On this edition of Recycle What?!? THE POUCH. Here’s a question I get asked all the time…Are Capri Sun packages recyclable??? For me I always thought the answer was yes, due to the commercials where they showed backpacks, laptop bags and other items made from recycled Capri Sun pouches. However, I was wrong, after some research I found that Capri Sun pouches ARE NOT recyclable! What?!?!?!!! The deceit! LOL. Okay, I won’t take it that far. So Capri Sun pouches are not recyclable in the “conventional” sense, meaning, you probably should not throw them in your recycle bins; however, Capri Sun has a pretty interesting recycle program, it’s called “Terracycle”. In short, it works by juice guzzlers sending in their empty Capri Sun pouches, the company uses the empty pouches to make new and cool items such as backpacks, etc., and then they make the items available for purchase online. In the end, not all is lost for the Capri Sun lovers, if you sign up for the “Terracycle” program you will be doing your part in keep these non-recyclable juice pouches from filling up our landfills. You can find out more information at http://brands.kraftfoods.com/caprisun/be-green-earn-green.aspx NOTE: The “Terracycle” program is geared towards schools and organizations to help them earn money, so if you do not have children, perhaps you can speak with a local school or organization and donate your empty pouches. So again Recycle What?!? Capri Suns ARE NOT recyclable in the “conventional” sense, but they ARE recyclable in the “technical” sense. So save up those pouches, send them in for your own school or organization or donate them to a school or organization.

How many juice pouches does one elementary school use over the course of about two years? One school, Anchor Bay's Lighthouse Elementary in New Baltimore, has used approximately 44,640 since October 2009, second-grade teacher Rebecca Eckstein said. The dedicated collection of the used drink pouches has earned the school a place in the top 100 collecting schools of TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. This is a program that has helped the recycling company reach the milestone of 50 million pouches collected; it has also assisted the school's Parent Teacher Group to benefit students. The school learned that it had earned the honor from TerraCycle in December 2010, and received a plaque made of recycled drink pouches in the mail in January, Eckstein said. The plaque is currently displayed in a school hallway.

EAST AMWELL TWP. — Where most people see trash, the township school’s Environmental Club sees cash. That has won $50,000 for the school, the top prize in a TerraCycle-Walmart contest for New Jersey public schools. It did so by blitzing TerraCycle with 52,640 plastic wrappers and containers during the two-and-a-half-month contest. “You can’t get much greener than this!” exclaimed the club’s adviser, fifth-grade language arts and science teacher Sharon Ernst. It all started in 2008 with Ernst casting about for a way to raise money for an Environmental Club for fourth- and fifth-graders. She wanted to do something applicable to stewardship, which ruled out fundraisers such as bake sales. She considered selling seeds, then a parent mentioned TerraCycle, which pays nonprofit groups that send it hard-to-recycle items for reuse or recycling.

  A common way to fertilize container gardens in general, and orchids in particular, is to follow the maxim “weakly, weekly.” This means to fertilize them at a weaker strength than recommended on the package, on a weekly basis. A good rule of thumb is 1/4 strength. A lot of orchid fertilizers are synthetic. If you want to keep things organic, one thing I’ve found that works pretty well for orchids is a weak worm tea. Check out a product called TerraCycle Orchid Plant Food if you don’t have your own vermicomposter or just don’t want to have to make it yourself.

Last night I joined TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/> ! Their purpose is to eliminate waste from landfills. Schools, charities and individuals can sign up for one or more of their 37 brigades <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades?locale=en-US&show_all=true>  to collect items such as Ziploc bags and Capri Sun pouches that would otherwise be dumped in the landfills . I joined the Energy Bar Wrapper Brigade <http://www.terracycle.net/brigades/7-Energy-Bar-Wrapper-Brigade-?locale=en-US>  because I love Clif and Luna bars.  I eat them like everyday lol So I’m collecting those and other nutritional bar wrappers that have a foil lining. Once I get 100 I can ship the wrappers (TerraCycle pays for shipping!) and they upcycle and recycle the items making bags, recyclable bins, and even fences! TerraCycle will also donate $0.02 cents (could be more depending on the item you are collecting) for every unit you send in towards a charity of your choice.  My charity is the Nature Conservancy’s Golf Coast Restoration <http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/gulfofmexico/> .  If you have your own charity you have TerraCycle donate to yours. Follow my progress in my sidebar :) I told my Wellness class today about it and got like ten wrappers lol This is such an awesome and EASY way to help the Earth and eliminate waste.  Recycling can be difficult and tedious, but with TerraCycle you can actually see the finished product and help out a charity.  So go and join a brigade!

What motivates consumers to make more sustainable choices? A desire to “save the planet?” A drive to improve the health of their community? To preserve their own or their children’s health? Ego? Probably a mix of all of these. And sometimes it’s money. At the end of 2010, TerraCycle partnered with the Walmart Foundation <http://walmartstores.com/CommunityGiving/203.aspx>  to do the Trash To Cash Collection <http://www.facebook.com/TerraCycle?v=app_10442206389>  contest. It’s simple: New Jersey public schools competed to see which could collect the most trash to upcycled/recycled by TerraCycle <http://terracycle.net> . The top 6 schools would receive a total of $125,000 in grants.

It’s time to stop tossing leftover candy wrappers, cellophane flower wrappings and cardboard chocolate boxes. Recycle that Valentine’s Day waste! Valentine’s Day revolves around the idea that you should give “sweets to the sweet.” Yet it produces some not-so-sweet stats: * Nearly a billion valentines are sent each year globally, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas * More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold each year * 110 million roses, the majority red, are sold, wrapped and delivered within a three-day time period In some cases, it can be hard to know whether all those red, white and pink boxes, bags and wrappers belong in the trash or the recycling bin. What you should know: 1. aluminum wrapper recycle What to Do with All That Valentine’s Day WasteCandy wrappers are usually made up of mixed materials, making the recovery of useful materials difficult and expensive. As a result, most waste management companies, manufacturers and municipal recycling facilities tend to turn their backs on candy wrappers. Be sure to check with your curbside recycler in advance! 2. Candy wrapped in 100% aluminum foil or paper can be tossed in with your normal recycling. 3. Cardboard chocolate and gift boxes can be recycled with paper and other light card (like cereal boxes) but remember to remove any plastic inserts and “windows” first. Metal chocolate tins can usually be recycled with tin cans. 4. Wrapping paper and greeting cards can be saved for next year’s giving or recycled along with the rest of your mixed paper. 5. Cellophane wrappers around flower bouquets can be saved and reused as wrapping paper, gift bag stuffing or scrapbooking material. Upcycling option TerraCycle has partnered with Mars/Wrigley, Cadbury and other candy companies to repurpose used candy wrappers. Conscious consumers are invited to join the Candy Wrapper Brigade by saving the wrapper every time they enjoy a Mars/Wrigley or Cadbury candy product. Collected wrappers are then sent in to the company, where they’ll be upcycled into purses, backpacks, coolers and other innovative products.

The dedicated collection of the used drink pouches has earned the school a place in the top 100 collecting schools of TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. This is a program that has helped the recycling company reach the milestone of 50 million pouches collected; it has also assisted the school's Parent Teacher Group to benefit students.

TerraCycle's DIY "love bracelet" design. Photo: Courtesy of TerraCycle Two days after Valentine’s Monday you’re undoubtedly coming down off your love- and sugar-high, and no one is judging you for those candy wrappers <http://earth911.com/news/2010/11/02/what-to-do-with-your-leftover-candy-wrappers/>  piled up in your cubicle corner. Plastic-coated candy wrappers have long been a recycling dilemma because of their size, weight and lack of valuable, post-life material. But even though they’re tiny in size, they’re everywhere. In fact, Americans consumed 23.8 pounds of candy <http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb09-ff19.html>  per capita in 2008 alone. When readers ask about recycling candy wrappers, we often recommend reusing them in some way (last year, one of our staffers tricked out his BMX <http://earth911.com/news/2010/04/05/ultimate-reuse-challenge/>  with Starburst wrappers). We are also big fans of the upcycling geniuses at TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.ca/> , who collect hard-to-recycle items to create products ranging from book bags to fire logs. The company has partnered with Mars to collect wrappers through its Candy Wrapper Brigade, a free program that pays nonprofits to help collect candy wrappers. For each wrapper collected, Mars and TerraCycle will donate 2 cents to the charity of the donor’s choice. This Valentine’s Day, TerraCycle capitalized on its upcycling concept by releasing instructions to make your own design from candy wrappers <http://www.terracycle.ca/31?locale=en-CA> . Dubbed the “love bracelet,” the DIY design calls for chocolate wrappers, a glue stick, scissors, a ruler and a marker. Viola! A solution to post-V-Day candy waste served up on a silver platter.

Walmart threw its hat into the loop, too, in the form of a pilot project with TerraCycle <http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/09/30/five-walmart-stores-collect-28-types-trash-terracycle> , the maverick manufacturer of consumer products made from branded waste packaging. TerraCycle converts waste like candy wrappers, yogurt tubs, pens, and coffee bags into products such as tote bags, plant pots, backpacks, pencil cases and portable speakers. Five U.S. Walmart stores began testing a collection system for 28 types of trash to send to TerraCycle. Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/02/16/companies-learn-close-loop#ixzz1EP9ct3cb