has sewn juice pouches together to create book bags. It’s even able to make casual shoes out of used chip bags. When it comes to good ol’ fashioned recycling, the company claims to recycle more than 97% of the waste that comes through its doors. Through programs like its cigarette waste program, TerraCycle is able to collect tobacco from used cigarettes for future composting.   Further, the company’s Zero Waste Box platform skips the landfill and the incinerator to free communities of their single-use lifestyles. Through this program, participants can recycle pretty much anything with TerraCycle’s highly specific Waste Boxes. These are great for businesses, who can even house their Zero Waste platform inside a “permanent collection unit” right on their property.   It’s hard to believe this company started by selling a sustainable fertilizer made from worm poop.  

TerraCycle Loop

  Loop is the part of TerraCycle’s business that excites me the most. With Loop, consumers pay a small, refundable deposit for a Loop tote. This tote is chock-full of whatever brands’ items the consumer chooses, featuring things like Tide laundry detergent, Pantene shampoos, Gillette razors, Febreze and more, all made from sustainable materials.   Once you’ve finished using your items, simply leave the tote outside your door and schedule a free pickup. TerraCycle will clean, refill and return your desired products back to you in the same Loop tote. Talk about service.   The big challenge TerraCycle’s Loop faces is in getting people to buy into its vision for a sustainable future. Single-use materials are ingrained in society, and the worldwide history of plastic production and use shows the trend.   In the 1950s, plastic production worldwide was just 2 billion metric tons. By 2017, it soared 315% to 8.3 billion metric tons. And by 2050, it’s projected to hit 34 billion metric tons.   The amount of plastic waste, however, will fall out of step with production as wasted plastics are projected to rise from 6.3 billion metric tons in 2015 to 12 billion metric tons in 2050. The ratio of produced plastics to wasted plastics being far, far less in 2050 than presently.   But does this mean TerraCycle is a good investment?  

Is TerraCycle ‘The Next Amazon’?

  The world is changing its tune on climate risks, which portends good things for TerraCycle’s stock offering on StartEngine. A 2019 study found that 19% of respondents are “passionately” attempting to limit their use of one-time plastics and convince others. Another 32% are actively changing their daily plastic habits. Only 16% are unsure of, or don’t care about, single-use plastics.   While climate risk awareness isn’t growing at the pace most would like, it is growing. The 2020 election will be a huge determiner of whether that growth picks up in a meaningful way or stalls. President Donald Trump’s perspective on climate change is non-existent, but a President Bernie Sanders would do wonders for institutional policies on climate change.   Still, it’s not unusual to see other sustainability-first companies rocket into the headlines. Take Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) and its plant-based meat. BYND shares have popped some 50% in the past year, and that’s in spite of a steep drop from the late-July high.   Consumers are making it known that they want their companies to be more climate-minded, and now even investors aren’t afraid to vote with their wallets. In our InvestorPlace Q&A, Legal & General’s chief executive Nigel Wilson talked about L&G’s Climate Impact Pledge. This initiative aims to set more companies on a sustainable path by divesting from stocks whose leaders have not met L&G’s base guidelines for sustainability. Even companies like McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) have made climate-friendly bids to rid their restaurants of plastic straws and cups.   For TerraCycle to become the next great stock to invest in, it has to become the sustainable waste management company. Right now, it certainly has no peer.   John Kilhefner is the managing editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, Kilhefner did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned companies. If you have questions about the site or suggestions about our content, email us at editor@investorplace.com. Want to pitch us an article? Send your ideas and tips to investorplacestories@gmail.com, and if we like it, you’ll hear back from us!  

Have you ever thought about what happens to your used makeup remover wipes, your shampoo bottles and face washes once you’re done with them? Well, these pieces of garbage we stop thinking about after throwing them out end up in our oceans and landfills, just like the less pretty pieces of garbage we use. Waste doesn’t just impact our environment, but people too.   Worldwide¹, the cosmetics industry produces over 120 billion units of packaging. This is just taking into account the cardboard you purchase your beauty products in -- and it contributes to the loss of 18 million acres of forest each year. Cosmetic packaging may be nice to look at, but sooner or later we won’t have very fresh air to breathe and enjoy our products if we continue in this direction.

Here’s another stat² for you: Taking into consideration the plastic our products come in, it’s estimated that by 2050, 12 billion tons of plastic will fill our landfills (to paint a picture for you, that’s equivalent to 35,000 Empire State Buildings). According to the Community and Environmental Defense Services³, “landfills can… pose a severe threat to the health of area residents, lowers the value of nearby homes, pollute ground and surface waters, increase heavy truck traffic on local roads, and create a drain on tax dollars.”

So, even if you aren’t a tree-hugging hippy, as you can see, we have a bit of a problem.   What are us beauty lovers to do? Clearly, aesthetics are meaningful to us, otherwise, we wouldn’t care about pretty packaging, pretty vanities, and pretty skin. If you’re interested in knowing how you can do a little part amidst this big problem; through supporting eco-friendly cosmetic companies, to recycling your packaging for other uses, read on!   How to Reuse Packaging   1.Keep the mini bottle for travel Instead of trashing my mini body butters after using them, I clean them out and refill them with my bigger body butters for when I travel. This way I am using products I already have instead of purchasing more minis and saving on plastic!   2.Reuse the packaging you prefer Can you ever have enough spray bottles? For plants, for hair, to split up your favorite facial mist and have one handy in your purse and on your vanity. Instead of tossing that spritzer you really like, put some water in it and use it for your plants!   3.Samples Sometimes I don’t get to use cosmetic samples to their advantage because the little packets they come in are non-resealable. So, I squeeze them in my washed old cosmetic jars and get more use out of them!   Companies that Recycle Empty Beauty Products  

1. Most cosmetic companies only accept packaging from their brand, but some have gone above and beyond and accept packaging no matter the brand! Origins, for example, will accept packaging from any brand in its stores and will recycle the packaging for you.
2. In partnership with Garnier, TerraCycle allows people to ship their empty beauty products to them for free! Learn more about this program on their website.
3. Another brand, Lilah B., provides a shipping label with each purchase so that you can send back your empty Lilah B. products for them to recycle for you properly.
4. The Body Shop continues to make big plans for its packaging; making people as they relate to waste their primary focus. To read more about what they’ve done with Community Trade and what they plan on doing, check out their website!

  Ways You Can Help  

1. If you’re interested in going above and beyond, you can shop at brands like Elate Cosmetics, who create their packaging using bamboo. On their website, Elate says “bamboo is a self-regenerating natural resource,” making it more sustainable than other forms of woods. Bamboo can also be used for ecological purposes. Additionally, Elate bamboo palettes are reusable.
2. Instead of buying mini shampoos, conditioners, etc. opt for using a bar form of each! Yep, you can use bar soap face wash, shampoo, anything! This cuts back on waste through minimizing packaging (and is travel-friendly!). Several brands create bar products, such as Lush, The Body Shop , and even random brands on Amazon.

Amid increasing concerns about the public health risks associated with e-cigarettes and the rising problems with teen nicotine addiction from vaping, a new report suggests that the electronic devices are also leading to serious environmental concerns.   Vaping exposes users to toxic chemicals and extremely high nicotine delivery rates. Furthermore, e-cigarettes have been at the heart of the recent vaping lung illness outbreak, which lead to more than 2,800 reported injuries nationwide, including nearly 70 deaths.   In addition to the widespread health implications, e-cigarettes are now drawing concerns from environmental activists, as there is increasing evidence that they are contributing to electronic waste issues and fires at recycling facilities.   Not only can the nicotine residue and e-liquid cause environmental concerns in the nation’s oceans and water systems; but the lithium ion batteries can pose fire risks in recycling and waste facilities, according to a recent ABC News Report.   The Ocean Conservancy, an organization which conducts beach clean ups and runs the Trash Free Seas Program, recently reported that more and more e-cigarette products are appearing on the country’s beaches. While the primary type of trash is cigarette butts, the organization is cleaning up more and more vapes and other e-cigarette products.   The organization warned there may be a huge shift in an increase in e-cigarette trash in the coming years. However, e-cigarettes are relatively new products, so there is a lack of data on their likely environmental impact.   Currently, about 6.7 million adults indicate they regularly use e-cigarettes and more than 5 million high school students said they vape. In fact, vaping has become the most popular form of tobacco use among teens in the U.S. and more teens vape when candy-like flavors are used.   E-cigarettes are made of plastic, but they break down into smaller plastics which persist in the environment, experts say. An increase in the number of users has resulted in increases of plastic in the environment from vaping products, environmentalists warn.   Environmentalists are also concerned over the nicotine residue, liquid, and flavoring in vapes that can leach into the water supply and environment.   Furthermore, e-cigarettes are powered by lithium ion batteries, which experts say should be disposed of in a specific way to prevent environmental damage and to prevent fire risks at recycling and waste disposal centers.   E-cigarette manufacturers do not include recycling or waste information for vape products, and the recycling company Terra Cycle said a recycling program launched for e-cigarettes has not been successful. The devices and products simply are not designed with recycling and the environment in mind.   Beginning in May 2020, manufacturers will be required to submit the environmental impact information as part any the application to sell e-cigarettes made to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.   In addition, the National Stewardship Action Council is working on a bill in California to increase e-cigarette recycling rates by including recycling redemption values. Vaping manufacturer giant JUUL has also said it is increasing recycling and take back programs on vape products.  

JUUL Lawsuits

  JUUL already faces criminal investigations, federal regulatory crackdowns and lawsuits over its promotion of its JUUL vaping products.   In addition to designing JUUL to look like a USB thumb drive, the manufacturer also marketed and sold JUUL pods in various candy-like flavors, which has resulted in a large number of teens and prior non-smokers starting to vape, and developing addictions to the high levels of nicotine contained in the pods.   In September 2019, the FDA issued a warning letter to JUUL, indicating there was evidence it told school-aged children that its products were safer than cigarettes, which has not been proven.   A growing number of JUUL lawsuits and class action claims have been filed nationwide. Given similar questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, the JUUL litigation has been centralized before U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick III in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which is where JUUL Labs, Inc.’s San Francisco headquarters are located.   As JUUL addiction lawyers continue to review and file claims in the coming months, the litigation is expected to continue to grow, and is likely to encompass tens of thousands of complaints.

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Employees at Subaru of America can eat today's lunch at a table crafted from yesterday's trash. It might not happen overnight, but the environmental efforts at the nationwide headquarters have resulted in several benches and picnic tables completely made from recycled plastic. It's the result of a partnership with TerraCycle, a Trenton business that aims to eliminate the concept of waste. They take a creative approach by converting otherwise non-recyclable goods into art, such as a sturdy park bench. Since 2017, the duo has diverted over 3 million pieces of waste. That amounts to about 24,000 pounds of trash that would have otherwise been dumped in a landfill. The effort is spearheaded by Subaru's Love Promise initiative, which aims to promote positive change for the earth, caring, learning, and pets. Special recycling boxes are dotted around the Camden complex that encourage employees to recycle wrappers, cups, and more. These boxes are shipped to TerraCycle, where the magic happens. Subaru retailers across the country encourage customers to drop off qualified recyclable goods to contribute to the creation of benches and tables for the community. These amenities are donated to parks, schools, and more. For example, the public can recreate on recycled tables at Dudley Grange Park in Camden. Adjacent to Subaru's recycled picnic pavilion is their community garden, where employees grow produce to donate to local food banks. Anyone interested in learning more about how to create sustainable art from their own waste can reach out to Subaru or TerraCycle.  

  Parents are putting their babies’ dirty diapers in the mailbox — for the sake of the environment. Subscription-based baby-care company Dyper, which introduced their biodegrade bamboo diaper in 2018, has partnered with waste-management company TerraCycle to launch ReDyper, a mail-in diaper-composting service for all Dyper customers. Just store your baby’s soiled Dyper diapers until there’s enough to fill up the provided box — specially designed per the United Nations’ hazmat standards — then download and print a mailing label from their website and ship your crap, so to speak, to TerraCycle. Then, it’s off to various centralized composting facilities across the country.   It may sound like nasty business, but the alternative is much worse, says Dyper president Bruce Miller, who called diaper waste statistics “staggering,” as more than 20 billion diapers fill landfills in the US each year.   “I think this has been the Holy Grail for a lot of disposable diaper companies,” Miller tells The Post. “But no one at this point really has closed the loop” by commercializing the diaper-composting process.   Made primarily from bamboo and free of chlorine, perfumes, phthalates, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other unsustainable or potentially harmful materials, Dyper’s content manager Taylor Shearer tells The Post their diapers are “already technically compostable” — at least, for the customers who can manage the time- and space-consuming chore, or have access to a local composting facility. Their website also advises homesteaders to avoid composting diapers filled with fecal matter, to prevent the spread of bacteria and other pathogens.   Shearer explains that the new service is aimed at “customers that live in the cities [and] large apartment buildings that don’t have that access,” as well as those who hope to process baby’s poo, too.   Once TerraCycle receives the ReDyper box, the waste is routed to various regional composting operations, though Miller assures it will never be used to fertilize the food on your plate.   “The diapers [go] toward highway infrastructure vegetation,” he says. “If you see wildflowers growing in the median … that’s really where a majority of our composted product goes.”   Dyper’s diaper-delivery subscription starts at $68 per month and promises enough diapers depending on your baby’s size, between 100 and 260 pairs per week. An additional monthly cost of $39 is added for those opting in to ReDyper.   “We believe [the cost is] going to come down dramatically as we get more and more scaled,” Miller says. Still, he thinks their “passionate” customers are eager for it.   When it comes to minimizing human impact on the planet, says Miller, “people just want it to be easy.”

 

Schwarzkopf is the latest beauty brand to team up with TerraCycle on a large-scale recycling initiative. The Henkel-owned haircare giant has partnered with the waste management company to make its retail hair care, color and styling products recyclable across the US. The sustainability push will see shoppers invited to collect their empty packaging from Schwarzkopf products, and send them to TerraCycle. Empties will then be recycled and transformed into new products such as park benches, bike racks, pet food bowls and recycling bins.   "We’re proud that 100% of Schwarzkopf retail product packaging will now be recyclable," Manuela Emmrich, Marketing Director, Hair US, Henkel Beauty Care, said in a statement. "Through the TerraCycle / Schwarzkopf program, there is now a solution for hair product packaging that has historically been difficult to recycle, due to a myriad of curb-side recycling program requirements."       "The expansion of Henkel’s partnership with TerraCycle is an important part of Henkel’s commitment to a circular economy for plastic and sustainable packaging, and our target of ensuring 100 percent of our Beauty and Laundry & Home Care packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025," added Martina Spinatsch, Vice President, R&D, Beauty Care, Henkel North America.   Three different Schwarzkopf Recycling Programs have been established to deal with aerosols, hair coloration products and all other packaging, with individuals, schools, offices and community organizations all encouraged to participate. Collectors can be rewarded for their efforts by earning points that can be used for charity gifts or converted to cash and donated to the non-profit, school; or charitable organization of their choice.   Schwarzkopf is not the only beauty brand turning to TerraCycle to up its recycling game - Herbal Essences, Garnier USA and Gillette have all recently launched initiatives with the company.  

Every year, the All Ivy Environmental and Sustainability Career Fair helps to connect sustainability students from all over the northeast with potential employers offering job and internship opportunities. This year the fair drew 77 companies and governmental agencies and 810 students into a packed auditorium on February 28.   The career fair is hosted by Columbia’s Earth Institute and sponsored by Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Yale.   The annual extravaganza has been held for 17 years now — and it’s been growing in popularity, said Natalie Unwin-Kuruneri, associate director of education at the Earth Institute, whose office helps to organize the event.   “In recent years we have sold out weeks in advance and have had to maintain a waitlist of interested organizations,” said Unwin-Kuruneri. “These organizations come from the public, private and nonprofit sectors and are looking for top talent to fill open sustainability positions. Many employers return year after year to fill their hiring needs with our students and alumni.”   State of the Planet spoke with several recruiters who attended this year’s fair to get a handle on how careers in sustainability have been evolving over the past 10 years or so, and how they’ll continue changing with the times. Here are some of the key takeaways from those conversations.  

Careers in sustainability are growing in number and variety.

  Terracycle, a company that makes products out of items previously thought of as waste, such as cigarette butts, chewing gum, and toothpaste tubes, was at the career fair recruiting for a variety of positions — including sales, accounting, management, PR, marketing, and R&D. Liana Scobie, the company’s vice president of staff and administration, said that when she joined Terracycle eight years ago, “the landscape was a lot smaller back then. I think that, particularly with entry-level positions, there are a lot more today than there were in general.”   Scobie added that because there are so many people creating new businesses in sustainability, “there are just so many more avenues for people to work in sustainability than there were 10 years ago.”   It’s not just entry-level positions that are on the rise. One of the most notable changes in the field, said Unwin-Kuruneri, is “the inclusion of sustainability into the C-suite; 10 years ago, there were only a handful of people that held the title of chief sustainability officer. Now Columbia University alumnae are in these leadership roles at companies like JetBlue and Tiffany & Co, where they are responsible for setting corporate sustainability strategy.”   Teckla Persons, a recruiter for the Peace Corps, said that while the nonprofit’s volunteer opportunities are always shifting depending on the needs of each community, climate change has influenced the types of projects that volunteers work on in some areas. “Definitely that’s something that a lot of agriculture volunteers are working on, especially like in sub-Saharan Africa, where they’re experiencing heavy droughts,” she said. There, Peace Corps volunteers are helping subsistence farmers to develop farming techniques that require less water, and implementing other water conservation solutions.   Persons added that because of climate change, “there is a bigger need we’re seeing now for agriculture and sustainable development [positions].”   Shaun Hoyte graduated from Columbia University’s Sustainability Management program in 2016. Now he is a program manager at the utility ConEdison, where he helps customers reduce their electricity use, thereby lowering their bills while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strain in the grid. He was at the career fair recruiting for positions in marketing, research, program management, data analytics, and more within the energy efficiency and demand management department.   Hoyte said that back in 2013, many of his classmates had trouble finding jobs. “Now I see them all over the world, doing great things at amazing corporations.” One of his former classmates started an electric scooter company; another works at American Express; even Hoyte’s own director at ConEdison came out of Columbia’s Sustainability Management program. “We’re spreading like wildfire,” said Hoyte, “and we’re all willing and able to help each other.”  

The mainstreaming of sustainability is driving job growth.

  Hoyte said that “All over the place, companies that you wouldn’t think would be investing in sustainability initiatives are now focusing on sustainability, so that they can do right by the community and the environment, and also because there’s a lot of profitability in it…. There are jobs in finance, such as renewable energy finance. There are jobs in energy efficiency. There are jobs in sustainable fashion, sustainable wine. I think sustainability transcends across all business market segments.”   Malcolm Bliss is the vice president of partnerships at Common Energy, a company that connects electricity-users to nearby solar and wind projects, allowing homeowners and businesses to benefit from local renewable energy projects even if they can’t install their own. Bliss said that a few years ago, Common Energy would have been an anomaly, because the idea of shared renewables was so new. “Now, we’re mainstream and providing thousands of households and businesses with lower-cost clean energy,” he said.   “It’s a rapidly changing industry,” Bliss added. “We’re seeing it go from what used to be called ‘alternative energy,’ and the new way of thinking about this is that it’s ‘preferred energy.’ As much as that represents the change in the way people think about this, the roles and the opportunities also are changing.”   Among other things, Common Energy was at the career fair to recruit someone to fill a youth leadership position, which surely would not have existed a couple of years ago, before the youth climate movement rose to national and international prominence.   “Youth have an important role in influencing everybody,” explained Bliss. “We feel it’s very important for us to be a part of that, to support the youth climate movement, and provide solutions that these kinds of movements can use to affect the outcomes and the changes that they want to see.”  

Regulations are helping, too.

  Hoyte from ConEdison said that careers like his are growing at a fast rate, and that is partly driven by new policies and regulations. Because of state and city clean energy goals, utilities must work fast to “reduce carbon emissions by enormous percentages in a very short period of time,” said Hoyte. “The local laws and mandates that are coming out are really leading the charge to drive these changes.”   Similarly, Kathleen Wolfanger, a regional environmental manager at the New York State Department of Transportation said, “I think more than ever there’s a need and a justification to staff up, because the regulations are always changing.” The agency’s workers must navigate complex environmental regulations and permitting processes while planning and designing projects, as well as adapting infrastructure to the changing climate — for example, by making culverts larger and raising roadway elevations.  

What’s next?

  Sustainability-related jobs are expected to continue growing in number, and Scobie from Terracycle thinks the field will continue to broaden as well. “I’ve been saying that 10 years in the future, I’m no longer going to be a specialist in sustainability because everyone will have to do it,” she said.   Bliss from Common Energy pointed out that “it’s still the early days” for renewable energy. Looking to the future, he foresees “a maturing business ecosystem and ecosystem of solutions around energy, that I think is going to be an opportunity for more historical analysis, and trend analysis, economic analysis, to project and also aggregate opportunities in new ways, trade electricity credits across barriers.”   Hoyte expects today’s trends to continue for the next ten years or so. “The paradigm has already changed, and the focus and the need to mitigate climate change is very evident,” he said. “Nobody’s shying away from it now; we are in the age of consequences, where everything’s heating up and we’re losing natural resources.” He added that through sustainability education, practice, and giving back to the community, “I think we’ll be successful and we’ll be able to beat the challenges that face us.”