After launching the Method Refill Brigade® in 2011, environmentally conscious household cleaner products company Method Home, along with upcycler/recycler TerraCycle, Inc., has expanded the program to accept pumps, triggers, refill pouches, and almost any cleaner product packaging, regardless of brand. Schools, offices, families or individuals can collect traditionally nonrecyclable cleaner packaging and send it to TerraCycle to earn money for charity gifts and donations through the newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade. The collected packaging will be turned into trash cans, coolers, and other home goods.

After launching the Method Refill Brigade® in 2011, Method, the leading innovator in premium, environmentally-conscious household and personal care products, and upcycling/recycling pioneer TerraCycle, Inc. have now expanded the program to accept pumps, triggers, refill pouches and almost any cleaner product packaging, regardless of brand. Schools, offices, families or individuals can collect traditionally non-recyclable cleaner packaging and send it to TerraCycle to earn money for charity gifts and donations through the newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade. The collected packaging will be turned into trash cans, coolers and other home goods.

After launching the Method Refill Brigade in 2011, Method, an innovator in environmentally-conscious household and personal care products, and upcycling/recycling pioneer TerraCycle, Inc. have now expanded the program to accept pumps, triggers, refill pouches and almost any cleaner product packaging, regardless of brand. Schools, offices, families or individuals can collect traditionally non-recyclable cleaner packaging and send it to TerraCycle to earn money for charity through the newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade. The collected packaging will be turned into trash cans, coolers and other home goods. "Packaging sustainability is a core priority built into the design of every Method product," says Adam Lowry, Method co-founder and chief greenskeeper. "In addition to the recyclable packaging we make from recycled materials, we want every part of a cleaning bottle to be used again, including parts that aren't accepted by most recycling systems, like triggers and pumps. Our goal with this Brigade is to ultimately collect more triggers and pumps than we actually manufacture, which would substantially improve the packaging footprint of not only Method, but our competitors as well." Lowry says he believes that by expanding Method's partnership with Terracycle to accept packaging from all cleaning product companies, they can work to reduce landfill waste and replace the use of virgin materials while saving energy and carbon emissions.

Moms in need have babies in need. Research has shown that moms dealing with financial hardships often choose between buying diapers or other necessities like food. Some of these moms reuse soiled disposable diapers or leave a dirty diaper on their child longer than they should. You can help moms in need get access to clean diapers by recycling common household items for free with TerraCycle. Their newest charity partner is Huggies’ Every Little Bottom, an organization that provides free diapers and moms and babies that need them. In honor of all mothers this Mother’s Day, consider how you can help moms, babies, and the planet by signing up for one of the programs below.

You can help moms in need get access to clean diapers by recycling common household items for free with TerraCycle and their newest charity partner, Huggies’ Every Little Bottom, an organization that provides free diapers to moms and babies that need them. To help, sign up for one of these programs: Recycle Diaper PackagingHuggies and TerraCycle are now accepting shipments of any size of diaper and wipe packaging the Huggies Diaper Packaging Brigade. Parents can sign up to send in any brand of diaper packages and earn charity points. Recycle Cleaner PackagingMethod is expanding its program with TerraCycle to accept all kinds of cleaner packaging, regardless of type or brand. The newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade allows families, schools, or individuals to collect and recycle pumps, triggers, refill pouches and almost any cleaning product packaging to earn charity points. Recycle Baby Food Pouches - CONTEST This May, Sprout Foods is offering prizes to the three Sprout Foods Brigade participants that donate the most charity points to Every Little Bottom by May 31st! Moms can recycle baby food pouches to earn charity points and be entered to win a TerraCycle-Sprout Prize Pack, containing Sprout Organic Baby Food, Toddler Meals, Fresh Start cookbook by Sprout co-founder Tyler Florence and TerraCycle upcycled products.

After launching the Method Refill Brigade® in 2011, Method, the leading innovator in premium, environmentally-conscious household and personal care products, and upcycling/recycling pioneer TerraCycle, Inc. have now expanded the program to accept pumps, triggers, refill pouches and almost any cleaner product packaging, regardless of brand. Schools, offices, families or individuals can collect traditionally non-recyclable cleaner packaging and send it to TerraCycle to earn money for charity gifts and donations through the newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade. The collected packaging will be turned into trash cans, coolers and other home goods. “Packaging sustainability is a core priority built into the design of every Method product,” said Adam Lowry, Method co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper. “In addition to the recyclable packaging we make from recycled materials, we want every part of a cleaning bottle to be used again, including parts that aren’t accepted by most recycling systems, like triggers and pumps. Our goal with this Brigade is to ultimately collect more triggers and pumps than we actually manufacture, which would substantially improve the packaging footprint of not only Method, but our competitors as well.”

As an environmental company, TerraCycle has a unique relationship with Earth Day. Celebrating our environment and spreading awareness and activism is wonderful, but we also like to remind people that the Earth needs to be taken care of every day. For the past few years, we’ve had an array of special events around Earth Day. In 2009, we launched our mini-series on National Geographic – Garbage Moguls – and in 2010, we had a Walmart Hotspot with sixty TerraCycle products were displayed in Walmart stores, right next to the products that they used to be! Think, drink pouch backpacks next to boxes of Capri Sun. Last year, 2011, we had the Old Navy Flip-Flop Replay in which we collected used flip flops at Old Navy stores across the country during the Earth Month. That same month, in partnership with Office Depot, we collected used pens and writing instruments at their retail locations.

After launching the Method Refill Brigade® in 2011, Method, the leading innovator in premium, environmentally-conscious household and personal care products, and upcycling/recycling pioneer TerraCycle, Inc. have now expanded the program to accept pumps, triggers, refill pouches and almost any cleaner product packaging, regardless of brand. Schools, offices, families or individuals can collect traditionally non-recyclable cleaner packaging and send it to TerraCycle to earn money for charity gifts and donations through the newly dubbed Cleaner Packaging Brigade. The collected packaging will be turned into trash cans, coolers and other home goods.

There are so many vibrant organizations, people, and innovations that could be named the Elite Eight of Sustainability. When Bag The Box asked for my picks of the Elite Eight, I knew I was going to have a difficult time. I’ll admit my final list is missing some great picks, but here are my final choices for the Elite Eight of Sustainability. Runa Tea (organization): Runa was born from the traditions of the Kichwa people of the Amazon – sharing conversation and music over the tea. A group of students imagined that they could make a sustainable business that would both bring this idea around the world and support the Kichwa. Today, Runa has planted more than 150,000 new trees, conserved rainforest, and brought stability and higher income to struggling locals. Ocean “gyre” plastic (eco-innovation): The gyre plastic from the middle of the Pacific is just sitting there. Time to start putting it to use: Method soaps is starting to use gyre plastic for all their packaging instead of making new. Not only does this lessen the carbon footprint of their production, it helps lessen our previous impact.

Designing packaging for second life implies reuse in a very permanent sense, rather than just refilling a plastic water bottle a few times before tossing it. This concept has the potential to entirely change the game for reusable packaging-as long as the trend can gain some momentum. Some concepts, explored as early as the 1970s, already have faded, but design for reuse is picking up steam once again and I am excited to see if it can reach its potential. Here are a few cool examples: Heineken “brick” bottleThe Heineken WOBO:This beer bottle was designed to be reused as a brick; with a square instead of a cylindrical build, the bottles could be stacked together, and with circular ridges on the sides, they wouldn’t slide off each other. Instead of being called a beer bottle that could be used a brick, it was dubbed “the brick that holds beer.” It’s no longer around, but it was certainly ahead of its time and led the way for reusable packaging design. PUMA’s Clever Little Bag: The bag is actually a shoebox that doubles as a shopping bag to carry the shoes out of the store and, later, tote around whatever else you’d like- groceries, books, clothes and more. It also reduces the amount of cardboard required and makes a plastic shopping bag obsolete.