TerraCycle operates free national programs to recycle waste items that recycling centers do not accept — everything from single-serving drink pouches to empty tape dispensers, to cell phones and toothpaste tubes.
“The students of Dr. W.T. Griggs Elementary School are an excellent example of a group of people that is truly making an impact on how our society approaches the issue of waste,” TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky said in a November press release.
Tom Szaky is the Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a worldwide leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle post-consumer waste, from used chip bags to used cigarette butts. The waste is collected via various methods from free, national, brand funded platforms, called Brigades, to various consumer and government funded models. The collected waste is then repurposed via recycling, upcycling and/or reuse into sustainable, affordable consumer products, industrial applications and building materials.
Skyers’ team worked this year with Colgate and recycling company TerraCycle Inc. on a contest promoted in ShopRite stores giving schools a chance to win a playground made of recycled oral care materials. More than 100 schools participated, earning credits by sending in used oral care products. The winning school, BelovED Community Charter School in Jersey City, N.J., received its new playground in November.
The Barnetts and their 25 employees are inviting their guests to be part of the eco-friendly process. Dunkin’ Brands has partnered with TerraCycle to help recycle some of the brand's packaging. There is a program under development where guests at the Edgewater restaurant can return their empty one-pound coffee bags in exchange for a discount off their purchase of a new bag. Going forward, the program may be expanded to include other brand packaging.
We’ve been trying to get around this economic impasse for years at TerraCycle. When your business model is dependent on new and innovative recycling systems for previously non-recyclable waste streams, you start to notice what gets people excited to start collecting. If you make it easy to do and show that they can benefit their community in the process, many consumers will opt to recycle.
At the national level, organizations like
TerraCycle, Inc., make new recyclable products from things that don’t start out that way, providing free collection programs for such hard-to-recycle materials.
Spatz shared this information with the small St. Anthony community. Though its two weekend liturgies draw at most 200 people, the parish has a long history of addressing social justice issues, she said, including the environment.
In some areas, cigarette litter recycling can actually be profitable for cities. As
reported previously by GovExec State & Local, companies such as New Jersey-based
TerraCycle are paying cities like Salem, Massachusetts, for their recycled butts.
In order to track litter-reduction efforts, CLPP closely monitors programs in newly launched areas.
This is the first of a three-part series by TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky that examines the benefits, risks, misconceptions and long-term viability of bioplastics.
Since the relatively recent rise in conscious consumerism,
bioplastics — plastics made from biomass such as plants and algae – have been receiving significant attention. With the bioplastic market
projected to grow in the next few years, many are pointing to plant-derived plastic alternatives as the ultimate solution to our unsustainable dependence on fossil fuel-based plastics.
Many eco-fundraising programs pay participants to collect and recycle such things as chip bags, beauty care waste and drink pouches. The Drink Pouch Brigade—offered by Capri Sun and TerraCycle—rewards participants and their schools with points and cash donations for collecting drink pouches. Hazelwood Elementary School in Washington did just that, using money generated through collecting drink pouches to help counteract school-wide funding cuts.
