For my final post in this TerraCycle Refresher Week, I'd like to give you a glimpse into how TerraCycle operates here in our elementary school.

During a Webcast on Thursday afternoon, industry experts presented their views on sustainable packaging industry views and behaviors. The speakers also discussed the results of Packaging Digest's fifth annual Sustainability Survey, a glimpse into current industry behaviors and attitudes, and what lies ahead. Anne Johnson, director of survey partner Sustainable Packaging Coalition, remarked that packaging industry professionals are more knowledgeable about issues pertaining to sustainability than ever before. "It's really clear that awareness of sustainability is very, very mature," she said.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors has agreed to go ahead with interim financing for the planned Joint Justice/Municipal Courts Complex - but only if the City Council agrees next week to pay for its share. In other action, the board approved: • A program for Pima County employees to recycle pens and markers with TerraCycle, which will donate some proceeds to charity.

BARRINGTON — Don’t throw away all of you your candy wrappers or Capri Suns. Terracycle them. Local elementary schools like Primrose, Hampden Meadows School, and Bristol’s Guiteras School are all a part of the Terracycle program. They are collecting CapriSun containers and candy wrappers. What are they going to do with them you may ask? Well, they are going to donate them to Terracycle (a national company that recycles things that are hard to recycle) so they can be made into new things like bags, backpacks, boxes, pencil boxes, and notebooks. They are also going to get 2 cents back for their school. So If every one in your school has one CapriSun every day for a year you will have about 1,980 dollars for your school! For more information email ejvanleer@gmail.com or go to Terracycle.net.

As with our previous tally (which Sunset took away in October last year), the jar obviously does not include the "active discards" of the few things that I have sent back to manufacturers with a suggestion letter, or the occasional candy wrappers (including 10 from last year's Halloween) that people have given our kids and I have sent to Terra Cycle (TerraCycle, Inc, Attn: Candy Wrapper Brigade, 121 New York Ave, Trenton, NJ 08638). Apart from State Farm insurance cards (who have switched to cardboard cards since our last complaint!), much of our waste is recurrent and will undoubtedly recur. As we all know Zero Waste today is not technically feasible, and I can say that my family is definitely stuck on this plateau. Plateauing is a natural part of the process, I guess. But energy efficient transportation and solar offer ways of improving other types of waste and provide me with much continued waste reduction satisfaction! ;)

Make your child's craft time with Alex M&M's Candy Wrapper Jewelry. Alex has partnered with Terracycle to create this fun jewelry activity, which repurposes unused M&M's candy wrappers that would otherwise end up in landfills. Make bracelets, headbands, and belts with a simple linking pattern. Help the planet and make a fashion statement, too! Personalize Your Design with Different Materials Candy Wrapper Jewelry uses upcycled M&M's candy wrappers and a simple adhesive and folding pattern to create bracelets, headbands, and belts of varying sizes and designs. Upcycling means finding a new use for a material that would otherwise end up in the trash, and Alex's partnership with Terracycle has made sure that your child is able to take part in that process! This kit includes over 200 pre-cut, shiny, multicolored M&M's wrappers to give your child's creations some extra flair. Kids can use their imaginations to choose different color combinations and patterns, tie projects together with a suede cord or elastic band, and finish with a bead of their choice. Fold and Link to Create Your Look The included assembly instructions make jewelry crafting simple with both visual and written instructions for a thorough description. The pattern includes five steps of wrapper folding per link, and it isn't long before the links begin to form a glossy, sturdy chain. Our testers enjoyed using the glue stick cap as a burnishing tool, but keep an eye on the exposed glue stick, or ... ( see LINK for video)

With even less coercing, Rutabaga was talked into yet another creative holiday craft! With slight patience, we created beautiful fancy bows out of non-recyclable chip bags and you can too! Terracycle is a national recycling system for previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. Anyone can sign up for these programs, called the Brigades, and start sending Terracycle your waste. Since Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center is a zero waste facility, we do send Terracycle our non-recyclable items to lessen our impact on the environment even further. Presently, we are on the waiting list for the Chip Bag Brigade. As you can imagine, chip bags have been piling up at the center until we can send them off. In the meantime, we rinsed those bags out and put them to holiday use.

Yesterday I blogged about what we TerraCycle here at Blue Ridge. Today I'm going to write about something equally important: what we DON'T TerraCycle. Here is a list of items that I often see in our TerraCycle collection bins and have to throw out. If you've sent in these items, DON'T FEEL BAD! I'd rather you send it in when in doubt. But so you know, here are some items that we do NOT TerraCycle:

For today's post during this TerraCycle Refresher week on our blog, I'm sharing a list and description of what items we collect for TerraCycle here at Blue Ridge. Glue Bottles/Sticks Any size Elmer's brand glue sticks and plastic glue bottles are acceptable. Only Elmer's please! We earn $0.02 per item.ri

Eco-friendly cleaners have become more popular as people try to stay away from harsh chemicals, and now there's more good news: not only are the eco-friendly cleaners available, but the bottles are being made from recycled plastics and are also recyclable themselves. Non-recyclable packaging is a major obstacle in creating a truly responsible line of soaps and cleaners for moms who want a safe environment inside their homes and out. Three leading eco-responsible brands, TerraCycle, Dropps, and Method are making serious headway by offering completely eco-friendly products with natural, non-toxic ingredients and newly recyclable packaging. Now families can use natural cleaners, reduce their waste production and earn money for their community at the same time!