Recycling should feel good and most importantly, be easy. Reducing waste, saving energy, helping the planet—these are all things that most of us want to do—whether we are packaging engineers or just plain old consumers—but struggle to when the process is difficult or unclear! But in a system full of complicated rules and tiny numbers in often hard to find triangles, recycling often turns into a frustrating process, ending in a blind toss into what we hope is the right bin. Even as packaging experts we are sometimes unsure of which bin, is the right bin! To help break down these barriers, not-for-profit Recycle Across America (RAA) distributes standardized recycling-bin labels, designed to reduce public confusion about how to recycle. The labels clearly point out what can be placed in a bin, from plastic only to mixed recycling to compostables and yes, even the dreaded landfill. Using simple clear imagery and minimal copy these labels could be understood by someone who doesn’t even speak our language! TerraCycle has partnered with RAA for the launch of their Recycle Right! social action campaign, which features advertisements, videos, and tips on recycling in hopes of doubling the amount of standardized labels in use to 1 million labels deployed on bins nationwide. The campaign is kicking off in conjunction with the premiere of “Human Resources”, a new show about the world of TerraCycle fromParticipant Media. Consumers are the first step in the recycling process, so clarity about how to get things started is important. When people don’t know what can be recycled or where to put it, waste streams often end up polluted with trash or intermingled recyclables. Costs increase and time is wasted as processors are forced to sort through waste for the materials they can use. This discourages sustainable practices; if the cost of recycling is greater than the value of the materials, it just won’t happen. Meanwhile, daunting rules lead many consumers to throw up their hands and just throw everything in the garbage. According to the EPA, Americans recycled only 38% of aluminum packaging and 34% of glass packaging in 2012. As a result, landfills are filling up with material that won’t break down for decades and that could have easily been recovered and reused. Confusion is also burdening businesses, organizations and schools who want to reduce waste and recycle. Green consultants or sustainability administrators end up spending much of their time trying to increase effectiveness of recycling programs and decrease waste-hauling costs. Clearer labeling on bins would simplify recycling for everyone and allow these groups to focus on broader sustainability initiatives. Some big-name adopters of RAA’s labels include NBCUniversal, Procter and Gamble manufacturing and Hallmark. Additionally, over 2,000 K-12 schools in the US have taken them on. The results? According to RAA, standardized recycling labels help increase recycling more than 50% and significantly decrease the amount of trash or incorrect recyclable thrown into recycling bins and polluting that once valuable material. Implementing bin labels in the office is a first step anyone can take to improve company recycling practices. But packagers could potentially play a larger role in organizing the chaos of the recycling system. Right now, a lack of consistent labeling or clear directions makes it difficult to determine what to do with certain waste; food containers, different types of paper and the range of numbered plastics all lead to puzzled customers. Some efforts have been made to demystify that little green triangle. The On-Pack Recycling Label launched in the UK in 2009, aiming to provide clearer instructions and keep trash out of recycling streams. The labels, which have been adopted by about 150 brands, indicate whether each part of a package is recycled widely, only in certain areas or not at all. A similar effort by the How2Recycle project has been offered to US businesses since 2012. And customer surveys have shown that 80% of customers who saw the How2Recycle label on a package gained a more positive impression of that company. Figuring out where to toss our trash shouldn’t be stressful. People want to reduce their impact on the planet, and when a company makes it easy for their customers to go green, everybody comes out happier. Processors win, consumers win, the planet wins and the price of recycled materials goes down meaning packaging designers and engineers can finally convince the other stakeholders at going to post-consumer waste packaging makes sense! Author Tom Szaky, founder/CEO of TerraCycle, has won more than 50 awards for entrepreneurship, also writes blogs for Treehugger and The New York Times, recently published a book called "Revolution in a Bottle" and is the star of a National Geographic Channel special, "Garbage Moguls."

Pivot TV’s new reality show about converting waste materials into new better quality stuff, is changing the definition of trash TV. The new half hour comedy show, “Human Resources,” premiers August 8. It’s based on the eccentric staff at New Jersey upcycling company Terra Cycle. The world of reality TV has few, if any, boundaries. The era of weird people’s life on camera has included such Emmy worthy programs as “Vanilla Ice Goes Amish” and “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” And then there was the ever twisted reality show “The Swan,” which took women deemed “unattractive” and gave them extreme plastic surgery-laden makeovers. But that’s not quite the flow for “Human Resources.” According to Terra Cycle CEO Tom Szaky, it’s all about eliminating the concept of waste by making things that were formerly unrecyclable, recyclable. They reuse, upcycle, and even recycle nearly everything that you could imagine. It’s a nutty crew in a nutty workspace with daily lunch yoga, rain dances on the front lawn, superhero sock day, and vegan lunches. But most importantly, the show is shining a light on a really cool company whose mission is to create waste collection programs called Brigades for things that are traditionally difficult to recycle. The waste is transformed into brand new products from recycled park benches to upcycledbackpacks. Terra Cycle is trying to fix a big problem, considering that 90 percent of the stuff we buy will be in the dump within the year. But by changing our perspective, nothing needs to be trash because one system’s trash is another system’s food–just like in nature. Either way, it’s certainly an upgrade from “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé”, “I Cloned My Pet”, or “Living Lohan.”

By combining our strengths, TerraCycle, RAA and Pivot TV will bring more awareness to reshaping recycling and bettering the environment. Although this is only one partnership hoping to better the environment, it is still better than no initiative at all. After all, it takes a planet to save a planet, and you always have to start somewhere.

A new workplace "docu-comedy" following the leadership team at TerraCycle will air on Pivot TV next month. "Basically, it's an unscripted, Millennial's version of 'The Office' but where the water cooler trash talk revolves around talking about actual trash," writes Matt Hickman.

By combining our strengths, TerraCycle, RAA and Pivot TV will bring more awareness to reshaping recycling and bettering the environment. Although this is only one partnership hoping to better the environment, it is still better than no initiative at all. After all, it takes a planet to save a planet, and you always have to start somewhere.

According to the latest census, there are roughly three times as many reality TV shows as there are people, so pretty much every job you could possibly imagine has a show. There are shows about the high stakes of baking; programs devoted to the thrilling world of long-haultrucking (which somehow has not had a single episode about meth); series on goldfish caretaking; heck, every other gun shop inAmerica has a show (which is a lot of gun shops). Toddlers in tiaras have their own show as do toddlers who used to wear tiaras. But the reality TV field has been sorely lacking on the green front … until now. Pivot TV is launching Human Resources based on the wacky crew atTerraCycle, a New Jersey-based upcycling company. Breaking into the world of reality TV may seem like a specious victory for the green movement, but it’s a step. So much media portrays environmentalists as fringey weirdos who knit their own formal wear out of svagnum orawkward nerds so in love with ferns they are no longer capable of normal human relationships. It’s nice to see some of our kind given the good old-fashioned reality TV treatment. There are reasons to believe the show will be awesome: One is this beard, which Pivot had the sense to put on TV. So the show is in good hands. And while reality TV can be pretty formulaic, TerraCycle is used to turning old crap into valuable stuff, so maybe they can work their magic with TV. Human Resources premieres on Aug. 8 at 10 p.m. ET on Pivot.

TerraCycle, an international recycling company, and The North Face continue to work together to pursue a solution to the common problem of  massive amounts of leftover polyethylene bags that are used to protect merchandise through distribution and transit. The North Face has engaged 25 of its retail stores in TerraCycle's The North Face Polybag Brigade®, to ensure these plastic bags get recycled. Together the two companies have kept 1.5 million plastic polybags, equaling more than 62,000 lbs., of plastic out of U.S. landfills. "We are always looking for ways to reduce our environmental footprint and TerraCycle has been an important partner in helping The North Face address the challenging issue of plastic bag recycling," said Adam Mott, Director of Sustainability at The North Face. "This partnership is especially vital in locations where municipal recycling does not accept hard-to-recycle plastics, such as polybags, which would otherwise be disposed of in a landfill without the TerraCycle recycling program." Until this partnership between The North Face and TerraCycle began two years ago, the 25 stores were not able to readily recycle the polyethylene bags. Now, the bags will be recycled into a variety of different products such as plastic lumber, bike racks and pavers. "The volume of polybags that are used every day in shipping to customers and to retail stores is mind-boggling," said TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky. "The fact that The North Face is committed to going the extra step to keep them out of the waste stream is an action that should be applauded and replicated by more manufacturers and retail stores."

Students from H.L. Johnson Elementary School earned money and prizes for their school this past spring by collecting the drink pouches they use at home and in the school’s cafeteria for recycling. The TerraCycle recycling company announced late last month that the H.L. Johnson Elementary students had reached the second level of the Capri Sun Drink Pouch Brigade contest by collecting more than 18,000 drink pouches. The students earned more than $2,700 for the school. The Drink Pouch Brigade is a recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their waste to TerraCycle to be recycled.Thousands of other schools across the United States participate in the Drink Pouch Brigade. For more information of the program, visit www.terracycle.com.

PRINCETON — On May 6, Princeton PTA Green Team parent volunteers and students from Thomas Prince School traveled to the Massachusetts State House to receive an Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education Award. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs annually collaborates with the Secretary's Advisory Group on Energy and Environmental Education and the Massachusetts Environmental Trust to award and recognize schools and teachers (K-12 ) across the Commonwealth for their outstanding efforts in furthering energy and environmental education initiatives at their schools. The Thomas Prince School Princeton PTA Green Team was awarded top honors and a $400 award, as well as certificates of recognition from State Sen. Harriette Chandler and State Rep. Kimberly Ferguson. The award recognizes the efforts of Green Team volunteers, along with students in grades K-8 and teachers. Such efforts include: coordination and maintenance of an organic vegetable and herb garden, from which students enjoy two harvest celebrations each year; an annual daylong celebration of Earth Day with grounds cleanup efforts, nature hikes, environmental education and garden plantings; a TerraCycle fundraising initiative that literally turns trash to cash; and a student green team that engages in monthly hands-on activities encouraging environmental awareness. These efforts and more reinforce Thomas Prince School's dedication to hands-on learning under the school's STEAM initiative. Applauding the efforts of the Green Team, Thomas Prince School Principal, Mary Cringan, said: "We are so fortunate to have such a dedicated group of parents and staff that are committed to environmental education. The PTA Green Team under the leadership of Corey Burnham-Howard and Christine Rainville, work so hard to instill the importance of our mission at TPS. The entire community of Thomas Prince is grateful for their commitment." "This award recognizes the efforts of a team of dedicated parents, enthusiastic students and staff, and a supportive administration," said Christine Rainville, Princeton PTA Green Team co-chair. "But while we are thrilled to receive this recognition, the real satisfaction comes in knowing the Green Team is making a positive impact on the Thomas Prince School community."

Students at Roxborough's Shawmont School have hit a personal record in a nationwide recycling program that rewards people for collecting and sending their garbage to waste-collection company Terracycle to be recycled and upcycled. By collecting 18,000 Capri Sun drink pouches at home and in the lunchroom, they have earned more than $2,000 for their school. The initiative, dubbed the Milestone Program, was launched in Sept. 2013 when Capri Sun started offering money to schools that collect and recycle juice pouches. Today, the program offers prizes made out of recycled pouches such as recycling bins, park benches and a playground. "The Milestone Program is meant to inspire individuals and organizations to collect more waste while receiving prizes for their achievements," said Tom Szaky, CEO of Terracycle. "It is rewarding to see the students and administration get so involved in making this work. It's an incredible achievement to have kept so many pouches out of the waste stream."