Most of the single use plastic that comes into our lives can be recycled, but there are some items like chip and snack bags that can't go in the recycling bin. 3D Brooklyn has partnered with TerraCycle, the company known for recycling materials that aren't typically recyclable, to produce something new and useful from that waste plastic. TerraCycle takes the plastic snack bags that they collect and turns them into plastic pellets that they send to 3D Brooklyn where the pellets are then made into an ABS plastic filament.

Typical recycling involves sending off your old cans, bottles, boxes and papers to be re-purposed somewhere far away, sight unseen. TerraCycle and 3D Brooklyn allow you to determine what gets made from recycled materials, thanks to a process that turns used chip and snack bags into plastic filament for use in 3D printing.

This is a great month for de-cluttering your life. Although any month will do, January is a fresh year. Start small. Do not overwhelm yourself with all your stuff. Take one mess at a time. Then start sorting. Just remember, your junk might be someone else’s treasure, so recycle.

Boasting an improved capsule designed specifically for use in business and hospitality settings, SolaBev is the latest technology introduced to the single-serve beverage market. In addition to the ability to address the higher-volume needs of commercial enterprises, the company announced its partnership with TerraCycle to provide a recycling solution for its capsules.

Already a legendary ultramarathoner and endurance runner, Scott Jurek added to his impressive career in 2015 when he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail—all 2,189 miles across 14 states—in a record-breaking 46 days, 8 hours and 7 minutes.

Most waste management companies today prefer more cost-effective disposal options, like incineration and landfilling, to recycling. But TerraCycle, founded in 2001 by then-Princeton University freshman Tom Szaky, rejects this approach to trashing traditionally "non-recyclable" materials. Today, TerraCycle is a highly awarded, international upcycling and recycling company that collects difficult-to-recycle packaging and products and repurposes the material into affordable, innovative products.

Recycling common household items just became charitable. Holy Spirit catholic school's robotics team recently got involved with the company TerraCycle. The company's primary focus is to take hard-to-recycle objects and repurpose them into new items. Right now, the students are only collecting drink pouches, which can be repurposed into other plastics.

The next Eco-Action Tuesdays will feature two Monona residents who are champions for the environment: Matt Bolha will talk about Styrofoam recycling, and Teresa Radermacher will discuss TerraCycling. TerraCycling is a new way to recycle a wider variety of items used in homes, schools and offices than what is currently accepted by municipal recycling services.

Now more than ever, multinational product companies and manufacturers are realizing the need for real, effective sustainability strategies. While, in many ways, we still very much live in a world of profits over planet, recent consumer trends and market analyses are telling us that a shift toward “green” is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity.

The robotics team from Holy Spirit Catholic School invites you to participate in a program that recycles those hard-to-recycle items, such as drink pouches, and gives up to 3 cents per item to the Idaho Foodbank. There will be a citywide planning meeting Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at the school, 540 N. Seventh Ave.