So there I was, happily munching away on a bag of peanut butter M&Ms when I noticed a strange recycling symbol on the edge of the bag. It wasn’t the usual symbol I’m so used to seeing on recyclable items and there was no number anywhere on it. I thought to myself: “What the heck is this and how does it fit into the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle plan? A quick web search later and I’m at Terracycle.net. Here’s what they had to say about themselves. “TerraCycle’s purpose is to eliminate the idea of waste. We do this by creating national recycling systems for the previously non-recyclable. The process starts by offering collection programs (many of them free) to collect your waste and then convert the collected waste into a wide range of products and materials. With over 14 million people collecting waste in 11 countries together we have diverted billions of pieces of waste that are either upcycled or recycled into over 1,500 various products available at major retailers ranging from Walmart to Whole Foods Market. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by creating collection and solution systems for anything that today ends up in our trash.”

For those not familiar with "Terracycle", it is one of many organizations that work to create useful items out of waste products. "Terracycle", in conjunction with both consumers and people from within the food and beverage industry, collects empty and discarded items like foil cheese packets, foil beverage pouches, potato chip bags, gum wrappers, beverage bottles and other items. "Terracycle" then converts those items into a wide array of new items like insulated coolers, garbage cans, fences, plant food, household cleaners, photo frames, jewel cases, clothing and fashion accessories. Part of the proceeds from the sale of those items is in turn donated to area schools and non-profit groups.

This increase in repurposing materials has caused food and beverage manufacturers like Kraft Foods to stand up and take notice. Proof in point is the company's recent decision to add foil cheese packets to their pre-existing "Terracycle Collection Program." In Packaging Everything Old is New Again For those not familiar with "Terracycle", it is one of many organizations that work to create useful items out of waste products. "Terracycle", in conjunction with both consumers and people from within the food and beverage industry, collects empty and discarded items like foil cheese packets, foil beverage pouches, potato chip bags, gum wrappers, beverage bottles and other items. "Terracycle" then converts those items into a wide array of new items like insulated coolers, garbage cans, fences, plant food, household cleaners, photo frames, jewel cases, clothing and fashion accessories. Part of the proceeds from the sale of those items is in turn donated to area schools and non-profit groups.

In some WalMart parking lots in the state of New Jersey, you can do just that. Walmart has placed TerraCycle recycling centers in some of its parking lots, and at these centers, when you insert your trash, TerraCycle donates money to New Jersey schools.

Princeton entrepreneur wants to rid the globe of most of its trash The heart of Princeton resident Tom Szaky’s $20-million-a-year business empire is an old printing plant at 121 New York Ave. in Trenton, where most of the company’s 75 employees work, at desks made of old doors, with a computer network cobbled together from other companies’ obsolete hardware, with dividers made of old vinyl hip-hop records and empty soda bottles, and in some cases walking on floor tiles made of processed plastic and aluminum juice pouches.

I stumbled onto a company that turns the stuff people throw away every day into items that people also use every day. For example, do you eat Clif or Odwalla Bars while on a ride and then throw away the wrappers? Well, TerraCycle takes your discarded wrappers and turns them into messenger bags. Or how about coffee – this one’s not so obvious: coffee beans grow on trees with leaves and TerraCycle turns those leaves into high-quality copier paper, saving a little bit of tree in the process. Some other neat products that TerraCycle makes from your garbage: – plant pots made from computers and fax machines – clip boards made from circuit boards and juice boxes – stereo speakers from Starburst and M&M wrappers And see more on DwellSmart. Let’s face it, there’s lots to throw away, every day and everyone who eats or lives on the planet. That’s a lot of garbage! But TerraCycle is more than just reusing these pieces of trash to make useful, reusable items. For every piece of garbage that you send them, they will make a small donation ($.02) to the charity of your choice.