As students headed back to class this fall in dozens of area schools, they were reminded to think twice before dumping the remains of their school lunch in the trash. The schools — more than 50 of them in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties — are partnering with TerraCycle, a national “upcycling” and recycling company which comes up with creative ways to reuse non-recyclable or hard to recycle waste. Area schools, including the Holyoke Community Charter School, St. Stanislaus School in Chicopee, Benjamin J. Phelps School in Agawam, SABIS International Charter School in Springfield, and the John R. Fausey Elementary PTO in West Springfield, have signed on with TerraCycle to recycle certain products in their schools. Under the program, which is also available to organizations, businesses and families, the specified waste is collected and shipped off regularly to TerraCycle at no cost to the collectors. From there, it is recycled or upcycled into new products, such as juice pouch tote bags.

Upcycling takes recycling to a whole new level. A product or material, like a CapriSun juice pouch or Skittles candy wrapper, products made famous by TerraCycle, is made into something of higher value. The purse or wristlet made with the original materials is far more valuable than the used wrapper on its own, even if that wrapper is recycled. The same goes for upcycling your content. Rather than merely recycling it, why not add to it for increased value. Rework it into a new thought, offer new opinions, ask new questions, based on your original content, or someone else’s in order to create more value.

I had the chance to interview Albe Zakes, the VP of Media for Terracycle, and a founding member. This is such a great interview as Albe tells how Terracycle was started, how they overcame their obstacles and most importantly, how social entrepreneurs should go about making their vision come to life. He explains what ‘up-cycling’ is and how that put TerraCycle on the path to generate millions in sales.

The Old Navy's Earth Day collection is helping kids across America. Four new playgrounds will be created with the help of recycled materials collected by the Hingham Old Navy last April. Last April, Old Navy kicked off the “Flip Flop Replay”  where all stores nation wide collected used flip flops which were to be turned into new playground by TerraCycle, a recycling collection company.

"I like nature and stuff," said sixth-grader Cody Weisensale. "I want to make the world a better place." Classmate Delanie Dennis said, "If no one recycled, the world wouldn't be very pretty." Earthkeepers collect and sort recyclables from all over the school. Several days a week, they sacrifice recess to count and box up empty chip bags, Lunchable trays and Capri Sun pouches. Each box of 500 like items brings the school $10 from TerraCycle, a company that turns the waste into park benches, back packs, flower pots and more.

I posted in my first blog about some of the cool jobs and internships I have been fortunate to have. I wanted to take the time and talk about my most previous internship in the business development department at TerraCycle this past summer. I moved out to Trenton, New Jersey to work for a company that is simply eliminating the idea of waste. CEO Tom Szaky, from his book Revolution in a Bottle, says it best that “in looking at waste as an entirely modern, man-made idea, I stopped viewing garbage as garbage and instead slowly started to see it as a commodity.” The private company’s goal is to engage consumers and communities in the collection of non-recyclable waste, things that you ordinarily cannot throw away into a recycling bin. Through a collection process, or Brigade™, consumers can send in their used products to TerraCycle where they will transform the waste into eco-products. They also incentivize the collections by rewarding consumers with $0.02 per item to a charity or school of their choice. This is able to close an environmental loop for brand’s consumers, and help them realize that there is an end of life decision for all the products they are using. From corks, cameras, cell phones, any sort of packaging, pre-consumer waste, shoes, diapers, energy bars, pens to yogurt containers, TerraCycle handles them all. They are very proud to say that they have not yet encountered a form of waste in which they can’t handle. Also, the whole Trenton office is upcycled featured conference rooms made from bottle walls and reclaimed doors used for desks (the office was voted the “Coolest in America.”). Some of their more successful products can be found in Walmart and the Home Depot like the Capri Sun backpack and the garbage cans made from 1,500 Frito-Lay bags. Next time you’re at the grocery store, be sure to look at the back of a Capri Sun box!

ROSWELL, GA -- Kimberly-Clark Professional, a provider of contamination control solutions for laboratories and cleanrooms, has joined TerraCycle to help pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities recycle cleanroom garments, including coveralls, hoods, boot covers, hair nets and masks. Through the collaboration, Kimberly-Clark Professional will become among the first to implement a large scale recycling program for non-traditional cleanroom waste streams, and TerraCycle will make its first voyage into the business-to-business market.

I've witnessed many a newly designed space, and often times they feel very--well--"new." It's hard to create a new space that feels lived-in and cozy without looking dated. However, Brooklyn design firm and "eco-friendly lifestyle experts" RePlayGround have managed to do just that with this office redesign .

As students headed back to class this fall in dozens of area schools, they were reminded to think twice before dumping the remains of their school lunch in the trash. The schools- more than 50 of them in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties- are partnering with TerraCycle, a national "upcycling" and recycling company which comes up with creative ways to reuse non-recyclable or hard to recycle waste.

The designers at TerraCycle refer to themselves as “junkies.” The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders may not recognize job addiction, but after speaking with the company’s resident design junkies, it is not hard to imagine withdrawal symptoms on days off. Not simply because the Trenton, New Jersey-based recycling and upcycling firm does eco-friendly work, but because so much of what they do, or fail to do, is an exercise in recombinant aesthetics. It was hard not to picture a modern art piece dangling in the Guggenheim when Brad Sherman, one of TerraCycle’s design junkies, told me about a chandelier he made of used eyeglasses. Although this project, and his bamboo-like picture frames made of cigarette butts, never made it to market, it says something about a company when even its failures can be mistaken for art.