After learning about his elementary school's project this year with Terracycle, Penn State Freshman, Augustus Perangelo decided to join many of Terracycle Inc.'s brigade. TerraCycle's purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. They do this by creating national recycling systems for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. Anyone can sign up for these programs, called the Brigades, and start sending them waste. TerraCycle then converts the collected waste into a wide variety of products and materials. With more than 20 million people collecting waste in over 20 countries TerraCycle has diverted billions of units of waste and used them to create over 1,500 different products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market.

TerraCycle specializes in partnering with individuals and corporations to collect waste, upcycle the things it can into objets d’delight, and recycle the rest, creating raw material for other products. As it happens, the TerraCycle headquarters in Trenton, N.J., features an enormous chandelier made from movie film, and the design team there has built several prototypes of film-based products, including belts and bags. They even have DIY instructions for gift bows made from film and other materials. But a VP there, Albe Zakes, says the group ran into a problem when it thought about marketing these items on a mass scale: a little thing called intellectual property rights. Seems you’d need to secure permission from every recognizable actor and brand in a film before putting such products on the market. Which would be, as Zakes put it, “a logistical nightmare.” But good news, CB! Zakes was very excited by your letter, and hopes to explore the idea of TerraCycle starting a film-recycling program. This outfit has plenty of experience figuring out how to recycle oddities, including cigarette butts, chewing gum, and dirty diapers, so they’re up for a challenge. They also have relationships with some of the leading production companies. I know Hollywood has taken some steps toward greening itself lately, and I encourage you to find out if there’s any way to make this part of the saga end happily.

TerraCycle's cigarette recycling program was mentioned in a video on office holiday parties on ABC's 20/20.

Under the leadership of volunteer Sarah Martin, and University of Maine at Farmington intern Joe Dignam, TerraCycle was launched. In this program various products -- from shampoo bottles to foil-lined granola bar wrappers -- are sent to TerraCycle headquarters in New Jersey where they are recycled into other products or up-cycled into functional art such as juice box tote bags. TerraCycle pays money for the products that are shipped to them so the environment and United Way benefits.

The UC Davis campus recycling program aims for zero waste, and, as an example of how thorough this is, they don’t just recycle the usual stuff. Over the past year, UCD purchased more than 150,000 pens, and they’ve partnered with TerraCycle to collect and “upcycle” pens, highlighters and other plastics that normally would have gone in the trash into usable products. TerraCycle awards 2 cents for each implement collected to a charity specified by the university.

TerraCycle: Upcycling: Trash to Tuneful Treasure.  Upcycled Mail Sack iPad. TerraCycle.com  

We’re always on the hunt for new ways to protect Mother Earth and recycle anything we can. When we found TerraCycle we got pretty excited. We’ve recently partnered with TerraCycle who is on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste. The collected waste is then converted into new products, ranging from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks. Here is a list of the items that we can now collect: Chip Bags – Any empty brand or size chip bag. Candy Wrappers – Any brand and size candy wrappers, excluding candy boxes or gum packaging. Toothpaste Products – Any brand used toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes and plastic toothbrush packaging, excluding cardboard. Writing Utensils – Any brand and any size pen, pencils, mechanical pencils, wooden pencils, markers and highlighters, sharpie and dry eraser markers; just to name a few. No crayons please. Thanks to the help of our File Creation team we’ve printed up some fun boxes around the office to collect these new items. If you’d like to know more about TerraCycle please visit their website.

TerraCycle, a small upcycling company based in New Jersey, has launched its new program, Cigarette Waste Brigade, which aims to collect various wastes from cigarettes and tobaccos – cigarette butts, rolling papers, loose tobacco pouches, plastic wrapper, foil, and ashes. Cigarette butts are one of the wastes that are most of the time disposed of improperly. In fact, about 65% of cigarettes are littered by smokers and cigarette is the number one waste recovered from oceans with a total of 52 million cigarette filters in 25 years. TerraCycle, known for collecting and processing hard-to-recycle wastes to produce various consumer products, has added another item to their list. In their Cigarette Waste Brigade program, they allow cigarette smokers (strictly 19 years old and above), bar and restaurant owners, building managers, and litter clean-up groups to participate by having their cigarette wastes collected and get paid in return in terms of charitable gifts or cash.

Under the leadership of volunteer Sarah Martin, and UMF intern Joe Dignam, TerraCycle was launched. In this program various products – from shampoo bottles to foil-lined granola bar wrappers – are sent to TerraCycle headquarters in New Jersey where they are recycled into other products or up-cycled into functional art such as juice box tote bags. TerraCycle pays money for the products that are shipped to them (for free) so the environment benefits as well as the United Way!