Green Teams! If you haven't already heard, there's a new, fun way to recycle products you've never been able to recycle before. It's called Terracycle! Terracycle is a company with a goal “to help eliminate the idea of waste." It works by establishing new waste collection programs they call "Brigades." Brigades are teams of people -- friends, co-workers, families, etc. -- that are registered with Terracycle to focus on and round up certain kinds of non-recyclable waste that the company can convert into new products. They can turn Capri-Sun juice pouches into shoulder bags or circuitboards into clipboards and everything in between.

The economy has undoubtedly impacted every aspect of American life, including the way people spend their money. The shrinking retail sales may be a tell-all about a reduction in consumerism — whether by necessity or because it’s trendy — but there’s one other number that may indicate America’s love for “stuff” is changing. For the past few years, the amount of garbage generated nationwide has been decreasing: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, between 2007 and 2009 (the last year available), municipal solid waste (a.k.a. garbage) generation went from 255 million tons to 243 million. Still, considering that amount is double that of four or five decades ago, it’s easy to understand the efforts to promote and encourage recycling. Consumers, of course, are complying, recovering about 34 percent of materials nationwide (from less than 10 percent 30 years ago). But while paper recycling has become second nature (and 64 percent of it is diverted from the landfill), a growing number of people are looking for ways to recycle various other things that usually go into the trash, from candy wrappers and Ziplock bags to potato chip bags and Elmer’s glue sticks.

One way to go green without costly changes is to take things you would ordinarily throw away and reuse them. Milk crates can become book shelves and metallic drink pouches can be stitched together to make pencil cases for the children. This practice is called upcycling and you can either do it yourself or contribute reusable household trash to organizations that convert it into eco-friendly products. Through free collection programs called Brigades, upcycling pioneer TerraCycle is collecting and paying for packaging waste from household staples.