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.
President Bill Clinton got into the topic of trash at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative recently. It is an important topic. We create tremendous amounts of waste these days, and much of it could be used in a constructive way, rather than polluting our planet.
While some companies are trying to be greener and minimize their waste, other companies have made waste the
source of their business. Using “waste” as a key input to the products they create, these companies are as green as green gets.
TerraCycle is one such company.
President Bill Clinton got into the topic of trash at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative recently. It is an important topic. We create tremendous amounts of waste these days, and much of it could be used in a constructive way, rather than polluting our planet.
While some companies are trying to be greener and minimize their waste, other companies have made waste the
source of their business. Using “waste” as a key input to the products they create, these companies are as green as green gets.
TerraCycle is one such company.
From its humble beginnings selling worm-poop fertilizer, this New Jersey product manufacturer upcycles retail trash into retail treasure.
Each and every product on this earth has a life span,” said Tom Szaky, CEO and vice president of licensing and product development at
TerraCycle, Inc. “The end-of-life reality of a bag of potato chips is that the food ends up in the toilet and the bag ends up in the garbage. Same with a pen; you buy a pen, the ink runs out. The only difference is, some products can be recycled easily and others not so easily.”
Marketers switching from traditional to compostable packaging because others have been successful with it = good peer pressure.
What’s my point? My free samples of Boulder Canyon chips arrived today. Across the top in a two-inch banner read, “Compostable Packaging!” Seriously, it’s probably the first thing you see. Nor can you miss it on the SunChips bag, where it takes up the top quarter of the package. Even my Keebler chocolate chip cookies container asks consumers to “Turn this wrapper into a good cause,” an invitation to get involved in upcycling (keeping cookie wrappers and other packaging out of landfills by turning them into new products) wrapped in a 2 1/2″ x 4″ green leaf that fairly leaps out of the brown and caramel package.
Also, Keebler, if you’re listening, “details on back” (inviting consumers to turn the package over for details on the Terracycle program) works in the store, but not after consumers have opened the crackle-y, flappy cookine container at home. If you’re going to invite people to turn over the package, you need to make it resealable. I’ll leave the unfortunate results to your imagination. Let’s just say the dog had a great night.
