Meanwhile, Bausch + Lomb, a subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., has shared that its ONE by ONE Recycling Program for contact lenses has recycled a combined total of more than one million used contact lenses, blister packs and top foils in less than one year since its launch. In collaboration with TerraCycle, the program has diverted more than 7,000 pounds of waste from landfills to-date.

In Tom Szaky’s vision of the new economy, nothing is garbage. Not cigarette butts. Not dirty diapers. Not even used tampons.

Gifts are not one of my love languages. I’ve taken the quiz, and I know this for a fact. It’s dead last. I’m not sure to what extent this is nurture, or if it’s written into my astrological or actual DNA, but I do know that most of my friends who are non-Christians or didn’t celebrate Christmas, are similarly ambivalent about holiday shopping.

Despite a growing emphasis on recycling, most of what we throw away still winds up in landfills or polluting the ocean. NBC News’ Anne Thompson reports how Terracycle is trying to change that.

It’s actually quite difficult to get a cigarette butt out of a sidewalk crevice once it falls in. That’s a battle downtown businesses have been fighting for years, but new initiatives may help. Keep Tyler Beautiful started an initiative this year to help curb the litter downtown. “We did a cigarette litter scan, where we literally walked around town and counted cigarette butts,” said Angela Cordova, Keep Tyler Beautiful community coordinator. “All of them are in flower pots and where the rose bushes are - those are all transition points where people have to put out their cigarettes.”

At the moment, there are 165 million tons of plastic in our oceans. If something doesn’t change, there will be more plastic than fish by weight in the oceans by 2050. The use of plastics has skyrocketed in the past 50 years, and this trend is likely to continue because it is in nearly all the products we consume. If the strong growth for plastics doesn’t subside, the plastics sector will account for 20 percent of total global oil consumption. Sadly, sea life and birds are dying from eating or becoming tangled in this debris.

Local musicians are invited to attend a free recycle and restring event at Parrish Music in Viroqua. This free event will be held on Saturday, November 18, 2017, at 10 a.m. Musicians can bring their old guitar strings for recycling, as well as get their electric or acoustic guitars restrung with new strings, furnished by D'Addario, for free. This is valid with a non-perishable food item.

Just because you'll no longer wear an old shirt doesn't mean you should scrap it. That same shirt could help you carry tomorrow's groceries from the store to your car. Finding innovative uses for goods you no longer need is fun. It's a creative outlet that benefits the environment and can save you money. And, as of two decades ago, it's a process we call upcycling. What is upcycling?

LAVAL, Quebec, Nov., 2017: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.’s (NYSE: VRXand TSX: VRX) wholly owned subsidiary, Bausch + Lomb announced that its unique ONE by ONE Recycling Program has recycled a combined total of more than one million used contact lenses, blister packs and top foils in less than one year since its launch. Made possible through a collaboration with TerraCycle®, a world leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, the ONE by ONE Recycling Program has diverted more than 7,000 pounds of waste from landfills.