In the year 2000, the United Nations brought together a group of CEOs to hash out how the global business community could become a force for environmental sustainability. The result was the UN Global Compact, a framework designed to guide companies in their efforts to lessen their impact on the earth’s ecosystem. Today the UN Global Compact has 13,000 corporate participants, all of which are making concrete strides toward averting what many scientists believe could become the defining crisis of our age if unchecked. The following five organizations exemplify how the private sector can, in fact, do its part to make the world a cleaner, safer place. 1. Greenstone Plus Peter Drucker famously said, “What gets measured gets managed.” The team at Greenstone certainly took this maxim to heart. The company produces a software platform that allows its clients to collect various forms of data on carbon emissions, energy usage, waste, water, and fugitive gasses to bring them in line with international standards. Greenstone also supplements its software solution with unlimited human support to ensure that real improvement begins where measurement ends. 2. Goodera Goodera is an international company with a global purpose—to allow users to collect and analyze environmental inputs, regardless of what language they were originally reported in. The platform’s interface then provides unified reporting to all stakeholders to help them reduce their environmental impact while actually improving their profitability. Goodera was founded on the idea that the best way for companies to grow is to foster teams of people who know their efforts are helping make the world a better place, and it continues to operate on that basis. 3. SupplyShift It is often the most seemingly mundane details that create the biggest impact. SupplyShift understands this, which is why it focuses its efforts on helping companies manage and optimize their supply chains. Co-founders Alex Gershenson and Jamie Barsimantov saw that making it possible for companies to consolidate all of the information about their supply chains in one place would allow them to make decisions about them that were as responsible and productive as possible. 4. TerraCycle We are smothering our planet in trash. While more people are recycling than ever before, current methods still fall far short of what is necessary. Fortunately, TerraCycle has an ingenious solution to this serious problem. The organization has developed a process to recycle materials that until now have been considered “non-recyclable,” from ballpoint pens to coffee pods to cigarette butts. 5. Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard, one of the world’s largest spirits companies, has sustainability at its heart. Founder Paul Ricard loved the sea and spent much of his free time sailing. It was this love that led to him to found the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute more than 50 years ago, Ricard’s legacy lives on through the actions of the company he founded. Over the last decade alone, the company has reduced its water consumption per liter of alcohol by 20%, its carbon emissions by 30% per unit of production and waste from 10,253 tons to a total of 748 tons to landfill. It has also publicly announced it will be transforming every element of its operations to fully support United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Animal shelters and homeless shelters need certain items, but you must follow strict guidelines before donating in order to avoid imposing disposal costs on worthy organizations and taking their staffs’ time.   Specifically, some “used” items can be donated to homeless shelters, but only in new, unopened condition. For example, the free toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste you received from your dentist following a cleaning can be donated, but only if it is still sealed in packaging. Similarly, if you did not open the complimentary shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion and shower cap in your hotel room, donate those, too.   Used clothing is almost always better donated to a thrift store than a shelter; however, shelters generally can accept used, freshly cleaned sweatshirts, hoodies, and sweat pants. Similarly, donating used shoes imposes a burden on shelters, but one related item frequently discarded by everyone is desired by homeless shelters. Used, cleaned shoelaces can be donated to a homeless shelter.   Prior to delivering donations, call the Oxnard shelter directly at 805-247-0335. The shelter currently hosts over 100 people, has limited staff and organizes many activities, so they are not able to carefully screen donations or give tours.   Donations of used blankets and towels are welcomed by the Ventura County Animal Shelter. The shelter, in Camarillo, is collecting materials to meet the needs of the 500 animals being hosted. People can drop off items at the shelter: 600 Aviation Drive, Camarillo; 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday.  The shelter is closed on Mondays, but people can also drop off items from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Mondays if they are unable to come during open hours, according to Jennifer Thaler, Supervising Animal Control Officer.   Other items seemingly unrecyclable and not reusable can be given a new life through mail-in recycling programs. One surprising reusable item is used mascara wands. The Appalachian Wildlife Refuge uses these to clean animals in distress. The tight bristles enable volunteers to remove oil, larvae, fly eggs, mites and mud from rescued wildlife. The brushes also work great for animal medical care and wound treatment, according to the organization’s website. The refuge asks donors to clean used mascara wands with liquid soap, place wands in a clean plastic bag and mail them to P.O. Box 1211, Skyland, NC, 28776.   TerraCycle provides sponsor-subsidized mail-in recycling programs for products ranging from Burt’s Bees “lip care products” to Solo cups. Additionally, TerraCycle has many non-sponsored programs. For example, for $102, you can purchase a small shipping box (11 in. x11 in. x20 in.) and a postage-paid return shipping label to send TerraCycle your used chewing gum. According to Brian Hanck, a TerraCycle spokesman, “Chewing gum is made from polymers, which are synthetic plastics . . . The . . . gum is sanitized and blended, then converted into plastic pellets. These specific plastic pellets are usually used in creating new products made of rubber or plastic.”   Among other items, the company also has mail-in recycling programs for coffee capsules, pens, plastic gloves, detergent booster pouches, ready-made pasta bags, contact lenses and the blister packs containing the lenses.   Locally, the Surfrider Foundation participates in TerraCycle’s mail-in program for recycling cigarette butts, the most common form of litter. Through its “Hold On To Your Butt” campaign, the city and Surfrider have purchased and installed 103 metal containers in areas where cigarette butt litter was common, despite a city ordinance banning smoking in public areas. Volunteers empty approximately 4,000 butts per month from these receptacles; combined with the butts they collect from beach cleanup events, they have sent over 270,000 butts to TerraCycle in a little over two years, according to Juli Marciel, Surfrider’s coordinator for the program. A bench made from cigarette butts is on the Ventura promenade next to the pier.   For more information, visit www.terracycle.com/en-US/. Additional items needed by the Ventura County Animal Shelter can be found at www.vcas.us/amazonwishlist. Additional items needed by the Oxnard Homeless Shelter include a large coffee pot, microwave oven and heavy-duty three-prong extension cords. Before delivering, call 805-247-0335.  

They say one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Well, in Trenton, one person’s trash is another person’s art. A new exhibit called “Scrapped” has transformed more than 7 billion pieces of garbage into breathtaking works of art. It’s presented by the BSB Gallery and TerraCycle, a global waste management company based in Trenton. “There’s an Abraham Lincoln made out of cigarette butts,” said Lisa Pellegrino, business development manager for zero waste at TerraCycle. “Garments that you see here out of Doritos packaging and things that you would never think. It’s this idea of recycling, upcycling, repurposing. It requires a certain amount of creativity.” Pellegrino says the art is a conversation starter, a way to get the community talking about waste, recycling and human behavior. One way they’re doing that is through presentations that foster discussion. Terracycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky is the visionary behind the project. He says he’s fine putting himself out of business in a world without waste. “Our mission is to eliminate the idea of waste, right? And that placement of the word idea is really intentional and brilliant, in the sense that there’s no such thing as waste, just misplaced resources. And this whole exhibit, it’s just incredible to be immersed in the community, have these members here appreciating the art and sharing their own stories of how they have re-imagined everyday items,” Pellegrino said. Even the building itself is part of the story. Built in the 1900s, it was once a bank that fell into complete disrepair. At one point it was falling into the streets of Trenton. But it’s been restored, and it now serves as the perfect backdrop to the exhibition. “The Trenton Historical Society picked up the building. They said this is a historical landmark. This was the first skyscraper in Trenton,” said Aine Mickey, curator at BSB Gallery. “We’re right in downtown Trenton as well, so this was a pretty big deal for this area, and for the history of not only Trenton, but also architecture. This is a beautiful space.” Mickey curated the “Scrapped” exhibit and included descriptions of the trash that was used in each piece. “We have whole huge, portraits made entirely of found beach plastic. It’s exciting to kind of watch people breeze through, and then they’ll stop at one piece. And they’ll have to look at it for a while, and they’ll say, ‘This is made of cigarettes?'” Mickey said. “I love when people see something in something else, so that just really excites me,” said Sally Willoughby with Philadelphia Dumpster Divers. “It was great being in a circle of people who all think deeply about this, so it leaves you very hopeful,” said attendee Nadia Akbar. The exhibit will be open to public until April 13.

Local musicians are invited to attend a free recycle and restring event at Brightwood Music in Nederland, CO on Wednesday April 10, 2019 from 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Sponsored by D’Addario and TerraCycle, musicians can bring any old instrument strings for recycling and get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with D’Addario NYXL or Nickel Bronze Acoustic strings. Old strings collected during the event will be recycled through Playback, D’Addario’s free, national recycling program.

BRISTOL - Ivy Drive Elementary School is in it to win it - a new playscape for the kids, that is.   The school is in the same online contest as Mountain View Elementary School and two other local schools, where people can vote daily for their favorite school to win new playground equipment.   The regional contest is running now through June 30, when the winners will be announced. Mountain View is currently the frontrunner. Ivy Drive has moved up to fourth place. South Side and Stafford elementaries are now in 24th and 26th place respectively.   “We think it is great that Mountain View is in first place,” said Ivy Drive Principal Rosie Vojtek. “We aspire to be like them (in first place) and continue to keep working to get people to vote. A win for any school in Bristol is a win for everyone who lives in Bristol! We like competition, so to Mountain View and the other schools in Bristol that are competing in this 2019 Colgate & ShopRite Recycled Playground Challenge, I say, ‘bring it on!’”   Colgate, ShopRite and TerraCycle, a recycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle waste, are running the contest, in which one school can win a colorful new playscape made from recycled materials, with a retail value of $55,000.   The prize for the first runner-up school is a village playhouse and slide made from recycled materials, with a retail value of $25,000.   The second runner-up school will get a ShopRite gift card for $1,250. The next six runner-up schools will each receive a ShopRite gift card for $150.   The recycled materials used are oral care waste, according to the contest website. These consist of toothpaste tubes and caps, toothbrushes, toothpaste cartons, toothbrush outer packaging, and floss containers, which are shredded and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded into new products.   Vojtek said she is not sure when the playscape at Ivy Drive was built, but it was already in place 20 years ago when she became principal and it is too small.   “Likewise, we have the medically fragile students at Ivy Drive from across the district. Because of the wood chips around the playscape, the students in wheelchairs can’t play next to the rest of the children,” she said.   “At the time our school was renovated, part of the original thinking was to add on to the playscape and make it handicapped accessible. However, when the school renovation project was completed in 2007, they put a smaller playscape in the pre-k and kindergarten court area instead of something for all of the students to play on,” she explained.   Vojtek said “Ivy Drive has talked about adding to the playscape since I have been here, but it wasn’t until last year that a PTA committee was formed to start actively fundraising for a new playscape.”   The student council did a survey to find out what the students would like to see added to the playground, she said. “Their number one idea was a zipline. They also would like bars or overhead ladders to climb and hang from which could help to improve their core and upper body strength and overall fitness.”   “We used to have a swing set that we set up for the medically fragile students to use,” she said. “The swings are no longer safe to use, but the bar is still outside and students take turns crossing it once they are tall enough to jump up on their own to grab onto the bar.”   Though Vojtek is planning to retire at the end of this school year, her ambitions for the playground don’t stop there.   “We just really need to increase the playground options for our students while they are outside having fun,” she said. “I personally would love to see a fitness trail where students could walk or run to different stations and do an activity before moving to the next station.”   “This side of town doesn’t have a park within walking distance, so when school is not in session, families that live around Ivy Drive hang out and play on the playscape,” Vojtek continued. “It would be great to make Ivy Drive School a hub - a safe place where parents can bring their children to play and socialize.”   Mountain View Principal Mary Hawk has noted her school’s playscape was so old it was condemned and torn down. “The other schools already have playscapes,” she said. “We just have a pile of dirt.”   Susan Corica can be reached at 860-973-1802 or scorica@bristolpress.com.   There are two ways for people to help whichever school is their favorite.   1. Vote for the school daily at the contest website https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/contests/colgateshopriteplayground2019.   Participants can vote daily using and every separate email address counts as a vote. The first vote will require you to confirm your email to make the vote count. After that each vote is a simple click.   2. Send the school your oral care containers to recycle.   Each vote will count as one Playground Credit and each unit of used, post-consumer oral care waste will count as one Playground Credit. A “unit” is defined as 0.02 lbs of used, post-consumer oral care products and packaging.  

A recycling initiative has been put on by TerraCycle, Colgate, CVS, and the Starlight Children's Foundation. Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, released the following statement:

By teaming up with Colgate, CVS and the Starlight Foundation, this initiative enables consumers to divert oral care waste from landfills as well as educate communities about a free, easy recycling solution for these common items.We are proud to partner with these forward thinking companies to offer consumers a way to give back to the communities they live in and bring joy to its youngest citizens.

According to the groups, if you give them your old tooth brushes, they'll build a playground out of them in the state with the most returned waste.     For more information on how participate, please visit the TerraCycle website atwww.terracycle.com.

One of the 20 newly-installed cigarette waste recycling receptacles. The City of Kingston installed the cigarette butt disposal units on Tuesday, April. 2, 2019. Submitted photo. Another of the newly-installed Terracycle cigarette waste recycling receptacles installed by the City of Kingston on Tuesday, Apr. 2, 2019. Submitted photo. Kingston Transit users and those who frequent the downtown core might notice some new cigarette butt receptacles have been installed along their regular routes. And while they may look like any ordinary cigarette butt disposal bins, these receptacles are actually just the first step in a bigger process – and one that diverts the waste of spent cigarettes from landfills entirely. “We are working to keep the downtown and transit hubs clean. This is about encouraging people to dispose of cigarette butts in a tidy and environmentally friendly way,” said Troy Stubinski, manager of public works operations for the City of Kingston. According to Sarah Withrow, communications officer with the City of Kingston, after purchasing the receptacles at $100 per unit, there will be no cost to the City to have the cigarette butts recycled. “Receptacles will be collected by staff on existing trash collection routes. Aside from the $100 per unit to purchase the receptacles, there is no cost to the program,” she said.