Elisa Mercando of Belle Mead models the 1st place Upper School team design from the Stuart Country Day School “green” fashion show on January 14th, 2011. The dress was crafted from 7 different packs of playing cards, board game pieces and boxes, an old sheet, old buttons, plastic balls from a children’s ball house jungle, yarn, and ribbon. A Lower School team made the accessories. Other members of this team of 10th graders include Nicole Starke of East Windsor and Sara McArthur of Hopewell. The dress will be modeled at the annual Spring Auction, “See How Our Garden Grows” on April 2, 2011 at The Hyatt Regency Princeton. It will also be on display in The TerraCycle Store in Palmer Square through the end of February. (Photo by Kristine Poznanski.)

Many people have a very clear idea of what "recyclable" looks like, and many products are helpfully marked with the symbol of three arrows in perpetual triangular circulation. The meaning is clear — once used, recyclable products can be reused almost infinitely. But what of the non-recyclables? Do they, too, have purpose, or are they fated for the landfill, never to be used again? That's where TerraCycle comes in. On the Mary Baldwin campus, it is proving to be a force to be reckoned with. A small, up-and-coming company founded in 2001, TerraCycle makes use of products that are often challenging to recycle. From ink cartridges to digital cameras, Scotch Tape to candy wrappers, TerraCycle's eco-friendly approach takes several of these products to create items like all-purpose cleaners (made from soda bottles), bike pouches (made from energy bar wrappers), and backpacks (made from cookie wrappers). It is a creative approach that is environmentally friendly, efficient, and economical, shrinking the amount of trash sent into landfills in a way that has people paying attention.

An American company that up-cycles wrappers from a number of food & drink products, turns them into new products. Not only do they recycle, but they buy waste products from the public to recycle & they donate to charity.

The first “upcycling” game on Facebook that aims to teach how to turn trash into cash. Trash Tycoon is an upcycling social network game developed by Guerillapps. The game applies traditional social gameplay features to highlight real-world issues such as waste, water, and “green” activities. Gameplay includes cleaning trash, recycling, and constructing products and decorations out of recycled material. The game shares a number of partnerships with real world companies, including TerraCycle <http://www.terracycle.net/en-US/> , Carbonfund.org <http://Carbonfund.org/> , TreeHugger <http://www.treehugger.com/> , and Kraft Foods <http://www.kraftfoodscompany.com/welcome.aspx> .

Terracycle - An American company that up-cycles wrappers from a number of food & drink products, turns them into new products. Not only do they recycle, but they buy waste products from the public to recycle & they donate to charity.

Trash to Treasure partners with the Broward College and TerraCycle  to collect nontraditional items for reuse and recycling.  TerraCycle pays for these materials and Broward College uses the revenue to fund the Michelle Lawless Scholarship which provides tuition for a student majoring in Environmental Science.

Wetumpka Elementary School received the America’s Best Brigade Award 2010 from TerraCycle for being one of the top 100 collecting schools in TerraCycle's Drink Pouch Brigade. The local effort helped TerraCycle reach the milestone of 50 million pouches collected and $1 million paid to schools and nonprofits. TerraCycle said the total number of recycled pouches is enough to cover the Grand Canyon nine times. The Wetumpka Elementary PTO spearheaded the project, recycling Capri Sun pouches.

  Jean’s Pick of the Week (watch video): Upcycling, Recycling, and “There’s gold in them there landfills!”: I had a ball today connecting with garbage wizard Tom Szaky, CEO of Terracycle, one of the most innovative green businesses in the world. Tom delivered one of our best Here on Earth programs ever – future positive, energizing, full of hope, practical wisdom, and inspiration. He says there’s no garbage he can’t make something out of, and he proves it.

Tom Szaky, the 28-year-old founder of  TerraCycle, one of the fastest growing green companies in the world, is making a business out of recycling and a name for himself as "#1 CEO in America Under 30."

Now Simpson is getting some national recognition for her volunteer efforts. She was recently named one of four finalists in the Make A Difference Mom contest being sponsored by Ziploc Brands and TerraCycle. The contest was designed to celebrate "moms around the country who are taking steps to make a difference for the environment and their communities"-a qualification that seems to fit Simpson perfectly.