Have an old car seat lying around? Whether it’s too small for your growing tot, too old or simply time for a new model, Target will gladly take it off your hands…again! After the popularity of our first car seat trade-in program this past April, we’re teaming up with our friends at TerraCycle to recycle your used car seats, just in time for National Baby Safety Month. We’re committed to ensuring that kids and babies have the right car seats that meet current safety standards and we’re always looking for ways to make recycling easy. So what better way to accomplish both, than with one stellar program?

Cheers! We are celebrating back-to-school this week with Entenmann’s® Little Bites®!  For those parents with school-age children, you are probably fully aware of the struggles of finding fun lunch box ideas that you know your sprout will enjoy? And yes, back-to-school stress is real!  If you are looking for ways to help make sending your kids back to school a breeze, look no further than Entenmann’s® Little Bites®!   Entenmann’s® make the morning packing rush easier with their convenient portioned pouches filled with muffins kids love to eat! The delicious moist baked snacks make for the perfect lunchbox staple and are a great easy after school snack.

It is no secret that we love Entenmann’s® Little Bites® and they make for an excellent back to school snack! This soft, fluffy line of muffins are baked using real ingredients and come in over ten flavor options, including blueberry muffins, banana muffins and fudge brownies, for a great taste that kids love. Best of all, every variety of Entenmann’s® Little Bites® contain no high fructose corn syrup, have zero grams of trans fat per serving and are less than 200 calories per pouch, making them the type of tasty treat parents approve of.

Messes are the markers of life, and in the warm weeks following summertime, life abounds. Children are off to school and there’s farmer’s markets, weekend yard-sales and concerts. Long summer days going into cooler autumn afternoons mean a lot of outside living. The food and drink on the tables we gather around find their way into our laps, brushed off on our jeans and wiped off surfaces, hands and faces. The clothes and fabrics we live in are part of these messes, so laundry loads multiply. Changing out linens and curtains for the season, cleaning out suitcases of traveled clothes and bathing beach towels are symptoms of staying clean and cool when life heats up. And through it can be a chore, it is satisfying knowing that fresh laundry is waiting for you.

Reducing the amount of “stuff” you go through is an intimidating concept to many, and deciding how to take those first few steps can be downright overwhelming. But embarking on your own zero-waste journey doesn’t need to be a complete lifestyle overhaul. Even the smaller, more methodical zero-waste strategies come with their own personal and environmental rewards. Here are six pieces of advice to help you lessen your waste and get on track to greener living.

This month, we’re introducing some of America’s most inspiring entrepreneurs by interviewing all 18 finalists for this year’s Dream Big Small Business Awards. The awards program honors the achievements of some of our nation’s most remarkable small business owners and celebrates their contributions to the American economy. We’ll be spotlighting a different finalist every day between now and the Small Business Summit 2017, where the winners will be announced (register to attend here).This month, we’re introducing some of America’s most inspiring entrepreneurs by interviewing all 18 finalists for this year’s Dream Big Small Business Awards. The awards program honors the achievements of some of our nation’s most remarkable small business owners and celebrates their contributions to the American economy. We’ll be spotlighting a different finalist every day between now and the Small Business Summit 2017, where the winners will be announced (register to attend here).

The company: TerraCycle

Who’s in charge: Tom Szaky

Where are they: Trenton, New Jersey

What they do: TerraCycle is an innovative recycling company that has become a global leader in recycling hard-to-recycle waste. Our mission is to eliminate the idea of waste. We want everyone to understand that there is no waste–there is value in materials that are thrown away every day.

Q: How did your company get started?

Q:  What inspired the creation of your business? What problem does it help to solve?

I felt like there were a lot of materials that were being thrown away that actually had use. It’s just that people weren’t thinking of them in that way. So, I decided that I could help “eliminate the idea of waste” which became our mission.

There are three steps to eliminate the idea of waste:

1) Make the non-recyclable recyclable. Only a few waste streams are actually recycled, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be. It just means it’s not economical at the municipal level to do so. So, we’ve created programs in 21 countries that allow people to recycle what they can’t do curbside.

2) Integrate recycled materials. We do this in several ways, the most recently visible being our announcement with Procter & Gamble to use recovered and recycled beach plastic in Head & Shoulders bottles. With the materials we collect daily such as toothpaste tubes and cosmetics, they are melted and able to be used in new products, reducing the need for virgin plastic.

3) Make systems that focus on durability, refillability and no waste. The third way to help eliminate the idea of waste is to help people think differently about the ownership of the things they use. So, instead of buying everything they use to finish and throw away or recycle, they can use a durable container and refill instead.

Q3:  What barriers have you faced while building your company? How did you overcome them?

We are constantly inventing new business models to solve waste and by doing that, we’ve changed the direction of the company over the years to meet demands. Early on, we were doing some manufacturing and the end product was the “star.” I wanted to make the input, the garbage, the star so that’s what we did and we have had success with that.

There are constantly new opportunities that present themselves whether they come from voids we see in the marketplace or someone approaches us for a solution. Our teams, including our scientists are always working to solve for new waste streams.

Q: What is your proudest moment as an entrepreneur?

It is quite a feeling when an idea you had actually turns into a business. I have to say that it makes me really proud when I see our logo on billions of packages around the world. Especially when I am traveling in “random” places in the world and pick up a package and there it is. It is very rewarding and very cool.

Q: Tell us about your company’s role in the community. How do you use your business to serve as a community leader?

Our business model is very community-based all over the world. Not only are people choosing to keep garbage out of their local landfills or incinerators at a tune of 5 million kilograms of waste diverted each week, but collectors in our free recycling program are rewarded with points that they can turn into cash to donate to a school or charity of their choice. So, every day, we are making an impact in communities.

In addition, we are the largest solution to ocean plastic in the world through our collection programs to recycle beach plastic. Previously, there was no option but to throw it away because it was deemed unrecyclable or unsalvageable, but we have changed that.

Our headquarters office is in an inner city–Trenton, New Jersey.  By our own preference, the building is covered with graffiti art and is constantly changing. Along with a prominent artist, we host a graffiti and hip hop festival each summer and during the year artists are able to paint on our exterior walls. We are a stop on a Trenton art tour and we are working with the mayor to develop some additional programs.

Q: What does it mean to not only have created your own job, but to also create jobs for others? 

It is incredibly meaningful. It’s one thing when you are starting out and there is just the excitement of doing it and people are along for the ride. As the company grows and there are more and more employees, you do feel a responsibility, but there is also excitement as you are all in it together. It is very rewarding when current employees are as excited as I am about what we are doing and potential employees want to work for us because of what we are doing, not just to earn a check.

If selected as the winner of the Dream Big Small Business of the Year Award, how will you invest the $25,000 grand prize?

We will invest it in developing a national platform to implement durable refillable products so that we can eliminate the idea of disposable packaging. So much packaging is wasted either because the product inside has limited use, or it is meant to be thrown away when the consumer is finished with it. The consumer owns the product and packaging he/she has purchased and when done, disposes of it. We want to introduce a platform where a manufacturer creates a durable container that the consumer “borrows.” When it is empty, the manufacturer will refill it instead of forcing it to become garbage.

How did you decide to participate in the Dream Big Small Business of the Year Awards program? And, what does it mean to you to be a finalist in this year’s program?

We are proud of what we do and our employees, recycling partners and collectors all work hard to make our business successful. The awards program seemed a perfect way to be recognized for what we do, but also to reinforce to everyone who chooses to work with us in some way that they are partnering with one of the best small businesses in the country.

Honestly, it is a thrill to be named a finalist. It has created a buzz and energy among our offices, in our community, with our business partners and with thousands of our collectors.

One of the challenges facing recycling efforts is that only certain waste can be recycled while the rest is thrown away, generating massive amounts of garbage in landfills. Figuring out what can be recycled and where to dispose of it may cause well-intentioned consumers and businesses to throw their hands up in despair. But an innovative company called TerraCycle is out to change that.

The Surfrider Pacific Rim Foundation’s ‘Hold On To Your Butts’ campaign has galloped out of the gate with smoking success. The foundation recently completed its first collection of cigarette butts from the 54 butt-collecting canisters it helped install throughout the West Coast and collected a whopping 17,000 of them.

Every time you toss an aluminum can into a recycling bin, you’re living a legacy pioneered by Bill Coors. The visionary beer brewer helped introduce the idea of recyclable aluminum cans in the 1950s, and Coors Brewing has been a leader in innovative waste reduction, waste conservation, energy, and sustainable brewing practices ever since. The organization’s history shows that building a brand, and a more sustainable future, can go hand in hand. In 2016 Coors Light cut its aluminum usage by 3.8 million pounds. All of its major breweries are landfill-free, with less than one percent of waste generated going to landfills. They’ve built the most powerful U.S. solar array at any one brewery, in Irwindale, California, which can produce the equivalent of 22 million beers per year powered by the sun. Decreasing water use and reusing brewing waste to make ethanol fuel and feed are also integral to the brand’s sustainability program.

IFC Center will be screening the 2017 documentary film, "Prosperity." Directed by Mark van WijkDr, the movie follows Pedram Shojai, an author, filmmaker, founder of Well.Org, Urban Monk, husband and father. "Prosperity" is a feature documentary about his journey across the Americas to discover a more sustainable way for us all to do business and thrive on our planet. 'The Urban Monk' tracks the organic roots of Rodale Publishing; the food revolution of Whole Foods Market; Guayaki's waged war for rainforest redemption; Terra Cycle's scheme to drain the oceans of plastic; architect CookFox's carbon-reducing skyscraper design, alongside many others.