For the everyday sweet-eater, Terracycle is your best bet. Founder Tom Szaky made the once-kitschy term “upcycling” into a legitimate process, and since its humble beginnings in 2001, Terracycle has become one of the No. 1 upcycling companies in the U.S. We’ve seen Szaky and his team create usable (and fashionable) materials for the home, garden, school and office from almost-impossible-to-recycle items like Capri Sun pouches, Skittles bags and Starburst wrappers, just to name a few.

Wondering how to responsibly dispose of cereal and chip bags, candy wrappers, make-up containers, and other single-use packaging items? Send them to TerraCycle http://www.terracycle.http://www.terracycle.net/! Founded in 2001, TerraCycle http://www.terracycle.net/ offers national mail-in recycling programs for all kinds of hard-to-recycle plastic waste. The company helps "upcycle" some items like candy wrappers and juice pouches into stronger and longer-lasting incarnations, such as backpacks and kites. It also facilitates recycling of other hard-to-recycle plastics, such as chip bags and butter tubs, into bins, fencing, an more.

Now that you and your kids have a bag (or more) full of candy from last night’s trick or treating, how about giving some thought to what will happen to all the wrappers after your belly is full of sugary treats? Be sweet to the environment with one of more of these ideas to make the best use of those wrappers: TerraCycle: We’ve already mentioned TerraCycle–a company that collects potato chip bags and food wrappers to make useful products. Join their Candy Wrapper Brigade to turn in your wrappers for some cash! Just sign-up and they’ll send you prepaid postage labels–for each wrapper you send it, TerraCycle will donate $0.02 to your favorite charity or school.

Each year millions of candy wrappers are needlessly discarded and end up in landfills. TerraCycle® is proud to partner with Mars®, Wrigley®, and Cadbury® to create a second life for candy wrappers. Every time you enjoy a candy product, we want you to save the wrapper and send it in! For each approved candy wrapper received, your Collection Location will be awarded two TerraCycle points which can be redeemed for a variety of charitable gifts or for a payment of $0.02 to the non-profit organization or school of your choice.

We've all seen case studies showing how the world's top consumer brands are forging new and deeper relationships with their customers on Facebook. Yet there are many more start-up companies than there are colossal consumer brands, and their stories can be at least as enlightening. At PR News' Facebook Conference , which will be held on Dec. 1 at Washington, D.C.'s National Press Club, Albe Zakes, global VP, media, at TerraCycle Inc., will present a case study showing how "upcycling" company TerraCycle has used Facebook to expand its customer base. Zakes gives us a preview of his case study in the following Q&A.

Let’s face it, trick-or-treaters don’t want anything but the really sugary, bad-for-you candy, so don’t bother wracking your brain for some kind of healthy alternative.  And don’t trick the poor kids, it’s just mean.  Except for Hershey Kiss wrappers, most candy wrappers are not recyclable through traditional methods.  But there is a solution!  TerraCycle is a recycling and upcycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle materials, including candy wrappers.  Anyone can sign up for free at http://www.terracycle.net to send in their empties through the Candy Wrapper Brigade, sponsored by Mars.  You’ll earn points to be used for charity gifts or donations and TerraCycle will use the wrappers to make new products, like portable speakers, tote bags and watering cans.  I’d say that is a sweet deal!

Ever been confused as to how some of your multimaterial beauty products, such as lipstick and mirrored compacts, should be recycled? Fret no more. With TerraCycle, a company that specializes in recycling harder-to-recycle goods, the guesswork is taken out for you. With its Personal Care and Beauty Brigade program, which runs in conjunction with Garnier, you can feel good knowing that just about any product you're uncertain of will be accepted (except hair spray cans, polish remover, and nail polish bottles). Products are then upcycled to build eco-friendly playgrounds throughout the US. To find out more, just keep reading. Even better, it's free to join the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade. For every approved item received, points are earned, which can then be applied towards charitable causes. And considering one-third of landfill waste is comprised of personal care and beauty products, it's great to know that you — along with your old mascara tubes, lip-liner pencils, and foundation bottles — are making a difference.

Green games such as LogiCity, The Climate Change Game, CEO2- Climate Business, and Plan It Green are all examples of video gaming for good. These games teach players how to manage the environment and business to effectively take care of the planet and consider how our actions affect the health of the Earth. TerraCycle’s own Trash Tycoon is taking on the recycling problem. If someone recycles in a game, and decides what to make with the trash and recyclables they collect, they can think of this off the screen when they are in their kitchen or in the school cafeteria. With Trash Tycoon, for example, when players buy Kraft Cheese food items in the game, and recycled the plastic cheese packaging in the game, the same behavior is more likely to be emulated in daily life. According to McGonigal’s article, kids who played “ ‘pro-social’ games […] are more likely to help friends, family, and neighbors in real-life for a full week after playing the game. Positive behavior in a game can translate into positive behavior in reality.

More schools are collecting candy wrappers to send to TerraCycle, a recycling company that gives donors money for charitable use. It has received 1.2 million candy wrappers so far this year, more than double its 2010 total.

•More schools are collecting candy wrappers to send to TerraCycle, a recycling company that gives donors money for charitable use. It has received 1.2 million candy wrappers so far this year, more than double its 2010 total. "At first, kids were like, 'It's just trash' … but when they saw how it added up, they caught on," says Daniele Clark, a fifth-grade science teacher at Spicer Elementary in Haltom City, Texas. She says students have collected enough wrappers to raise $842 so far — enough to send eight kids to a three-day science camp.