Albe was one of my very first guests when I started Mrs. Green. We’ve come a long way baby! The tagline on their website? Eliminate The Idea of Waste. Love it! You also know I love numbers so ponder these and plan to join us: Number of people collecting trash through partnerships with Terracyle – 26,511,927. Waste units collected: 2,262,684,595. Dollars donated to charities: $3,491,776.12. Counting the days. This show sponsored by Environmental Development Group (EDG)

TerraCycle’s food packaging recycling programs began with drink pouches. Those programs have expanded from Capri Sun and Honest Kids drink pouches, to Flavia Fresh Packs, Sprout baby food pouches, and Method Cleaner Refill packs. Clif Family Winery is soon launching a Brigade for their Climber Wine Pouches and other wine pouch packaging. Nowadays, pouches are in every aisle of every big-box retailer. They’re convenient, durable, lightweight, affordable, an all around “win”… that is until it is time to recycle them.

January and February may be among the coldest months of the year, but doing fun activities with your families can alleviate some of that winter chill. This Valentine's Day, think about what you love - children, family, friends and this wonderful earth we all live on. It's easy to lose track of that glowing feeling we all walk around with during the Christmas and New Year's holiday once the new year actually arrives. Spend some extra time with your families to keep that feeling intact.

In choosing a standard cleaner versus a green cleaner, sometimes it seems as if you have to make a sacrifice. Choose a green cleaner, and it seems to not be quite as effective and often cost more off the shelf. Choose a standard cleaner, and you confront the hazards of harsh chemicals in your home and the headaches that the cleaning agents and scents bring. How are you supposed to choose what’s best for your child with all these opposing benefits and risks? There are a few things you should know.

This is the third entry in "Full Circle," a series that will be profiling companies and organizations that offer biodegradable and recyclable products or services -- both in the New York City area and beyond. Albe Zakes will admit it. While in school at the University of Colorado, he was a “frustrated environmentalist.” “I felt like too many environmental non-profits [organizations] refused to work with major companies,” he said. “It was always petition, letter-write, protest, and picket instead of coming to the board room table and trying to work with them.”

TerraCycle helps people recycle those hard-to-recycle items like chip bags, toothpaste holders, yogurt containers and more. It is TerraCycle’s goal to eliminate waste completely. More than 20 million people in 14 different countries have taken part in TerraCycle’s recycling programs, called “Brigades.” Each Brigade is a program that collects a certain waste and recycles it. It is FREE to send your waste in to many of the Brigades.

Eco-friendly cleaners have become more popular as people try to stay away from harsh chemicals, and now there's more good news: not only are the eco-friendly cleaners available, but the bottles are being made from recycled plastics and are also recyclable themselves. Non-recyclable packaging is a major obstacle in creating a truly responsible line of soaps and cleaners for moms who want a safe environment inside their homes and out. Three leading eco-responsible brands, TerraCycle, Dropps, and Method are making serious headway by offering completely eco-friendly products with natural, non-toxic ingredients and newly recyclable packaging. Now families can use natural cleaners, reduce their waste production and earn money for their community at the same time!

Research Your Municipal Recycling Just like checking the smoke detector batteries on the day the clocks change for daylight savings time, America Recycles Day is a great day to reacquaint yourself with your municipal recycling regulations.  Most people can recycle glass, aluminum, paper, and certain plastics through curbside recycling, but the list of what is and is not accepted varies from town to town. What if you’ve been throwing #5 plastic in your recycling bin but it’s not accepted?  What if your town, like my town, only accepts #1 and #2 plastic bottles of certain shapes?  The neck must be smaller than the widest part of the  bottle, so no tubs or odd-shaped containers are accepted.  Who knew?  I wouldn’t have unless I took the time to do a little research.   Your town should have a list of accepted materials on its municipal website. Recycle the Traditionally Non-Recyclable with TerraCycle You recycled those “recyclables,” but what about the rest of your household waste?  TerraCycle is a recycling and upcycling company that specializes in traditionally non-recyclable and hard-to-recycle materials.  You can send in hair care, skin care and cosmetic packaging, soap refill pouches, tortilla and tostada packaging, cereal bags and 40 other kinds of waste through the Brigade programs for free, thanks to sponsors like Garnier, Method, Mission Foods and Malt-O-Meal.  For every piece of waste sent in to TerraCycle, the collector is awarded points, which can be put toward specific charity gifts or converted to cash and sent to any charity.

I was contacted by Stephanie of TerraCycle who thought my readers would be interested in this program and I have to agree. Below is the text of a press release that provides all the information: Green AND Clean: TerraCycle and Partner Brands Make Green Cleaners Recyclable TRENTON, N.J., October 19, 2011 – Non-recyclable packaging is a major obstacle in creating a truly responsible line of soaps and cleaners for moms who want a safe environment inside their homes and out. Three leading eco-responsible brands, TerraCycle, Dropps, and Method are making serious headway by offering completely eco-friendly products with natural, non-toxic ingredients and newly recyclable packaging. Now families can use natural cleaners, reduce their waste production and earn money for their community at the same time!

Eco-friendly cleaners have become more popular as people try to stay away from harsh chemicals, and now there’s more good news: not only are the eco-friendly cleaners available, but the bottles are being made from recycled plastics and are also recyclable themselves. TerraCycle, a pioneering upcycling and recycling company, has partnered with Method soaps and Dropps laundry detergent to offer recycling for the soap refill packaging and laundry packaging, respectively. The Method Refill Brigade and Dropps Laundry Detergent Pouch Brigade close the loop between eco-friendly product contents and product packaging. Additionally, TerraCycle’s eco-friendly cleaners are all natural, packaged in recycled plastic, and the packaging is also recyclable.