Far Hills Country Day School (FHCDS) is proud to announce that Priscilla Hayes, Director of Sustainability for the school, has won the Garden State Green Award sponsored by Kean University. The Garden State Green Award honors individuals and organizations that have made a significant contribution to the environment through preservation, reclamation or conservation activities; advocacy and pursuit of ‘green’ lifestyles or business practices; support or development of green/sustainable energy or energy conservation. Honorees have brought attention to a problem, pursued solutions, or inspired action and must have demonstrated that we can “Save the Planet, One Person at a Time.”

There’s really little need to toss things out these days — at least, not in the manner to which we’re accustomed. It’s part of a shift in policies, practices and products that has made it much easier than it used to be to achieve a tiny carbon footprint. “There are so many fantastic changes, in even the last five years,” said Kay McKeen, founder and executive director of the DuPage County nonprofit School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education.

A company rooted in worm compost and the resulting organic fertilizer, Trenton’s TerraCycle started in 2001 as an enterprise thought up by Princeton University freshman Tom Szaky. Now, it’s a multi-million dollar waste-eliminating business that operates across the U.S. and in 22 countries around the world. While sales of the organic fertilizer ignited the company, it’s the free recycling program TerraCycle developed that really helped it take off. “Since 2007, when we first launched the program, we have collected 2.5 billion pieces of garbage,” says Albe Zakes, global vice president of communication for TerraCycle.

A company rooted in worm compost and the resulting organic fertilizer, Trenton’s TerraCycle started in 2001 as an enterprise thought up by Princeton University freshman Tom Szaky. Now, it’s a multi-million dollar waste-eliminating business that operates across the U.S. and in 22 countries around the world. While sales of the organic fertilizer ignited the company, it’s the free recycling program TerraCycle developed that really helped it take off. “Since 2007, when we first launched the program, we have collected 2.5 billion pieces of garbage,” says Albe Zakes, global vice president of communication for TerraCycle.

Habitat for Humanity of Evansville is partnering with TerraCycle to make our community a better place to live! Habitat for Humanity of Evansville is currently collecting previously non-recyclable or hard to recycle waste. For each piece of garbage that you are able to recycle through Habitat, TerraCycle will provide a donation that will go directly to our mission of providing homes, communities and hope.

Personal Care & Beauty Products — One of my main beefs with New York’s recycling program is that they won’t accept many of the plastic containers that hygiene products come in, whether it’s a toothpaste tube or deodorant packaging. To my great relief, a recently established company called Terracycle will take all of these used products (and much, much more) and they’ll pay the shipping costs! Food — That’s right, you can even recycle food. Some municipalities (like Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco) already have curbside recycling programs in place that will collect your compostable food scraps. If your city is still waiting for such programs, however, you might be able to donate your food scraps elsewhere! Many local farmer’s markets, for instance, have drop-off centers for compostable food and household waste. Make sure to check with your local market first!

Did you know you could be raking in the pennies while doing something that’s good for the environment:  recycling?   It all started when I bought five packages of Capri Suns at Kroger to fulfill part of a rebate I was working on. On the back of the package was information about Terracycle, a company that has kept over 1.2 billion pieces of trash out of landfills while fashioning super cool backpacks, pencil cases, tote bags, trash cans, even cork boards! Even more amazing to me was that they would donate $ .02 per pouch collected, to the school or charity of my choice!

The parents of one of my daughter’s classmates are taking recycling to a new level. Inspired by TerraCycle’s Drink Pouch Brigade, they’ve been collecting used CapriSun drink pouches and turning them into cool lunch bags. Last Sunday, they hosted a work party at their home, and kids helped create and decorate one-of-a-kind artsy bags using a sewing machine. When the school holds its annual Art Walk fundraiser a few weeks from now, these bags will be part of the items on display. Isn’t that cool?

TRENTON, N.J., March 7, 2013 – GoGo squeeZ, the popular healthy snack brand, has been working with TerraCycle to solve the issue of snack pouch waste through a recycling collection program called The GoGo squeeZ Brigade.  For each pouch collected and sent in to TerraCycle, the collector earns points toward charity gifts or donations.  More than 220,000 pouches have been collected since the Brigade launched two years ago, and more than half of the pouches were collected within the past six months. Due to the success of The GoGo squeeZ Brigade, additional spots are being opened for Earth Month, which will allow thousands of additional people to participate. GoGo squeeZ has exciting opportunities coming up for its collectors during Earth Month 2013. In order to reward Brigade participants for recycling their products, GoGo squeeZ is:

Today is Earth Day. As you may have gleaned from reading my blogs over the last few years, I try to live every single day with a deep awareness of this planet, its environment, and how it all affects our health.