The City of Atlanta is installing 50 cigarette butt and ash receptacles in heavily traveled sidewalk areas - including outside retail and restaurant establishments, bars, hotels, office buildings, parking lots and bus shelters - as part of its recently launched Clean Streets recycling program. Designed to reduce and properly dispose of downtown’s cigarette waste and to promote the city’s zero waste goals, Clean Streets was created by the mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the Department of Public Works and Keep Atlanta Beautiful. The city is partnering with the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District and recycling company TerraCycle to install the receptacles, which could be installed in other high traffic areas in the city in the future. The collected cigarette waste will be sent to TerraCycle, which will donate $1 for every pound of cigarette butts recycled to Keep America Beautiful in order to fund and administer litter prevention efforts. The city of Atlanta will provide public information public information and outreach about the program.

Central Elementary School in Nampa, Lincoln Elementary School in Caldwell and Jefferson Elementary School in Boise all received a donation of school supplies recently. The interesting part? … All the supplies were made from toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. Thankfully, it was recycled. It’s not like someone took ink and poured it into a drilled-in hole in a used toothbrush, then added a nib. There are standards. Albertsons, Colgate and TerraCycle got together to make this happen for the Kids In Need Foundation, a nonprofit that assists schoolchildren through free supplies and grants. Each school was given 333 toothbrush pens, 56 backpacks and 200 notebooks.

The City of Atlanta has announced the launch of “Clean Streets,” a recycling program created by the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the Department of Public Works and Keep Atlanta Beautiful to properly dispose of cigarette waste in Downtown and promote the city’s zero waste goals. In partnership with the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) and TerraCycle – an organization which partners with municipalities to bring recycling solutions, the city is installing 50 cigarette butt and ash receptacles in highly-traveled sidewalk areas throughout Downtown. “Atlanta joins a number of cities in the United States committed to keeping the number one littered item in the world off the local streets and out of landfills,” said Richard Mendoza, Commissioner of the Department of Public Works. “We are delighted to champion this effort towards litter reduction. It is our hope that with the success of the program in Downtown, we will be able to install additional cigarette disposal receptacles in other high traffic areas of the city.” All cigarette waste collected in the “Clean Streets” program will be sent to TerraCycle. Terracyle will then donate $1 for every pound of cigarette butts recycled to Keep America Beautiful to fund and administer litter prevention programs. “The new receptacles will be installed at transition points where cigarette butt littering occurs frequently in Downtown, such as outside retail stores, restaurants, bars, hotels, office buildings, parking lots and bus shelters,” said A. J. Robinson, President of Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District. To ensure that the “Clean Streets” program becomes an integral part of the city’s ongoing litter reduction activities, ADID and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability will provide public education and outreach, and ensure the long-term maintenance of the receptacles.

Environmentalism and sustainability are now essential aspects of brand building, and in an increasingly competitive marketplace, effectively engaging consumers poses many challenges. For starters, the expanded retail landscape has altered the way consumers interact with products and services. E-commerce sites, dynamic mobile apps, and text message ordering systems afford infinite possibilities for communicating sustainable initiatives and marketing; standing out from direct competitors and defining oneself as a leader in the category requires an extra level of value strategy. Getting back to basics may help businesses and major brands better communicate their dedication to the circular economy, engaging the consumer through an invitation to participate. Through our partnerships at TerraCycle, we’ve seen several consumer product brands and businesses experience success with in-store recycling collections. Recycling is already one of the most accessible and easily understood aspects of environmental stewardship for the average consumer. Activating a promotion around recycling using a brick-and-mortar retail program, a time-tested mode of marketing, can offer benefit to sustainable brands on many fronts, and to lasting effect. Drives Foot Traffic One of the invaluable positives to an in-store recycling promotion is the foot traffic it generates. Though marketing experts like to attribute the burgeoning trend of e-commerce to millennial shopping behavior, the reality is that all generations of consumers find themselves taken with the convenience of shopping online. But brick-and-mortar retailers offer customers what online shopping can’t: the opportunity to physically touch, feel and experience products for themselves. The advantage created by making recycling the reason a customer enters a brick-and-mortar retail store is a two-fold: number one, you get them in the store and, number two, they have something to feel good about before they even buy anything. For example, just in time for Back-to-School 2016, TerraCycle activated the Binder Recycling Program with workplace supply leader Office Depot. Consumers are incentivized with $2 off of the purchase of any new binder and the opportunity to divert their old and used binders from the trash by dropping them off for recycling. Creating in-store foot traffic around an empowering behavior like recycling inspires goodwill and positive feelings in the same environment where purchases occur, maximizing profit potential for each retail transaction.

GU Energy Labs releases a new packaging sleeve for GU Energy Chews. This convenient sleeve gives athletes a new way to carry a double serving of portable energy that fits easily in a jersey pocket or hydration vest. The new sleeves hold a stack of eight individual Energy Chews that each deliver 20 calories. Created for daily training and competition, GU Energy Chews help sustain the energy demands of long-duration activities. Now easier to open,eat on the go, and share with friends, GU Energy Chews contain sodium to replenish electrolytes, complex and simple carbohydrates for fast and lasting energy, and branched-chain amino acids to help prevent mental fatigue and reduce muscle damage. GU Energy Labs aims to create portable, convenient, and effective ways to deliver the functional nutrients that are essential to improved athletic performance. The new double-serving sleeve responds to the needs of discerning athletes who asked for a compact way to carry more fuel.  GU Energy Labs will continue to offer Energy Chews in single-serving pouches for athletes that prefer the smaller serving size. Flavors include strawberry, blueberry pomegranate, orange, and watermelon. Like all GU Energy Labs packaging, the new Energy Chews sleeves can be recycled with Terracycle.

The following Q&A is an edited excerpt from the Bard MBA’s Nov. 18 Sustainable Business Fridays podcast, which brings Bard MBA in Sustainability students together with leaders in business, sustainability and social entrepreneurship. Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, has been working to solve the question: What is garbage? TerraCycle’s premise is that anything can be recycled — but some items pose a challenge. There is a straightforward business case for commonly recycled items such as glass, metal and plastic, but how about cigarette butts, paint or diapers? TerraCycle’s imaginative approach has taken the company from being called the "coolest little start-up in America" to appearing in three seasons of the reality TV show "Human Resources" to operating in more than 20 countries. Last month, Alistair Hall from Bard’s MBA in Sustainability spoke with Szaky to dig into the question, "Why does garbage really exist?" Alistair Hall: What was the inspiration for Terracycle? Tom Szaky: I started TerraCycle out of my dorm room with a passion for solving the critical issue of waste. We first started looking at it by making products out of waste and we became quite successful. Over a few year period, we grew into a $6 million business with clients such as Walmart, Target and Home Depot selling products like worm poop fertilizer in a reused soda bottle. It was quite exciting. Early in our history, we realized that if we focused on the finished product as the outcome, or the hero, of the business concept, then we had to pick the very best waste to make the very best product. We would never deal with garbage that is not optimal or clean, like cigarette butts, dirty diapers or chewing gum — all of which, by the way, we recycle and collect today. About five years into our business, we shifted our model to focus on garbage as the hero, and the solution is what can we make it into. Now we’re able to deal with hundreds of different waste streams. We’ve invented a recycling solution for everything from chewing gum to plastic gloves and have grown quite a bit in the process. Today, TerraCycle operates in 24 countries around the world, including China, Japan, countries in Western Europe, Latin America, North America and so on. Hall: How do you come up with solutions to recycle things like chewing gum? Szaky: First and foremost, garbage doesn't exist in the natural kingdom because the output of every organism is the input of another organism. There are no useless outputs. To go one step deeper, it’s not like one super organism eats every other organism’s outputs. Instead, there are specific outputs to specific organisms. One organism eats a leaf that falls off a tree; a different organism eats the carbon and makes it into oxygen. I mention that metaphor because landfills and incinerators today are like superorganisms that are created to eat everything in the garbage. Every type of garbage is different. It has a different heartbeat, like a different animal. To solve the waste stream, we need to put three things together that may be very different, waste stream by waste stream.

1. Collect it. To get waste from the point of origin to our warehouses, we have to account for the collection vehicles, health, safety, cost and then of course for whether people will actually even do it.
2. Process it. We have to process the waste in a circular way, either through upcycling, recycling or reuse. I’ll give some more color on that in a moment.
3. Finally, we need to weave a business model around it that makes sense, which is important because TerraCycle focuses on recycling only those things that are not economically profitable to recycle.

You can do five things with garbage. Going from the worst to the best options: 5) You can landfill it; 4) burn it for energy; 3) reuse it (circular solutions are very popular in clothing, electronics, textiles and items that are refurbished for their originally intended use); 2) upcycling, which has a wide range but low volume, like sewing juice pouches into backpacks; and 1) technical recycling. The vast majority of our volume goes through our science department, where it’s technically recycled: taking apart and reconstituting the materials into new aluminum, new plastic or composting organics. Szaky: Absolutely. Retailers are interested in foot traffic, but a city isn’t. A city’s interested in litter reduction to boost tourism, while a brand may be interested in market share increase.  Hall: Is there a piece of garbage or a product that you are most proud of figuring out how to recycle or upgrade? Szaky: I love the crazy stuff because it makes the mind work. In March, we’ll be launching the first national chewing gum recycling program in the world in Mexico. Later next year, we’ll be launching the world’s first city-wide diaper recycling program in Holland. A few years ago, we launched cigarette recycling across 11 countries nationally. The sort of more gross ones really get me, because if you can solve those, you can solve just about anything.  Hall: What can chewing gum be turned into? Szaky: Chewing gum is a plastic polymer. It’s like a rubber and it can be made into 35 percent of any sort of plastic product. Think of it as 35 percent chewing gum and 65 percent gum packaging or other plastics. Hall: Where will TerraCycle go next? Szaky: We’re opening in China next month. We just set up our office in Shanghai, and that’s a big new area for us. Japan was a big success. We opened there a few years ago and so now we’re really looking to expand more into the Asian marketplace. And so after China, South Korea. We’ll go live as well in Taiwan, Singapore, India — those are the key areas we’re focused on, and then from there who knows what will be next? Really, anywhere in the world where there’s interest in solving waste, we try to be there.  Hall: When you launch into these markets, are there specific products you have in mind for certain parts of the waste stream you are looking to tackle? Szaky: It’s opportunistic. It’s where there’s interest. So in China, we’re targeting oral care recycling and cosmetic recycling, but it could be anything. It’s truly where there’s opportunity and where there’s interest to fund solutions. 

The company is working with TerraCycle.Bausch + Lomb is offering a new recycling program for contact lenses.

Bausch + Lomb has announced the launch of the Bausch + Lomb #ONEbyONE recycling program. The effort encourages consumers to help preserve the environment “by taking ONE action at a time, to ONE day achieve a greener future where even your contact lenses can play a role,” according to a press release. Patients can now recycle their used Biotrue ONEday contact lenses and other Bausch + Lomb contact lenses and blister packs through a free program developed by Bausch + Lomb in partnership with TerraCycle. TerraCycle is described as “a world leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste.” “Bausch + Lomb is not only committed to providing patients with innovative vision care, but to practicing good stewardship within our business practices,” said Guy Guglielmino, head of marketing, Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb. “This includes working closely with companies, such as TerraCycle, who is making progress in the areas of recycling, reusing and reducing waste and energy consumption in hopes to better preserve our environment for future generations.” Bausch + Lomb celebrated the launch of #ONEbyONE with a consumer event on America Recycles Day, Nov. 15, hosted by Biotrue ONEday at the Marshall B. Ketchum University’s Southern California College of Optometry in Anaheim, CA. “We’re proud to partner with a leader in the vision care industry such as Bausch + Lomb to provide consumers an opportunity to take a small step each day in hopes to one day leave a larger positive impact on the earth,” said Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle. “This is the first time we have recycled at a large-scale in this category and we hope the Bausch + Lomb #ONEbyONE program will inspire participation from current and future patients who previously have not had an option to recycle their contact lenses.”

The City of Atlanta is installing 50 cigarette butt and ash receptacles in highly-traveled sidewalk areas throughout its downtown. The City of Atlanta announced the launch of “Clean Streets,” a recycling program created by the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the Department of Public Works and Keep Atlanta Beautiful to properly dispose of cigarette waste in Downtown Atlanta and promote the city’s zero waste goals. In partnership with the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) and TerraCycle – an organization which partners with municipalities to bring recycling solutions, the City of Atlanta is installing 50 cigarette butt and ash receptacles in highly-traveled sidewalk areas throughout Downtown Atlanta. “Atlanta joins a number of cities in the United States committed to keeping the number one littered item in the world off the local streets and out of landfills,” said Richard Mendoza, Commissioner of the Department of Public Works. “We are delighted to champion this effort towards litter reduction. It is our hope that with the success of the program in Downtown, we will be able to install additional cigarette disposal receptacles in other high traffic areas of the city.” All cigarette waste collected in the “Clean Streets” program will be sent to TerraCycle. Terracyle will then donate $1 for every pound of cigarette butts recycled to Keep America Beautiful to fund and administer litter prevention programs. “As a major destination for Atlanta residents and visitors, we are excited to launch this important recycling program in partnership with the City of Atlanta,” said A. J. Robinson, President of Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District. “The new receptacles will be installed at transition points where cigarette butt littering occurs frequently in Downtown, such as outside retail stores, restaurants, bars, hotels, office buildings, parking lots and bus shelters.” To ensure that the “Clean Streets” program becomes an integral part of the city’s ongoing litter reduction activities, ADID and the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability will provide public education and outreach, and ensure the long-term maintenance of the receptacles.

ATLANTA - The City of Atlanta announced the launch of 'Clean Streets,' a recycling program created by the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, the Department of Public Works and Keep Atlanta Beautiful to properly dispose of cigarette waste in Downtown Atlanta and promote the city's zero waste goals. In partnership with the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID) and TerraCycle - an organization which partners with municipalities to bring recycling solutions, the City of Atlanta is installing fifty cigarette butt and ash receptacles in highly-traveled sidewalk areas throughout Downtown Atlanta. 'Atlanta joins a number of cities in the United States committed to keeping the number one littered item in the world off the local streets and out of landfills,' said Richard Mendoza, Commissioner of the Department of Public Works. 'We are delighted to champion this effort towards litter reduction. It is our hope that with the success of the program in Downtown, we will be able to install additional cigarette disposal receptacles in other high traffic areas of the city.' All cigarette waste collected in the 'Clean Streets' program will be sent to TerraCycle. Terracyle will then donate $1 for every pound of cigarette butts recycled to Keep America Beautiful to fund and administer litter prevention programs. 'As a major destination for Atlanta residents and visitors, we are excited to launch this important recycling program in partnership with the City of Atlanta,' said A. J. Robinson, President of Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District. 'The new receptacles will be installed at transition points where cigarette butt littering occurs frequently in Downtown, such as outside retail stores, restaurants, bars, hotels, office buildings, parking lots and bus shelters.' To ensure that the 'Clean Streets' program becomes an integral part of the city's ongoing litter reduction activities, ADID and the Mayor's Office of Sustainability will provide public education and outreach, and ensure the long-term maintenance of the receptacles. 'We are proud to partner with the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District and TerraCycle,' said Stephanie Benfield, Director of the Mayor's Office of Sustainability. 'Our goal is to take the litter off our streets and make it a valuable end-use commodity through a public-private partnership with Terracycle, and educate residents and visitors about littering with ADID.' In 2011, the City of Atlanta became a Zero Waste Zone and committed to new projects and policy initiatives which promote sustainability practices, including climate protection, energy reduction and clean water initiatives.

Bausch + Lomb announced the launch of its #ONEbyONE program, which facilitates recycling of any of the company’s contact lenses and blister packs. TerraCycle, a company that collects and repurposes hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, is Bausch + Lomb’s partner in the effort. The program encourages “consumers to help preserve the environment by taking one action at a time, to one day achieve a greener future where even your contact lenses play a role,” the company said in a press release. Brian Rosenblatt, OD, director of professional strategy, U.S. Vision Care, Bausch + Lomb, told Primary Care Optometry News here at the American Academy of Optometry meeting, “A lot of patients don’t want to be in daily disposables because of the waste. We’re partnering with the community as well as the earth.” He noted that for every pound of material recycled, Bausch + Lomb will donate $1 to Optometry Giving Sight. Bausch + Lomb’s senior manager of corporate communications, Kristy Marks, told PCON that contact lenses are recyclable, but they cannot be tossed in a traditional recycling can. As part of the #ONEbyONE program, special recycling boxes will be placed in doctors’ offices, or patients can download shipping labels to send their used contact lenses and blister packs for recycling. Bausch + Lomb’s head of marketing, Vision Care, Guy Guglielmino, said in the press release, “Bausch + Lomb is not only committed to providing patients with innovative vision care, but to practicing good stewardship within our business practices. This includes working closely with companies, such as TerraCycle, who is making progress in the areas of recycling, reusing and reducing waste and energy consumption in hopes to better preserve our environment for future generations.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO