Forget, for a moment, the concerns about all the candy most kids carted home from trick-or-treating. Push aside, if you will, the worries about tooth decay, childhood obesity and those extended sugar highs. What about all those wrappers? TerraCycle - a company that hates waste and that has made dealing with it a quirky, funky mission - will gladly take them off your kids' sticky little hands. The New Jersey company is known for its "brigades" in schools and at other nonprofits. These teams collect juice pouches, potato chip bags and more - dozens of otherwise "trash" items - and then send them to TerraCycle, which pays two cents per item.

- This is WAY beyond my skill level, but here are directions on how to make an awesome purse out of candy wrappers! - Martha Stewart has an easy way to make light-switch plate covers using candy wrappers. Fun for a kitchen, kid's bedroom, or playroom! Lastly, if DIY doesn't appeal to you, learn more about TerraCycle's Candy Wrapper Brigade. You can recycle candy wrappers from Mars®, Wrigley®, and Cadbury®.

For the everyday sweet-eater, Terracycle is your best bet. Founder Tom Szaky made the once-kitschy term “upcycling” into a legitimate process, and since its humble beginnings in 2001, Terracycle has become one of the No. 1 upcycling companies in the U.S. We’ve seen Szaky and his team create usable (and fashionable) materials for the home, garden, school and office from almost-impossible-to-recycle items like Capri Sun pouches, Skittles bags and Starburst wrappers, just to name a few.

Wondering how to responsibly dispose of cereal and chip bags, candy wrappers, make-up containers, and other single-use packaging items? Send them to TerraCycle http://www.terracycle.http://www.terracycle.net/! Founded in 2001, TerraCycle http://www.terracycle.net/ offers national mail-in recycling programs for all kinds of hard-to-recycle plastic waste. The company helps "upcycle" some items like candy wrappers and juice pouches into stronger and longer-lasting incarnations, such as backpacks and kites. It also facilitates recycling of other hard-to-recycle plastics, such as chip bags and butter tubs, into bins, fencing, an more.

Now that you and your kids have a bag (or more) full of candy from last night’s trick or treating, how about giving some thought to what will happen to all the wrappers after your belly is full of sugary treats? Be sweet to the environment with one of more of these ideas to make the best use of those wrappers: TerraCycle: We’ve already mentioned TerraCycle–a company that collects potato chip bags and food wrappers to make useful products. Join their Candy Wrapper Brigade to turn in your wrappers for some cash! Just sign-up and they’ll send you prepaid postage labels–for each wrapper you send it, TerraCycle will donate $0.02 to your favorite charity or school.

Each year millions of candy wrappers are needlessly discarded and end up in landfills. TerraCycle® is proud to partner with Mars®, Wrigley®, and Cadbury® to create a second life for candy wrappers. Every time you enjoy a candy product, we want you to save the wrapper and send it in! For each approved candy wrapper received, your Collection Location will be awarded two TerraCycle points which can be redeemed for a variety of charitable gifts or for a payment of $0.02 to the non-profit organization or school of your choice.

Let’s face it, trick-or-treaters don’t want anything but the really sugary, bad-for-you candy, so don’t bother wracking your brain for some kind of healthy alternative.  And don’t trick the poor kids, it’s just mean.  Except for Hershey Kiss wrappers, most candy wrappers are not recyclable through traditional methods.  But there is a solution!  TerraCycle is a recycling and upcycling company that specializes in hard-to-recycle materials, including candy wrappers.  Anyone can sign up for free at http://www.terracycle.net to send in their empties through the Candy Wrapper Brigade, sponsored by Mars.  You’ll earn points to be used for charity gifts or donations and TerraCycle will use the wrappers to make new products, like portable speakers, tote bags and watering cans.  I’d say that is a sweet deal!

Forget, for a moment, the concerns about all the candy most kids will be carting home from trick-or-treat tonight. Push aside, if you will, the worries about tooth decay, childhood obesity and those extended sugar highs. What about all those wrappers? Terracycle -- a company that hates waste and that has made dealing with it a quirky, funky mission -- will gladly take them off your kids' sticky little hands. The New Jersey company is known for its "brigades" in schools and at other nonprofits. These teams collect juice pouches, potato chip bags and more -- dozens of otherwise "trash" items -- and then send them to Terracycle, which pays two cents per item.

Which brings us to garbage. Albe Zakes – VP at Terracycle, told us how they have grown from a 2-man dorm room operation to a global phenomenon that collects and repurposes waste in 15 countries on 4 continents. Repurposing brand waste has become the real focus... repurpose and reuse being the key words. TerraCycle has changed the debate on brand responsibility. They realized every brand has a waste issue, most all their packaging is non recyclable and brands are not stepping up to deal with it. They pitched brands that spend millions on this packaging and branding to reuse their brand packaging and avoid the pollution of landfills and incineration. It is catching on. Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, Mars, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oreal Coca Cola and others have signed up and created partnerships.

Which brings us to garbage. Albe Zakes – VP at Terracycle, told us how they have grown from a 2-man dorm room operation to a global phenomenon that collects and repurposes waste in 15 countries on 4 continents. Repurposing brand waste has become the real focus... repurpose and reuse being the key words. TerraCycle has changed the debate on brand responsibility. They realized every brand has a waste issue, most all their packaging is non recyclable and brands are not stepping up to deal with it. They pitched brands that spend millions on this packaging and branding to reuse their brand packaging and avoid the pollution of landfills and incineration. It is catching on. Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay, Mars, Kimberly-Clark, L’Oreal Coca Cola and others have signed up and created partnerships.