TerraCycle offers a free recycling program called the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade that can help salons and spas move toward zero-waste. Sponsored by L'Oreal's Garnier brand, the Brigade is free to join and all shipping costs are paid. Any salon employee can sign up to send in previously non-recyclable hair care, skin care and cosmetic packaging, regardless of brand. For every piece of waste sent to TerraCycle, the collector earns two points, which can be applied to specific charity gifts or converted to cash and sent to the charity of the collector's choice.

Once again TerraCycle is at the forefront of upcycling and reusing products for a brighter future for all of us. They are ready for Valentine’s Day with a few DIY upcycling ideas. While cleaning up trash doesn’t seem like a romantic way to spend the day, you can celebrate the holiday and effect real-world change with special Valentine’s Day items, products and decorations in Trash Tycoon, Facebook’s first upcycling game from Guerillapps and TerraCycle. In the game, you can clean up trash and upcycle it to fun products like necklaces, Valentine’s Day cards and heart shaped wreaths to send to friends or to decorate your town. Players’ hearts will swell because Trash Tycoon creates positive social impact by donating 10% of in-game dollars to environmental projects sponsored by CarbonFund.org.

The best Valentine gifts are not bought in stores but are the ones that are homemade and come straight from the heart and for the bracelet straight from the garbage. Whether you make a bracelet for that special Valentine or one for each of your friends, recipients will be touched that you took the time to give them a handmade gift. Terracycle offers this one of a kind unique bracelet pattern made from Kraft cheese wrappers. With simple, do-it-yourself instructions available for download here: bit.ly/ValentineBraceletDIY, these bracelets are sure to be a hit with children of all ages while also educating them on the importance of recycling and upcycling. You can also check out this video for step-by-step instructions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1iIq1U9PEw&feature=youtu.be

In this first issue of the spring semester, I'd like to challenge you to take that creativity to a unique end: recycling. "Creative recycling" may sound, to you, a bit like the combination of the words "synchronized" and "swimming," which, despite its recent feature on the TV show Glee, is not America's most popular or familiar sport. It may be said that recycling is not Messiah College's most popular or familiar pastime. We literally have recycling bins everywhere on campus, yet I feel nothing but utter frustration every time I look in the trash. Now, I understand that not all of us are vigilantes in the war against landfills; however clearly labeled trash cans next to clearly labeled recycling cans should not be filled with "trash" that could be recycled. Last time I checked, most college students have the ability to read, so I'm still pretty confused as to why specific items like foam constantly end up in the garbage. Is the question what materials are able to be recycled? Union-goers, are you unsure of the difference between plastic, foam, and paper waste? Let me give you a hint: Plastic silverware... recyclable. Ketchup containers... recyclable. Foam plates.... recyclable again! Did you know that your Starbucks cups can be composted and their lids and cardboard sleeves recycled? What about smoothies? What part of that cup is not plastic? Why, then is the trash always overflowing with laziness (the only logical excuse for throwing away recyclables right next to the proper container)?

TerraCycle, an award-winning company that specializes in recycling hard-to-recycle waste, wants to help small businesses achieve their green initiatives while giving back to the community. If your company signs up to a TerraCycle “Brigade” and begins collecting specific items such as Scotch tape dispensers, toner cartridges, pens, drink pouches, potato chip bags and more, TerraCycle will process those items and your company can earn money for the school or charity of your choice.

These days it seems like every company is trying to go green, and we’ll be the first to back those efforts up. To prove how supportive we are, we decided to bring back our “Green Office Tip of the Week” segment this week to offer up our thoughts on how your company can improve its recycling efforts. In order to do so, we’ve compiled a list of 19 things that your office can, and should, recycle. Recycling is the easiest way to go green. There are businesses around the country that will take pretty much any material from you, and some of them will even pay you for certain items. If you need help finding a place to recycle any of these materials, check outEarth911.com.

Recently Mrs. Erickson and a group of 4th graders learned about Terracycle by looking at the food packaging items we collect at RES and thinking about what becomes of these items.  They shared what they learned with other students.  Terracycle is a company that repurposes packaging, most of which currently can't be put in our recycling bins.  Students recycle in their classrooms at snack time and in the cafeteria.  The items are sent free of charge to Terracycle and they in turn send RES money, up to 3 cents for each piece. All this money is then donated to the Richmond Food Shelf.  To date, we have recycled over twenty-one thousand packages, raising money and reducing our landfill contributions!

MCLEAN, Va. (WUSA) - Trash has a new meaning at Churchill Road Elementary School. Some of it means money. Some of it means food for the hungry. And some of it means a bumper crop of vegetables this spring. The school produces 300 pounds of trash everyday, but only throws out 30 pounds. The rest of the 270 pounds of waste is recycled, turned into compost, or upcycled, meaning it's used again as it is. "Nothing is disposable. Everything has a use everything has a value and you just don't throw it away because you think its trash," says Debra Maes, the mother who started the program last school year.

I’m not much of a sports guy myself. For me, sports seem to be a detraction from more serious issues. But, I noticed on our TerraCycle Facebook page that we’re running a cross-promotion with Frito Lay for Super Bowl XLVI and asking people how they’re greening their football parties. I started to wonder about the Super Bowl and how detrimental it must be to the environment.