We can't stop working to turn the Earth's health around. We have to continue recycling, reducing and reusing. We have to find new ways every day to minimize our carbon footprint. There are opportunities everywhere. Take, for example, the Clif Bar you're currently munching. TerraCycle [1] is now offering 2 cents for every Clif Bar wrapper you collect (you have to sign up first), so that they can turn them into funky eco-cessories, reducing the amount of wrappers that end up in landfills each year. And they aren't stopping at Clif Bars; Nature Valley and PowerBar wrappers are accepted as well. If you don't eat energy bars but gobble up tubs of yogurt and gallons of juice, TerraCycle is collecting yogurt containers and drinkpouches. Sounds good, and easy, to me.

Here’s one way.  Two companies have teamed up to launch the “Protecting the Planet for Baby Contest,” which will offer funding for green projects to its contest winners.  Sprout, the organic baby food brand co-founded and created by Executive Chef and father, Tyler Florence, and TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection of non-recyclable and difficult-to-recycle packaging, are collaborating in this campaign to encourage families to protect the planet for the sake of their children.

Over at Terracycle, “Sprout and TerraCycle are asking parents WHY they are protecting the planet for the sake of their children.  Maybe Mom was really inspired by a trip to Yellowstone and wants her baby to have the same experience?  Maybe Dad struggles with asthma and is wants his daughter to have cleaner air to breathe?  The reasons and ways parents are going green are wide and varied, but TerraCycle and Sprout want to hear about them all!  Email contest@teams.terracycle.net and tell us about it, in 250 words or less, for the chance to win a month’s supply of Sprout Organic Baby Food, a TerraCycle bag, and $100 for a green project.  Three runner-ups will receive prize packs, too!  For more info, please see http://www.terracycle.net/Protecting-the-Planet-for-Baby-Contest.” If you use Sprout, you can also sign up for a Sprout brigade on Terracycle and send in your pouches to be recycled or upcycled into new products.

Southern Seasons Magazine

Visitors who bring specially marked Polly-O String Cheese packaging to the Six Flags Over Georgia Park in Atlanta will receive $15 off general admission any day of the week or a free kid’s ticket with purchase of general admission ticket on weekdays, now through Aug. 31. TerraCycle will recycle the packaging. www.terracycle.net

Nothing says summer more than flip flops.  The squishy sandals help you beat the heat and they can help build a new playground too.  The Old Navy stores in Spokane Valley and Moscow, Idaho are collecting used flip flops.  Collection boxes sit near the front door. . "When a customer comes in they just need to bring their old flip flops and pop them in the box.  It's Simple, " said Spokane Valley store manager Bridget Brooks.  The old sandals are mailed to TerraCycle http://www.terracycle.net in New Jersey and recycled into plastic equipment for new playgrounds.  TerraCycle also recycles used potato chip bags, candy wrappers and children's juice drink pouches.

Garnier’s Cleaner Greener Tour will be parked at the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo on the banks of Bayou Saint John in New Orleans from Friday-Sunday. Garnier is kicking off a packaging collection and recycling program w/TerraCycle called the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and announcing Pure Clean, a biodegradable hair care line.

Garnier’s Cleaner Greener Tour will be parked at the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo on the banks of Bayou Saint John in New Orleans from Friday-Sunday. Garnier is kicking off a packaging collection and recycling program w/TerraCycle called the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and announcing Pure Clean, a biodegradable hair care line.

Garnier’s Cleaner Greener Tour will be parked at the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo on the banks of Bayou Saint John in New Orleans from Friday-Sunday. Garnier is kicking off a packaging collection and recycling program w/TerraCycle called the Personal Care and Beauty Brigade and announcing Pure Clean, a biodegradable hair care line. Boogaloo attendees can bring any and all hair care, skin care and cosmetic packaging to the tour vehicle to be recycled by TerraCycle and score free Pure Clean samples. For more information, visit Event Website

Old Navy stores and an international recycling company are teaming up to recycle old flip-flops into playground equipment. Flip-flops can be dropped off at Old Navy, 830 Grand Central Ave., until 9 p.m. Saturday as part of a collaborative recycling effort between the retailer and Terracycle Inc., an international company that turns hard-to-recycle items into eco-friendly products.

Have you heard about Upcycle It!?  Sustainable Westford's innovative program collects non-recyclables such as chip bags, granola bar wrappers, cookie wrappers and more to keep them out of the waste stream. These items are sent to a company called TerraCycle. TerraCycle donates two cents per item and pays for shipping.  These items are then upcycled into new products such as backpacks, tote bags, and flower pots.