As it says on the game's official Facebook page : In a distant, but not so unrealistic future, where people have abandoned your town because it has become covered with trash, you the player, have been left to clean up the mess; So grab this trash picker, invite your friends and start to clean up your trash-strewn town to become the Willy Wonka of the garbage business. Describing the game as the "Willy Wonka of the garbage business" might be going a bit far, because the game's style isn't imbued with anything mysterious or eccentric. But the company that sponsored the game, TerraCycle , is known for "upcycling " and making products out of weird things. Namely, these include used food wrappers from things like M&M's and Oreo cookies. In the Facebook game, players collect trash and occasionally find treasures, profit from fertilizer generated from their own worm farms, clean up ramshackle houses and will have the opportunity to do some in-game upcycling of their own. As the game says, "It's Eco-Capitalism!"

At first, it sounds like another startup fairytale. A 19-year-old Princeton freshman starts a company with the hopes of making a tangible difference in the world, and it grows into a global, multi-million dollar venture. But stories like TerraCycle founder and CEO Tom Szaky's are never as they seem. It takes more than just a genius idea to succeed. Businesses that are looking to make a transformational global impact require hard work, incredible business savvy and the courage to press on when everyone calls you crazy.

Belinda McDowell, Cincinnati Recycling Examiner July 24, 2011 This summer many Americans will have many barbecues, celebrations, and parties. So what are you doing with all the chip bags, cookie bags, juice drink containers that are generated from all these festivities this summer? Don’t throw them away! TerraCycle is here to help. TerraCycle is an organization that focuses on reducing waste by creating products with those items that are difficult to recycle or can not be recycled. The organization was founded by a Princeton University freshman in 2001 when he began producing organic fertilizer, packing liquid worm poop in used soda bottles. Waste is collected through brigades and anyone can join or create their own brigade. The waste are collected, sorted and sent to TerraCycle through the brigades. The brigades will earn 2 points or $0.02 per item collected. These points can be redeemable for planting trees, feeding the hungry, providing clean water to global communities, or cash to a non-profit of charity of choice. The types of waste streams collected include drink pouches, yogurt containers, candy wrappers, cookie packaging, MARS drinks fresh packs, chip bags, energy bar wrappers, bear naked packaging, kashi packaging, scott brand packaging and cereal bags just to name a few! For the complete list of waste streams collected go to TerraCycle.net

I recently read an article that claimed our steps to going green, as a country and as a world, have not been as scalable as we imagine. A consumer can’t see the carbon footprint they leave, and this makes it challenging for them to realize how much of a difference they are actually making in cutting back and cleaning our atmosphere. Since the affects of a consumer’s efforts are essentially invisible, it is a challenge to both engage consumers and keep them in engaged in the green movement to be more. People are less likely to be adamant for a cause, or willing to make as big a sacrifice for that they can’t see, touch, and feel the effects of directly. Tangibility makes a difference. It follows logically that to engage consumers, the green movement needs make both the threats and rewards more tangible. Many companies, including TerraCycle partners Capri Sun, Bear Naked, and Clif Bar, rely on consumers to make environmentally friendly choices after they use a product. Instead of simply encouraging consumers to recycle – throw the packaging in a bin and then forget about it forever – they’ve started encouraging upcycling, with which consumers can see their reuse and recycling efforts firsthand.

This is a clip of a show on NBC Philadelphia, the 10! Show, which featured our M&Ms speakers and new cooler w/ recyclable liner and aired this morning! Click on the link above to watch – our mention starts at about 4:25.

This giveaway is packed full of awesome stuff that is fun for both moms and kids, and its good for the environment, all courtesy of Terracycle. TerraCycle is an awesome company that is reducing waste by finding creative ways to use materials that most of us would think of as garbage. You know the saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

Are you excited for back-to-school?! I am just so excited. This next giveaway is packed full of awesome stuff that is fun for both moms and kids, as well as good for the environment, courtesy of Terracycle. TerraCycle is an awesome company that is reducing waste by finding creative was to use materials most of us would think of as garbage. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right?

Plastic-coated candy wrappers have long been a recycling dilemma because of their size, weight and lack of valuable, post-life material. But even though they’re tiny in size, they’re everywhere. In fact, Americans consumed 23.8 pounds of candy per capita in 2008 alone. We are also big fans of the upcycling geniuses at TerraCycle, who collect hard-to-recycle items to create products ranging from book bags to fire logs. The company has partnered with Mars to collect wrappers through its Candy Wrapper Brigade, a free program that pays nonprofits to help collect candy wrappers. For each wrapper collected, Mars and TerraCycle will donate 2 cents to the charity of the donor’s choice.