Many major brands are getting on board with upcycling.  Scott tissue and Huggies are sponsoring programs to collect plastic packaging waste from paper products and diapers. And since most oral hygiene products aren’t recyclable, Colgate and TerraCycle have partnered to collect used toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes.

Many major brands are getting on board with upcycling.  Scott tissue and Huggies are sponsoring programs to collect plastic packaging waste from paper products and diapers. And since most oral hygiene products aren’t recyclable, Colgate and TerraCycle have partnered to collect used toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes.

DCS Montessori School recently teamed up with TerraCycle to start turning collected waste into new products and materials, ranging from park benches to backpacks. TerraCycle recycles and upcycles used packaging from familiar products like Capri Sun, Lays, and Oreos. Out of this comes more than 1,500 various products available at major retailers. Founded in 2001, TerraCycle’s goal is eliminate the idea of waste. This year, the Montessori school is participating in two “brigades,” which are national programs to collect specific previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recycle waste. First, the school will collect old cell phones from now until the end of the year by placing collection boxes near the main office and by the front doors. DCS Montessori has asked all students and parents to send in their old cell phones to benefit the environment and the school. Later this year, the school will select another brigade.

Isn't it annoying when your sink just won't drain! And it's like it plans to stop functioning right when you need to rush to work or when you're preparing to entertain guests. What are you to do in such a situation? First step, don't panic. Next step, get your can of drain cleaner and let it work its magic. Once the drain is clear, get on with your work. Simple isn't it? It is if you have the best drain cleaner. But do you know which one it is? Well, why don't you read the drain cleaner reviews in this article, try out the one that seems appealing to you and decide for yourself? Here we go. Terracycle Natural Drain Cleaner Here's a drain cleaner that is eco-friendly and devoid of any chemicals. The Terracycle Natural Drain Cleaner is one of the best options if you're looking for something that is not harmful to the pipe, and also a great unclogging agent. All the ingredients used in manufacturing this drain cleaner are perfectly biodegradable. Plus, it comes in a pack that is recyclable too. The only drawback of this drain cleaner is that it takes longer than chemical drain cleaners to unclog the pipe. But it works as efficiently, so give it a try for unclogging a drain and have a clean drain that does not use any harmful chemicals.

Eco-innovator TerraCycle (www.terracycle.net) charted new territory in the consumer goods industry in 2003 with one big idea: How can you eliminate the idea of waste? Back then, the company specialized in worm poop fertilizer packaged in old soda bottles. Its "upcycling" concept soon caught the eyes of consumer good companies small and large, like Honest Tea, Kraft Foods and Clif Bar, who had their own garbage issues to solve.

A pioneer in upcycling has been TerraCycle. Called the Google of garbage by The Telegraph, the company started producing organic fertilizer by packaging liquid worm poop in used soda bottles. Since then, the idea has grown to include products ranging from kites to boomboxes. TerraCycle takes simple household items, which most might consider garbage, and turns them into useful and simultaneously cool products. The company collects things like candy wrappers and toothbrushes, and pretty much everything in between. Want a fence built from recycled juice pouches?? Done! Since Terracycle identifies waste material and finds an alternative use for it by mimicking the shape and composition of the original material, new products can be in full production in a matter of weeks. Called the "With upcycling, you value all aspects of the item and don’t treat any aspect of it as waste. So, for example, we have yogurt cups we’re making into gardening pots. We say, Let’s not melt it down, but find a new use," said TerraCycle's founder and CEO Tom Szaky, as quoted in Ode Magazine.

The South Brunswick Senior Center has teamed up with eco-wise business TerraCycle to collect waste materials that are not normally taken by local recycling. The senior center will receive 2 cents for each wrapper and 25 cents for each inkjet cartridge that TerraCycle accepts. They will even pay the postage. TerraCycle will then up-cycle the goods into eco-friendly products. Items to be accepted for recycling are all Mars candy wrappers, all Nabisco and Keebler cookie wrappers, all brands of inkjet printer cartridges, all types of Kraft cheese products, and Scott brand wrappers for toilet paper, paper towels and napkins.

Nomacorc, the world’s leading producer of alternative wine closures, is celebrating the second anniversary of its partnership with TerraCycle, Inc., the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of nonrecyclable waste. The companies have worked together to expand the Cork Brigade™, a free program that collects synthetic and natural wine closures and “upcycles” them into corkboards for the home or office. Since the launch of the Cork Brigade in August 2008, more than 1,000 individuals and organizations such as liquor stores, restaurants and wineries have joined the Cork Brigade collection program. Nomacorc and TerraCycle have diverted more than 2 million closures from landfills and raised thousands of dollars for charitable organizations across the United States. The first upcycled product made from Nomacorc closures, an 18x18-inch corkboard, is available at national retailers and online at www.TerraCycleShop.com.

The township school has won a cash prize from a major retailer for its efforts to promote recycling. East Amwell Township School has received a $50,000 grant, the top prize awarded by the TerraCycle recycling firm of Trenton and the Walmart Foundation for the school's successful performance in a competition among state public schools to promote recycling, according to school principal John Capuano. "This is a perfect example of how the school and community can come together to help our environment and also generate revenue to benefit our students," Capuano said.

  It's good for the environment and Planet Earth that creative minds continue to produce new and innovative ideas... and this company is on the cutting edge. TerraCycle, www.terracycle.net is responsible for diverting massive amounts of waste from landfills and incinerators, both of which produce carbon and greenhouse gases adding to pollution of air quality. By recycling this waste into new products... the need for new packaging is greatly reduced or eliminated entirely. Think about it... as TerraCycle says: " garbage doesn't exist in Nature."  If we consider "garbage" to be a combination of both organic and human-made materials... it is the latter which is the problem in modern-day cultures. An important distinction in the equation is the difference between "recycling" and "up-cycling."  For example... to "recycle" a waste product involves breaking it down and remaking the re-useable materials into a new product with different shape and form... whereas to "up-cycle" a waste product is to retain it's form and shape and re-use it for a different, useful purpose. Up-cycling therefore, can be described as: "using every aspect of waste as value."