This fun lunch box is made from waste drink pouch material.  Send your kids to school in style with this attractive lunch box from Green Ostrich.

“TerraCycle’s purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. We do this by creating a national recycling systems for the previously non-recyclable. The process starts by offering collect programs (many of them free) to collect your waste and then convert the collected waste into a wide range of products and materials. With over 14 million people collecting waste in 11 countries together we have diverted billions of pieces of waste that are either upcycled or recycled into over 1,500 various products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today ends up in our trash. Founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky, then a 20-year-old Princeton University freshman, TerraCycle began by producing organic fertilizer, packaging liquid worm poop in used soda bottles. Since then TerraCycle has grown into one of the fastest growing green companies in the world.”

This fun lunch box is made from waste drink pouch material.  Send your kids to school in style with this attractive lunch box from Green Ostrich.

This year’s slate also includes three films that are on the short list for Oscar nominations for Best Documentary. Those include Josh Fox’s Gasland, which questions the safety of Halliburton’s natural gas drilling technology, known as “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing. That film will be screened Jan. 22, 7 p.m., and will feature an appearance from Mr. Fox. (NOTE: Gasland was originally scheduled to be shown Jan. 23. Waste Land, which was scheduled for Jan. 22 has been moved to Jan. 23 at 1:30 p.m. That screening will feature a talk by TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky.)

For those not familiar with "Terracycle", it is one of many organizations that work to create useful items out of waste products. "Terracycle", in conjunction with both consumers and people from within the food and beverage industry, collects empty and discarded items like foil cheese packets, foil beverage pouches, potato chip bags, gum wrappers, beverage bottles and other items. "Terracycle" then converts those items into a wide array of new items like insulated coolers, garbage cans, fences, plant food, household cleaners, photo frames, jewel cases, clothing and fashion accessories. Part of the proceeds from the sale of those items is in turn donated to area schools and non-profit groups.

i have heard of terracycle before – who hasn’t seen those cute little pop art totes and pouches they make out of recycled juice pouches and gum wrappers? but i have only recently become aware of the business as a whole, with their model and goal. the company was started by a college student to win a “business start-up” contest of sorts. the idea was, “why pay for materials for manufacturing when there is so much usable material going to the landfills?” their first product was plant food/fertilizer which was quickly picked up by large outfits such as wal*mart. but as the company grew, so did their capacity to adapt and reuse the most common “land fillers.” terracycle now has almost 60,000 locations around the country (and more available all the time) where people can get paid to drop off juice pouches, zip top kitchen bags, cheese wrappers, yogurt containers, and many more.

Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, Tom Szaky has been collecting and upcycling refuse since childhood, starting with discarded TVs and computer monitors.   "Even at a very young age, the excess and waste I saw surprised and intrigued me." Inspired by seeing waste as a great opportunity, the landfill as a poorly organized factory, and that with a little innovation he could run a profitable business that was also good for the planet, Tom dropped out of Princeton and TerraCycle was born.  Starting with sales of the brand's worm-converted waste fertilizer to the Home Depot and Walmart in 2004, TerraCycle has continued to flourish now working with major brands such as Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, Mars, CLIF BAR and others, in sponsoring the collection of post-consumer packaging that pays schools and non-profits 2 cents for every piece they collect.  Today over 50,000 organizations have helped collect over 1 billion pre- and post-consumer wrappers that have been made into affordable eco-friendly products, such as totes and backpacks. In 2009, Tom released his first book, Revolution in a Bottle, and starred in 3 episodes on the National Geographic Channel series, Garbage Moguls.  When asked what lasting impression he wants to leave on the planet?

She cited TerraCycle as one company that has done just that with its collection brigades at schools. TerraCycle—which calls itself an “upcycler”—partners with schools and consumer goods companies to recycle items such as candy wrappers, juice pouches, yogurt containers, toothpaste tubes, shredded cheese bags and snack bags and turn what otherwise would be waste into consumer products such as insulated coolers, recycling bins and fences.

25% off EcoMom Start the New Year off right by shopping at EcoMom. All the picks — Haba blocks, TerraCycle cleansers, Under the Nile nursing pads — are good for you, your family, and the Earth. Plus, get 25% off everything on the site (except food and diapers) through Jan. 11 with code DailyCandy25 at checkout.