In partnership with the TerraCycle company (terracycle.net), we’re launching the first retail-sponsored flip flop recycling program starting Earth Day (Fri 4/22). Customers can bring in old flip flops and we’ll recycle them by turning them into children’s playgrounds.
As an
Earth Day promotion,
Office Depot and
Old Navy will be taking used pens and old flip-flops, respectively, to be recycled into trash cans, desk organizers and playgrounds.
Through Saturday, shoppers can bring in 10 used pens, markers or mechanical pencils to Office Depot and receive a coupon toward new
Sanford products such as
Sharpie,
Expo or
PaperMate.
And from Friday, which is Earth Day, to May 21, Old Navy shoppers can deposit their used flip-flops in collection bins at stores.
New Jersey-based
Terra-Cycle will recycle the used items. Several schools and community groups in Charleston are involved in TerraCycle's free recycling fundraisers, which pay two cents for every piece of used packaging returned. Learn more at
www.terracyle.net.
Recycle: Bring used writing instruments, regardless of brand, to Office Depot at 4297 Meridian St. in Bellingham. They will be sent to TerraCycle Inc. and turned into new office-supply products such as trash cans and desk organizers. The collection runs through Saturday, April 23. People who bring in 10 pens, pencils or markers will receive a coupon toward a new product from Sanford, a pen company.
Solo Cup Company announced it is joining forces with TerraCycle(R), Inc. to recycle its Solo Squared(R) party cups. Through the Solo Cup Brigade(R), individuals, schools and non-profits can collect used Solo Squared plastic cups and return them to TerraCycle where they will be recycled into plastic that will be used to make other items such as equipment for playgrounds, park benches and outdoor furniture.
Getting management buy-in and adequate funding is cited as a top security challenge by 24% of our survey respondents. "Outside the IT department, security may not be on the corporate road map," says TerraCycle's Sharp. "Too often, there's no budget for smoke detectors until the house is burning."
Forest Hills Ada Vista Elementary is the first school in West Michigan to receive the Evergreen Award, which is the highest level that a school can achieve under the Michigan Green School program.
The school will be honored at the Kent County award ceremony at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday at the Caledonia Fine Arts Center.
One of the green programs Ada Vista students have undertaken is collecting recycling and terracycling during lunchtime. Terracycle is a company that pays nonprofit organizations to collect materials that cannot otherwise be recycled and turns them into new items for sale. So far this school year, Ada Vista students have earned $721 from terracyle and saved 670 pounds of waste from going into landfills. For more information on the program visit
http://www.terracycle.net/.
Also coming this week to celebrate Earth Day, Ada Vista will show some of the "green" programs the students have started by holding an "art prize" in which all of the pieces either need to be made from recycled materials or be about an environmental topic. The art will be on display in the hallway for the entire week.
Big Rock Elementary has been participating in a program that utilizes many of the items that aren't typically recycled. TerraCycle, a New Jersey company, pays for the items collected and turns them into a variety of other products.
